Sex and the Single Girl (1964) User Reviews (53)

A Game Cast Keeps This Screwball Sex Comedy Afloat and Then Some

[EUyeshima · 7/10 · 19 April 2009]

I actually find this scatterbrained 1964 comedy a surprisingly amusing screwball farce all these years later despite its titillating title. So apparently does director Peyton Reed since he based most of his 2004 comic pastiche, "Down with Love", on the storyline of this movie and less so on any of the Doris Day/Rock Hudson romps of the same era. Regardless, they all have the same brew of conjugal misunderstandings, mistaken identities and leering though never explicit sexuality because those were the days when a woman's virtue would never be compromised for anyone but the right man. Directed by the heavy-handed Richard Quine ("Paris When It Sizzles") and written by Joseph Heller (later the author of "Catch-22") and David R. Schwartz, this ridiculous comedy benefits from a game cast headed by Tony Curtis still riding high from "Some Like It Hot" (which is referred to for easy laughs in the story) and Natalie Wood who shows her comedy chops with dexterity here.

Curtis plays Bob Weston, a sleazy magazine writer for a men's magazine whose editors are intent on exposing Dr. Helen Gurley Brown as a fraud as a sex expert. Author of the best-selling "Sex and the Single Girl", Brown is not at all the clench-jawed celebrity author who wrote the real book and appeared on "The Tonight Show" constantly. Instead, she is a gorgeous, intellectually prodigious 23-year-old who extols female empowerment in the bedroom. Showing off his moral depravity, Weston steals the marital woes of her next-door neighbors, pantyhose magnate Frank Broderick and his acerbic wife Sylvia, and comes to see Dr. Brown as a patient. The rest is predictable but still a good amount of fun. Curtis was still at the top of his game here showing how he can easily elicit laughs from such a vile manipulator, but it's Wood who surprises as Brown. Displaying a nervous but infectious energy that feeds nicely into the two sides of the doctor, she is funny and sexy in a way that she could never quite balance as well again in her career. Witness the hilariously conflicted drunken scene in her apartment for evidence of her talent.

Quine was smart to cast three sharp stars in the key supporting roles - Henry Fonda as the put-upon Frank browbeaten into a sad man by Lauren Bacall pulling all the stops as the shrewish basket case Sylvia is, and Mel Ferrer as Brown's somewhat ambiguous colleague. Add a sultry Fran Jeffries who performs two numbers (including the title tune) for no apparent reason except to sell records, an even sexier Leslie Parrish ("The Manchurian Candidate") as Weston's secretary, and a genuinely funny extended car chase scene, and you have the makings of an under-appreciated sex comedy. The 2009 DVD, part of the six-disc "The Natalie Wood Collection", includes a Warner Brothers cartoon ("Nelly's Folly") and the original theatrical trailer.

Delightful Romp in Classic 60's RomCom Style

[bt698nhj · 7/10 · 11 June 2016]

Really, what's not to like? I'd watch Natalie Wood read the phone book, and this flick left me wondering why Tony Curtis wasn't a bigger star, and why Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall were relegated to second-tier parts (though their roles were prominent).

Wood plays Helen Gurley Brown, author of the hit book of the film's name, and Curtis plays a magazine editor of a successful, seedy magazine that thrives on digging up dirt on people. Curtis sets his sights on scandalizing the virgin Brown. The laughs are many and frequent, with numerous subtle and not-so-subtle puns sprinkled liberally throughout. On the not-so-subtle side,the opening scene with magazine employees meeting with the CEO in the Board Room continually plays off the concept of the magazine seeking to feed off the lowest common denominator of human indecency. Another example occurred as cars raced along the highway, a sign noted that the highway's extension would be opening in December 1960. That was struck through and replaced with dates in 1961, 1962, 1963, and 1964, all struck through and ultimately replaced with something like "to be determined". I can connect with that jab even today.

Watching the movie caused me to research the 1962 book. Interestingly, the movie was loosely inspired by the book. And I mean loosely. The book is somewhat of a how-to guide, whereas the movie is a fictional imagining of the life of a much-younger Helen Gurley Brown, who was 40 at the publication of the book but 23 in the movie. Likely the movie's title was largely intended to parlay off the book's popularity. Good marketing.

It was also interesting and melancholy to note that the longtime delightful bit-part actress who played Emma Brand/Watson on the Andy Griffith Show, Cheerio Meredith, and had a minor role here, died on release day, 12/25/64. Burt Mustin also had a bit part. I always find it interesting to see actors such as Meredith and Mustin, who I mostly know from varying TV roles.

As usual, I loved seeing the sets and 60s style. I'm fascinated with the decade and enjoy seeing society's attitudes, fashions, and ideals in that era. This film brings that to life in spades.

There IS One Great Reason To See This Movie

[dugan49 · 5/10 · 16 September 2011]

What could have been a sharp satire on 60's sexual attitudes runs basically lame throughout, the script simply comes up short. The basic mistaken identity plot device fails to provide laughs and it is so much the base of the film's story that it's failure prevents the whole from going anywhere.

However, all is not lost. There is a saving grace, and that is the presence of the then 25 year old Natalie Wood, playing the sexologist Helen Gurley Brown.

Wood, in this film is staggeringly pretty. She had, at that age, a natural girl next door beauty that has rarely if ever been rivaled in film history. Seeing this film and Wood again recently for the first time in decades was a revelation. About her, not the mediocre film.

Superb example of 1960s romantic farces, Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis shine.

[TxMike · 23 June 2009]

I had not been a big fan of Natalie Wood but have become interested in her since meeting young Natalie who reminds me very much of the actress. So I have been seeing some of her old movies here and there. This one has been released on DVD and it is a very nice one.

Tony Curtis stars as Bob Weston, the most sleazy writer for the magazine "STOP" that prides itself in sleazy reporting. He has done an article on 23-year-old single therapist, Natalie Wood as Helen Gurley Brown, who wrote the book "Sex and the Single Girl." The article went on to ridicule the young therapist by saying a young, single virgin could not be a very credible sex therapist. Quickly she found her appointments being canceled because of the article.

But Bob Weston has an even grander plan, he will romance the young doctor and get enough inside information to write an even harder-hitting expose'.

Bob's neighbor and friend is ladies hosiery manufacturer and sales manager Henry Fonda as Frank Broderick. Frank's wife is Lauren Bacall as Sylvia.

As soon as Bob realizes that Helen knows who he is and will not let him even in the same room, he hatches a plan, he will pretend to be his neighbor, Frank, and ask for help with relationship issues between himself and his wife. But Frank and Sylvia know nothing about this.

The interplay between Curtis and Wood is great, and many very funny situations result. When Helen eventually finds out what is really going on she decides to skip out to Fiji with an admiring co-worker, but Bob, Frank, and Sylvia all end up in a madcap chase scene on the Los Angeles freeway system, that also involves a cab driver, an ice cream vendor, and a motorcycle cop. It is madcap, and it is funny.

Nothing in the story is plausible but it doesn't have to be. It is just a funny story with funny characters. A classic from the 1960s.

Great cast, fun film

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 13 March 2021]

"Mention sex, and the single girl is cool and shy She objects to discussing sex with any guy You can bet she's as interested as he If sex weren't 50-50, where would everybody be?"

I love me a sex comedy from 1964 that openly acknowledges female desire, sex outside of marriage, erogenous zones, and male impotence. "I'm gaining confidence," says Tony Curtis in one scene, clearly alluding to an erection. Meanwhile Natalie Wood is, well, Natalie Wood, just as gorgeous and magnetic as ever, even if it's in a silly film like this. This cast, my god ... Wood, Curtis, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall, Mel Ferrer (loved his little dancing), Edward Everett Horton (age 78!), Otto Kruger (his last film) ... with music from Count Basie and the sultry Fran Jeffries - it's fun to see them all here, and they all get at least a moment or two to shine.

The film tries to do a little too much, adding on the zaniness of an extended chase scene at the end which got a little exhausting. I liked the quieter things early on, like the running gag of coin-operated machines (the water cooler, the bathroom sink, the mirror, etc) which are all cleverly slipped in, and maybe suggest a changing world, one which goes along with women acknowledging their physical desires. There are also several humorous references to Jack Lemmon in "Some Like it Hot" when Tony Curtis finds himself in a women's robe, even though of course Curtis himself was in the same film. And then we have the scenes with Wood staring into Curtis's eyes and becoming aroused by his ear kissing, or her prancing out to answer the phone in a low-cut dress saying "And I shall insist on the right to have as many love affairs as I please. I'm certainly not going to sacrifice one iota of my freedom or dignity for any man." My goodness, she's a joy to watch.

Where the film falters, however, is in its treatment of women in the workplace - there's a secretary who is clearly a sexual plaything of her boss, and the main character melts as soon as she meets her new patient, abandoning any kind of professionalism. The story is kicked off when tabloid magazine writers all wonder if this young psychologist is a virgin, and her colleagues wonder the same thing. That's kind of ironic, because Helen Gurley Brown's book is about acknowledging and even using sexuality for one's benefit in a savvy way - a controversial concept for a feminist to be sure - but Wood's character doesn't show signs of this, and if anything, she's pretty naïve. It kind of erodes the equality aspect of the film. Women are as sexual as men, it says, but they either want to be dominated (as Jeffries' character prefers at the end) or they don't mind sacrificing their careers to get married (as Wood and Bacall's characters do).

Hey, the film is just a playful little comedy and in 1964 I guess you could look at it as a stepping stone of feminism, just as Brown's book was, despite its mix of progressive and regressive content - but these overtones and the lengthy car chase prevented me from rating it higher. Worth watching though.

Not your typical romantic comedy, in that it's worth watching.

[ogmios · 7/10 · 5 February 2000]

This movie is NOT what I expected from a 60's-era romantic comedy. Sure, it's got the formulaic plot, but it wouldn't be a romantic comedy without it, right? Instead of worrying about the plot--you won't miss anything anyway, you've already seen it a million times--rather enjoy the witty dialogue, the clever one-liners and insinuations, and the oblique social satire. There's even a dash of good acting.

If they had adapted ETIQUETTE . . .

[pixrox1 · 6/10 · 13 March 2014]

. . . into a film in which a character named "Emily Post" went around correcting the table manners of Lauren Bacall, Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, and Natalie Wood, it may well have made for a BETTER movie than SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL. In the first place, "girls" do NOT have PhD's. Secondly, a book of demographic information and dating tips could have been abridged into an 114-minute on-screen dramatic reading, and been far more entertaining that the lame plot on exhibition here. Taking only its title and author's name from Ms. Brown's original self-help book, the character "Helen Gurly Brown" is presented as a 23-year-old blushing virgin daring to dish out sex advice (something priests have been doing for centuries WITHOUT blushing). Ho ho ho (yawn). Also, Helen's middle name is pronounced the same as "girlie," making this flick a "girlie show" titter-titter (shrug). The material here is so thin, the movie is "padded" out with a slapstick car chase dragging on for nearly half an hour for its "big finale." This is even less hilarious than the coin-operated mirrors shown in STOP MAGAZINE's men's room. People expecting to see A MAN AND A WOMAN-type movie instead are cursed with a dumbed-down version of IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD.

Fun Movie with Touchy Subject Matter

[Eric266 · 6/10 · 23 July 2018]

There is something infectious about this comedy. The cast is about as perfect as you can get, but the subject matter was a bit awkward when compared to today's mores.

Before Carrie Bradshaw there was Helen Gurley Brown (Natalie Wood) a real life psychologist and businesswoman (she was editor of Cosmo for 32 years). Ms. Brown has just written a very controversial book about sex and the single girl (hence the title). It creates a firestorm amongst her male colleagues and her conservative patients. Tony Curtis is Bob Weston, a writer for a sleazy National Enquire-esque magazine called Stop. Bob wants to get an interview with Ms. Brown, but pretends to be a patient in need of marital counseling as a ruse. He uses his next door neighbors', Frank (Henry Fonda) and Syvia (Lauren Becall), volatile marriage as material. Of course a romance blossoms and then the normal confusion and hijinks ensue.

My issue with the film is the way Ms. Brown is portrayed. She is a befuddled, confused and weak female. She's also a terrible therapist. Despite writing a book on how a single girl can be successful, she immediately allows herself to become involved with a married patient. If I was the real Helen Brown, I would be appalled. Ms. Wood is gorgeous and I'm captivated by her screen presence, but she plays Ms. Brown as a woman who needs a man...the exact opposite of the book she wrote and my recollections of Ms. Brown in real life (mostly from reading her biography).

I understand this was set in the 1964 when views of male/female relationship skewed more towards male dominance, but it was still hard for me to accept that Ms. Brown could accomplish so much while being so desperate for a man...and a married one at that. Her therapy techniques violate every code of ethics you can imagine. Sure, it was a funny movie and I enjoyed it, but it left me feeling awkward at how simple women were portrayed.

The supporting cast is top notch and the movie's best selling point. Fonda and Bacall as the bickering neighbors are a treat. Mel Ferrer as Brown's fellow psychologist and potential love interest is hilariously smarmy and cocky. Fran Jeffries and Leslie Parish are attractive and funny love interests/secretary for Bob. Larry Storch appears in a cameo as a motorcycle cop during the finale's odd highway chase scene. Count Basie and his orchestra are here just to provide some gravitas, but don't really play any key roles.

There is a running gag about Tony Curtis wearing a woman's robe and everyone referring to him as Mr. Lemon. Curtis and Jack Lemon had starred in "Some Like It Hot" a few years before where they dressed like women. The gag was funny the first two times, but it got overplayed.

I have to say something about the chase scene. It seems that every romantic comedy in the 1960s had a chase scene. This one had a funny idea of the first three cars tossing a quarter to the toll taker. The last car leaves a dollar and takes the 75 cents. It was silly, poorly filmed, but made me laugh. Then there is another similar thing involving pretzels which I simply did not understand. I'm sure there was a point, but I missed it.

With this much talent, it was going to succeed and it does. I just wish Ms. Brown had been played a bit more wisely and not as such an easy mark for Tony Curtis' Bob Weston.

A fun movie with a provocative name

[Mendelovich · 10/10 · 8 April 1999]

The stars that this movie features promise and deliver. I have never seen a sweeter woman than Natalie Wood here. Tony Curtis is the tabloid bad guy first, who becomes the romantic fool later. Henry Fonda manufactures pantyhoses and is happily, and many times sadly married to Lauren Bacall, once his secretary. The plot is wonderfully built around the developing romance between Curtis and Wood and its intertwining with the tensions between Fonda and Bacall. Curtis develops a scheme to bring Wood to admit that she did or didn't (you know what), the results of which will be published in STOP!, the worst tabloid. After he falls in love with her everything changes, but the problem is that the scheme included Fonda, and this is further complicated by Bacall's temperament. The complication produces many comical situations you will enjoy.

Early 1960s fun doesn't stick the landing

[Sphinx_in_Pink · 6/10 · 16 August 2020]

Light, fluffy fun with great vintage wardrobes. Natalie Wood was good as Helen Gurley Brown. Would have liked more scenes involving the proudly trashy magazine. However, a little car chase goes a long way, and the interminable chase at the end drags the movie down.

It tries to be hip and funny but comes off as dated, boorish and smarmy.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 31 October 2013]

This film is a product of its times. In 1964, film standards and society's standards in general had changed dramatically from the so-called 'good old days'. Folks were now talking more openly about sex and the success of Helen Gurley Brown's book "Sex and the Single Girl" led to this completely fictionalized film of the same name. While Natalie Wood supposedly plays Brown, this is a movie version--one that looks gorgeous, not scary. And in this film she is a writer AND psychotherapist. Her nemesis is the editor of a sleazy rag (Tony Curtis) and he wants to get to know her better in order to write some sexy exposee. At the same time, his neighbors (Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall) fight constantly and they give him an idea--pretend to be his neighbor and see Dr. Brown for therapy--and eventually seduce her.

This film tries to be edgy and the word sex if used 1832413 times. However, if you strip away all the edginess, you are left with a bad film--with a plot that seems amazingly dated and silly. Additionally, the dialog is equally horrible--ridiculous and dated. An embarrassing film that tries to be hip but just seems dated, boorish and a bit sleazy.

A Charmer

[ares1996 · 8/10 · 19 January 2006]

I've seen this one a few times over the years and wish it would come out in DVD. Natalie Wood was never more beautiful, and the battle of the sexes was never more fun. It's great to see a love story that doesn't resort to foul language or adult humor, but simply witty dialog and the vagaries of human nature.

Tony Curtis plays a tabloid reporter trying to get the goods on Helen Gurley Brown (played by Natalie Wood) and her personal life to find out if she actually knows anything about sex and relationships. To this end, he impersonates an acquaintance (played by Henry Fonda) whose having problems with his jealous wife (played by Lauren Bacall) so that he can pose as a patient and seek her advice.

The confusion caused by this impersonation just leads to more problems. However, this is just a sideshow to the reporter's seduction of Dr. Brown and the glorious mayhem that ensues.

Her constant comparisons of Tony Curtis to Jack Lemmon (Curtis' co-star in Some Like It Hot) will appeal anyone who's seen that classic.

rom-com for its time

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 30 August 2018]

Bob Weston (Tony Curtis) is the womanizing managing editor for the trashy magazine STOP. He's the best of the worst as the critically derided magazine soars in popularity. One of his prime targets is Helen Gurley Brown (Natalie Wood)'s new book and he ridicules her as a 23 year old virgin. Her patients are cancelling. Bob's neighbor Frank Broderick (Henry Fonda) is fighting with his wife Sylvia (Lauren Bacall). With their marriage in crisis, Bob has a crazy idea to kill two birds with one stone. He pretends to be Bob taking Helen as his psychiatrist.

This was a hit for its time. As a modern movie, it struggles to be more than a weak sitcom. It may be an edgy rom-com at the forefront of sexual liberation at the time. That is all meaningless today. It does not make the movie good. More importantly, it does not make the movie fun. Frank and Sylvia are a miserable couple. They don't have any chemistry until much later in the movie. There is nothing to root for between Bob and Helen. There is nothing to like about him. In fact, she has no fitting partner. There is some screwball but I don't find the characters funny. Thereby I don't find the joking funny either. This is definitely a rom-com for its time. It's past its time and this is no longer the hilarious hit that it once was.

Natalie, You've Been Punked

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 19 October 2009]

I was reading in the Citadel Film Book Series The Films Of Lauren Bacall that the real Helen Gurley Brown was less than thrilled with the film made of her work which was a landmark in feminist literature. Turning it into a poor man's version of a Rock Hudson-Doris Day sex comedy she probably never envisioned.

The Rock and Doris roles are taken by Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Tony plays a writer for a Confidential style magazine, today it would be the National Enquirer. He's already done articles debunking her credibility as far as being an expert on sex. Now Curtis proposes to publisher Edward Everett Horton to really get to know this person and embarks on a campaign to seduce the sex expert with all the cunning of Ashton Kutcher on the punk. But as what happens in all these films he actually falls for her.

Of course it doesn't help that he gets in to see her pretending he's hosiery manufacturer and neighbor Henry Fonda and using his marital problems with Lauren Bacall as his entry to the pop psychologist's office. In this film Helen Gurley Brown is not the editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine, but a Joyce Brothers type psychologist.

I wish I could remember who said it, but I read a review of this film once where the reviewer said that the parts Fonda and Bacall played in cheaper productions years ago would have been played by Edgar Kennedy and Dot Farley. I should only have said something that brilliant. Watching Fonda I did see traces of the slow burn and Bacall is certainly more chic than Dot Farley. Nevertheless the way they bicker at each other could be the best thing about Sex And The Single Girl. Neither Fonda or Bacall is terribly proud of Sex And The Single Girl. I wonder what could have induced them to appear in this film?

It's not the worst film that any of the leads or an exceptionally talented name cast of character players ever appeared in. Still these kind of films were being turned out regularly in the late Eisenhower- Kennedy years and this one dates real badly.

Helen Gurley Brown's name and real contributions to feminism have stood the test of time better than this film has.

Cut and very silly, the 60's summed up...

[weezl23 · 16 July 2000]

Wood is the 'single girl,' a 20 year old doctor who just released a book on sex as a single girl, the catch is... she's still a virgin. Curtis is a sleazy reporter covering a story on Wood and her book. Curtis eventually falls for Wood's character, beneath all the lies he has told her. Cute side-stories with Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall. Worth a watch just for the chase seen near the end.

a harbinger of later romantic comedies

[aaronp-5 · 7/10 · 29 August 2000]

This film is an early version of the high energy romantic comedies that would come later to both the big screen and television. Moonlighting comes to mind as an example of this. It's a charming film that sometimes likes itself too much. And that's when the camp gets really fun to watch.

Good premise totally sabotaged by fatally silly ending

[bobvend · 6/10 · 19 November 2012]

The sixties sex comedy can be considered a genre into itself. This entry into that franchise holds lots of promise at the outset and includes some wonderfully ironic comedy slants and in-jokes. But the impostor/deception angle that propels the film has been done often before and much better. Soon the film seems to come off as merely a framework in which Fran Jefferies gets to warble and wiggle at predetermined intervals.

It's no stretch for Tony Curtis to portray a sleazy writer for a bottom-of-the-barrel tabloid magazine; he inhabits the role well as this is familiar territory for him. Natalie Wood- who could fall face- first into a septic treatment plant and still emerge luminous- tries hard with her character. But I can't decide if this material is wrong for her, or is it the other way around. If for no other reason than perhaps they "owed someone a picture", Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda are inexplicably present to portray the bickering long-married neighbor couple. It's hard to imagine that either of these giants would be here by choice.

And nothing clears up misunderstandings and solves problems like a good old car-chase scene! There's a right way (and a right reason) to shoehorn such a spectacle into a movie, but you won't find that here. The result is a juvenile, silly, and pointless finale. A running sight gag involving pretzels is the only ingredient that makes it even slightly amusing. They're crisp and salty and satisfying...everything this movie isn't. Too bad.

Smart sex comedy with a slight social commentary !!!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 5 April 2020]

I consider Natalie Wood one of my sex symbols of all times, a brunette pretty girl had a strong sex appeal in such rarely beauty face, also is enough clever actress, sadly she gone so young, in this sex comedy she play Helen Brown a feminist psychologist, who wrote a successful book over the sexual revolution, in the meantime a rag and filthy magazine called Stop published an article exposing the renowned doctor in inappropriate form, the smug Bob Weston (Tony Curtis) magazine's manager wants more, an interview, promptly refused by angry Helen, then the clever Bob uses his odd neighbors Frank (Fonda) and Sylvia (Bacall), who often in clash by jealous, making their marriage almost falling down, Bob introduces to Helen as Frank, tries getting in the main target, an interview, slowly Bob will getting soft, falling in love for the beauty single Doctor, we must recognize that the premise is widely exciting, these purposeful disarray is key success, have countless minor gags along the movie, as the Magazine' office everything has to pay by coins machine, water, mirror, tap water, food, really fresh vision that has a dartboard, it were introduces in all American Corporations, also in the final sequence on traffic has a strong criticism on road police's practice in apply traffic fines in any situation, further the producers debunk those yellow magazines that how much worst it were better financial results is coming, highly recommended for all generation!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2011 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

Funny and and attractive comedy with very good cast such as Curtis, Wood, Fonda and Bacall

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 6 December 2023]

A reporter for a trashy magazine called Bob Weston (Tony Curtis) intends to write an expose on the 'international institute of advanced marital and pre-marital studios', an organization run by Helen Brown (Natalie Wood). Curtis poses as a man having marital trouble, in order to get close to Wood. Things get sticky when she wants to meet Curtis' wife and three women show up claiming to be her. She plays the girl who became the leader of the sex revolution...He plays...Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall and Mel Ferrer bring you the world's greatest example of dedicated do-it-yourself!. The Do's and Don'ts - the Shoulds and Shouldnts of the Greatest Game on Earth. She plays the leader of the sex revolution in America! He plays...She wrote the book on love!

A raunchy sex comedy starring Natalie Wood as Helen Gurley (real-life author of a best-selling book on marital relationships) and Curtis as a smut magazine writer who attempts to demonstrate the psychologist's lack of personal experience in sexual matters. A fun movie with lots of chaos, laughter, confusion, slapstick and entertainment. The result is a sex comedy as crisp and polished as the thin ice on which it deftly skates. This confusing but at the same time amusing story is full of plot twists and turns until reaching a disconcerting ending. Loosely based on the book by Helen Gurley Brown, from which the original material supposedly comes. Unfunny things at times, but rewarding, although two sacred monsters are criminally wasted: Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda who play a couple with marital problems, they are extremely in love, but they fight constantly. However, despite their secondary performances, they show their experience by vastly and coldly surpassing Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Director Richard Quine has a moderate talent for comedy, but here he shows some very nice scenes and a really funny final car chase that almost reminds us of the Marx Brothers gags due to the surreal madness and extravagances that happen on the road . In these hilarious last 20 minutes, the main cast is overshadowed by Larry Storch as a hatchet-faced motorcycle cop, while several cars are stamped on his machine. Protagonists Curtis, Wood, Fonda, Bacall are well accompanied by a good cast full of slightly familiar faces, such as: Mel Ferrer, Leslie Parrish, Edward Everett Horton, Larry Storch, Stubby Kaye, Howard St. John, Otto Kruger, Barbara Bouchet and even the Count Basie Orchestra performing alongside the pretty dancer and singer Fran Jeffries.

This modestly entertaining bit of whimsical tale was professionally directed by Richard Quine, though it has its ups and downs. Quine was nice actor and director who met fellow MGM contract player Susan Peters on the set of the film Tish (1942), they became engaged and married during the filming of their second movie together, Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942). Quine was a good artisan expert on comedy and drama as proved in the following ones : Hotel, Oh Dad poor dad Mama is hung you in the Closet , Paris when it sizzles, W, Prisoner of Zenda, among others. Bell, Book and Candle. Rating Sex and the Single Girl (1964): 6.5/10. Acceptable and decent comedy. The flick will appeal to Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood fans.

A Great Cast in a Silly Farce-Pure 1960's!

[mike48128 · 8/10 · 21 August 2013]

WB sure has made some silly movies, and this one is no exception. It's a lot like the WB comedies of Barbra Streisand from the same time period. Forget about the title. Natale Wood plays "Dr. Helen Gurley Brown" as the author of the book "Sex and the Single Girl." No resemblance to the book, whatsoever. A great cast in a lightweight film: Natale Wood, Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall, Jose Ferrer, Stubie Kay, Larry Storch. The guy who played "Gen. Bullmoose" in Li'l Abner. Also Leslie Parish (she was Daisy Mae) and several Hollywood character actors old film buffs will recognize at once. Edward Everett Horton as the Chairman of the Board of "Stop" Magazine. Count Basie and his Orchestra. Fran Jeffries is a "knockout" as Gretchen. Great chemistry between Tony and Natale. They really seem to enjoy kissing each other. She is wonderful to see as a fresh-faced young girl. The plot is so silly it's barely worth mentioning. Through many cases of mistaken identity, Tony Curtis writes an article for that sleaze-bag mag "Stop" and exposes the writer of that "Sex" book as a complete phony. Henry Fonda, a nylon salesman, is wrongly accused of being a "trigamist" married to three women. Tony Curtis has several girlfriends and falls in love with Natale (who wouldn't?) The whole thing ends with a hysterical 20 minute slapstick car chase reminiscent of the old Universal movies from the 1940's. Larry Storch as the motorcycle cop goes "nuts" and tries to arrest everybody. It's a lot of fun in a totally forgettable film that will remind you of "Mad Mad World". It's only highly-rated because Natale Wood is in it, and we miss her so much!

A Total Waste - Cartoonish Garbage

[martys-7 · 1/10 · 7 April 2009]

Here is a movie that could have been a 60s classic lampooning tabloid journalism, skin-deep psychology, proto-feminism, marital problems, hypocrisy, and sexual freedom. Instead, it is a cartoonish pastiche of amateurish slapstick, poorly-time jokes, silly contrived situations, and one of the most idiotic and long car chases in the history of cinema.

The idea of a sleazy editor doing a hatchet job on a 23-year-old virgin psychologist who has written a bestseller affirming the sexual lives of single women should certainly have hilarious possibilities - specially if he is a liar, she cannot handle her own feelings, and they are sexually attracted to each other. However, the script is ludicrous and inconsistent often degenerating into total silliness: at first, the story appears to take place in New York, then all the characters end up at the L.A. airport; a woman is singing with the Count Basie Orchestra and trying to land a recording contract, then she wants to fly away with any man anywhere; a man struggles with his business and marriage, then he just decides to fly away to Hawaii or Fiji.

The inept direction give us the sad spectacle of screen giants Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall doing the twist while the Count Basie Orchestra is performing a swing song! They try saying their idiotic lines with utter lack of conviction - probably this movie was an embarrassment to them. Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis also fail at being funny although that is the script's fault and not their own. In the long run, it is hard to watch so much stupidity and wasted talent on the screen. Avoid it at all costs.

A Film do be Released in DVD Format

[cinefilo-6 · 10/10 · 6 January 2005]

Despite all his critics,"Sex and the Single Girl" is a delight,a pure entertainment film with a marvelous cast giving very good performances. This movie deserves to be released in DVD here Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood are better than in "The Great Race".Henry Fonda found in Lauren Bacall one partner in the same caliber of Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn and the two made a terrific team.Mel Ferrer contributes with funny moments in a rare comedy performance.The screenplay are witty and gave to us highlights like Quine homage to Billy Wilder during a Tony Curtis/Natalie Wood seduction scene.Of, Course Mr. Wilder is a renowned director,Quine don't have the same status but in this movie and several in his filmography he shows a great talent special for comedy and develop a friendship with the late Jack Lemmon who once said Quine is one of most underrated directors in this business.Mr. Quine bought to us:"Bell,Book and Candle","Notorious Landlady","Strangers When We Met" and "How to Murder Your Wife" plus "Operation Mad Ball" the movie Wilder saw and invite Lemmon for the Classic "Some Like Hot". Mr. Jack Lemmon and "Some Like It hot" are often celebrated in "Sex and the Single Girl".For all this reasons watched It!

Natalie and Tony make a photogenic pair, but this script leaves them stranded...

[moonspinner55 · 3/10 · 3 April 2008]

In-name-only screen-version of Helen Gurley Brown's book, a glossy but fairly unamusing comedy which begins as a semi-sophisticated battle-of-the-sexes, eventually becoming a ditsy slapstick outing which treats its characters as overage juveniles. Gossip-magazine editor Tony Curtis lands on Natalie Wood's couch--but sex is the furthest thing from her mind as she's playing a psychologist. Gurley Brown was probably red-faced at having her title (and name) utilized for nothing more than another '60s bedroom farce (one wherein the bedroom is kept strictly under wraps). Curtis and Wood look great in their prime, but their characters are all talk. The liveliest material is saved for alternate couple, Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall. *1/2 from ****

Stars, sex and fun

[elisedfr · 8/10 · 26 October 2012]

Sex comedies from the sixties may seem a trifle dated now: it's a long way since Rock Hudson and Doris Day made their way through the seduction game. But what it loses in accuracy (if it was ever accurate), it wins back in appealing, innocent charm. This one was made in 1964, and follows the regular storyline: a guy who's strongly described as a womanizer, decides to make love to an inexperienced young woman, but she confuses him with someone else and the two fall in love in the process. This time, the guy is a newspaper man, from a tabloid (directed by Edward Everett Horton, who hasn't changed a bit since Fred Astaire) and the girl, a psychiatrist loosely based on the journalist Helen Gurley Brown- in fact that's her name, but the rest is fiction. There's also a shade of The Moon Is Blue, with everyone wondering if Helen is or not a virgin.

The film itself is not very long and you have sometimes the feeling it lasts forever- and sometimes you wish it could. In the pivotal part, Natalie Wood is plain exquisite. She seemed to have grown more and more beautiful with each film she made, and it's no exception. She also manages to be terribly funny, without turning ridiculous, childlike and touching yet never losing her sophisticated seduction. Wood was about 26 then and to me that makes the film work much better than the Day-Hudson comedies. Who could believe a thirty-ish, attractive woman with an interesting job and an independent mind wouldn't meet any man before Rock decides to come along? As for Tony Curtis, he's very fine as the seducer. He has the chance to play a few wacky comedy scenes as well, jumping in the river with Natalie in his arms, and dressing as a woman to get out of her building- a Some Like it Hot joke he even explains to the audience. There's no Tony Randall here but Henry Fonda is the best friend, a fussy, middle-aged, depressed lingerie manufacturer, who can't seem to make things right with his wife, blasé Lauren Bacall. The real magic of the film is anytime Wood and Curtis interact, flirt and seduce each other, but the two older stars make for a very enjoyable counterpart. Fonda, claiming he will "never laugh again" then giggling over a racy tabloid is priceless. So is Bacall, opening her door to Natalie an early morning, with her legend husky voice. We've also got Mel Ferrer in a highly unexpected turn, as the light-hearted and pro-dancer psychiatrist Rudy and Fran "Meglio Stasera" Jeffries has a small part as Tony's casual girlfriend -and of course getting to sing the title song.

Richard Quine gave a less dynamic direction than usual, but his emphasis on the easy life of the early 60's well-offs is still pretty funny to watch: the buildings, dresses, dances, dates come all from better days, probably idealized even then by the gentle eye of Cinemascope. The car chase near the end is uneven as well, with dragging bits against genuine laughter. Another pleasant point, still is the very breezy music written by Neal Hefti, the man responsible for The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park. A short piece devoted to accompany the two young leads 'romance, "The Game" is probably the sweetest Hefti ever get. Don't forget to check the in-jokes; Quine makes repeated allusions to one of his favorite actors, Jack Lemmon, who would a year after co-star with both Curtis and Wood in comedy masterpiece The Great Race. "When you smile like that, you do look a lot like Jack Lemmon", remarks a smitten Natalie through mid-film. He does not by the way, but who cares ? Lemmon's subtle yet persistent shadow on the film is another little thing that makes Sex and the Single Girl very lovable indeed.

Natalie & Tony & Henry & Lauren

[mmallon4 · 5/10 · 17 June 2016]

A mainstream movie with sex in the title, even pre-code didn't do that. I could only find two films which precede Sex and the Single Girl; Sex (1920) and The Opposite Sex (1956). Although I imagine after this a movie having with "Sex" in a movie's title wasn't such a big deal but here they sure take advantage of it with the animated opening which puts a lot of emphasis on the word 'SEX' in big capital letters. Perhaps the movie may have something interesting to say on its subject with Natalie Wood playing a psychologist who is a 23 old virgin (which characters in the film viewed as a compliment) or something about sleazy journalism but the movie becomes too dull to bother deciphering.

From what I've seen I get the impression that Richard Quine is a lousy director. He's done a number of movies with great casts and interesting premises but are let down by flat, uninspired direction. The opening scene of Sex and the Single Girl is a gem with 1930's comedy actor Edward Everett Horton giving a speech on how proud he is of his publication becoming "the filthy rag it is today". Sadly it goes downhill from there. Even with the movie's madcap finale, it is hard to care what's going on.

Henry Fonda was ashamed of this movie stating in an interview that he agreed to star in the film as a comprise to do a box office picture so he could indulge in doing movies which interested him such as 12 Angry Men and The Ox-Bow Incident. There are worse movies you can do but why did he hate it so much? I doubt he would have an issue with appearing in a sex comedy as he himself starred in the sexually charged comedy The Lady Eve years earlier or is it because of the movie's sleaze factor? Who knows...

Although I would be lying if I didn't say I still got some superficial enjoyment out of the film. I am a sucker for the 60's aesthetic with the bright, colourful sets (the stocking factory is very amusing) and the cool, breezy music by Neal Hefti. Likewise, I do like the contrast between two generations present between Tony Curtis & Natalie Wood and Henry Fonda & Lauren Bacall. Sex and the Single Girl could have been a neo-screwball gem. In the end, it's a movie which looks appealing from the outside but is hollow on the inside.