Send Me No Flowers (1964)I know a lot of us have affection for Doris Day and her regular woman spunky Mom next door approach. And Rock Hudson and his sidekick Tony Randall are first rate comic actors. Even director Norman Jewison is a solid force in 1960s and 70s Hollywood, if not one of their inventive geniuses (think "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Moonstruck"). So I understand that a lot of people have liked this movie for its lighthearted charm and the bright 1964 colors and sets.But at its it's a rotten movie. The script is one of the worst you can imagine--simplistic in its main idea, with clumsy or even mindless dialog, and a kind of television-at-its-worst tone. This is especially distressing because Julius Epstein wrote it--he's one of the Epstein twins who did the "Casablanca" screenplay. It might be actually a simple fact that Epstein was from a different generation than the movie's characters and he didn't have a feel for the Cold War let alone this flip side to the Cold War. Put all this another way? This ain't no "Pillow Talk."That 1959 movie, most of you know, is the classic Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedy, and it plays well into both of their personas (and includes Randall, too). It has some really funny writing, a clever idea that lets Hudson work his acting chops a bit, and a more neurotic and annoying/lovable Day. Here you have to get into a kind of loping cornball, a series of interludes of comic anger and one-liner comebacks. It does have a fascinating aspect in the second half where Randall moves in with Hudson and there is a pre-saging (pre-staging?) of "The Odd Couple" (which Randall would later perform on television. They even are in bad together (unhappily), which you couldn't yet do in Hollywood due to the last vestiges of the Hays Code. (Hudson was gay, Randall was not, if this matters much.)Hudson rushes into the bright, sunny kitchen and says, "When a man's wife thinks he's having an affair, how can he convince her he's not?"Randall titters, "He can't." (This is right where there is an interesting early product placement: Rice Krispies and Maxwell House.) Randall (a lawyer) then suggests he confess he's having an affair as a way to break through the problem. Comic potential--and it gets a bit more silly than funny, but it does lead to the most interesting parts of the movie. Stick it out that far if you can.Maybe it's wrong to expect too much from any Doris Day movie (full disclosure: I find her more annoying than lovable). It's a time in both America and in the movies where part of society wore its glibness as a kind of badge. I mean, if you see "Glass Bottomed Boat" you'll see this maybe at it's clearest. Or here, where there is so little to really think or care about, except maybe enjoying the company of the three main characters, as far as that can go. It is kind of gussied up sit-com television half hour stretched into a full 100 minutes.

Send Me No Flowers is a very entertaining film, and a real treat for fans of Doris Day and Rock Hudson. I marginally prefer Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back, but Send Me No Flowers is still very good. It is a touch too long however, and it lags a tad on occasions. Even with these very minor criticisms, it is very sophisticated and funny. The script has many witty lines delivered with panache by all involved, and the story although the subject matter is somewhat morbid manages to be beautifully constructed and sophisticated. The production values are beautiful especially in the cinematography and Doris Day's clothes, while the music is lovely with an irresistible title song. The acting is great, Rock Hudson in particular is brilliant in a difficult role, while Paul Lynde really stands out being hysterical as the cemetery plot salesman and Doris Day still has that fresh and endearing approach that I love her for. Also Norman Jewison does do a stellar job directing. Overall, very nice film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Oh how i miss those days, where a picture didn't have to blow you out of the cinema, og to provoke your stymie with bloody violence. The Hollywood times, where you could get far with humor, love and a warm story.I grew up with the likes of Doris Day, Tony Randall, Rock HUdson, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brandon, Grace Kelly and many others fantastic actors. In this period of from 1945 - 1970 some of the best movies where made. We all remember films like Cacablanca, Some like it hot, The odd couple, The African Queen,From here to eternity, Roman holiday, The bridge over the river Kwai, Ben Hur, Spartacus, Doctor Zhivago. And take then the must fantastic musical that also where made before the time of the computer animation took over.Just think about Singing in the rain or my favorite, The sound of music and last The west side story. We domt make them any more. We don't know how to. People have chances and people have learn to demand more. Its just like drugs. The want more and bigger every time. I know that we later on has made bigger and more fantastic to watch for the eye and the ear movies. But where were those movies of our present, if we didn't have all the computer animation. What was Titanic, KIng Kong, Star Wars, The lord of the ring and many others of the big films of today. And how good are the actors of to day, when you take all the fancy computer tecnic away from them. Its just like inside the music world. Just you have a good face and a attitude, we give you the voice. Back in the old days, they had to be good acting, because there wasn't anything to save them. The makeup at the time, was awful, and the special affects wasen't effective. They had to rely on the actors, Screenplayers and the director. And think about how we admire the old gone stars. Look at Marylin, James Dean, Marlon Brandon, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Katharina Hepburn,John Wayne and Steve Mcqueen,and menu others. When we go into a poster shop, there are all there on the wall. They have become legends of a time where it all seemed easier and not so complex-ed as it is today. But back to send me no flower. I get filled up with joy, when i see movies like this. The plot is funny and the actors understand how to make it even better. Doris day is as she always were, charming, sweet and sexy as hell. All the female actors of today, who are me-lasting there buddy to find the perfect sexy look, should learn from Doris. Not a single time, showed she her naked body or even one breast in the nude, but we men still dream about her. Maybe because she still left somethings to imagine. She never sold out. Rock Hudson the perfect man, plays as always with grace and man power. He has the perfect face and it was god who gave him the perfect match on the screen in Doris Day. But they where only that good, because they had the perfect third wheel in Tony Randall. I have never seen a man play so perfectly a drunk, as he dos in this movie. Those 3 together is still the best date for me on a rainy day.I hope you all will go back to the old days to pick of some of those old movies and give them a chance. They might give you the time of your life, and then you might better understand why your parents or there parents always talk about that time in film history.All the best to you From Denmark.

After PILLOW TALK and LOVER COME BACK, I was expecting so much more than this film! The plot seems like a recycled TV sitcom episode and is overplayed throughout. The freshness of Rock Hudson and Doris Day together is pretty much gone as the plot just seems forced. About the only real positive is Tony Randall's cute performance.Rock is a hypochondriac who mistakenly thinks he's dying--he overhears the WRONG test results (just like Ralph Kramden, Fred Flintstone and many others). For a while he mopes around and overacts terribly, but finally decides he wants to find a new husband for his wife before he expires. That, a few cute moments and a big fight between DAY and HUDSON is about all you get in this film. Too bad.