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Ben's Top Pick for August
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SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL (1964) - August 25th
In a summer that gave us a 21st-century
look at female sexual
independence (as defined by Prada
and Dior, anyway) with Sex and the
City 2, spending two hours talking sex
with Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis in
1964 seems downright quaint.
The film is adapted from Helen
Gurley Brown’s bestselling 1962
novel, though that’s a bit like
suggesting the movie Milk is based
on the dairy product. What Warner
Brothers really wanted was the
wonderfully marketable title - Sex
and the Single Girl.
Tony Curtis is a magazine
writer - and I’m using the term
“magazine” loosely. Also the word
“writer.” He digs up dirt for a scandal
sheet. His editors - played with
slippery, unethical brilliance by
Edward Everett Horton and Howard
St. John - boast of the publication’s
utter lack of standards. “Thank you,
Bob, for living down to my
expectations,” Horton cheerfully tells
Curtis at an editorial meeting. “Keep
up the bad work,” he says to him later.
Their celebration of ethical
ignorance is not without purpose.
The magazine is investigating
whether Natalie Wood, playing
Brown, is a virgin. It’s relevant
because she’s just written a book
about sex and Curtis wants to
uncover whether the author has any
hands-on experience.
Despite the farce, the script is
insightful. Curtis and St. John must
pay to get water out of the faucet, dry
their hands and use the mirror. It’s
corporate America squeezing every
penny it can out of us, even in the
men’s room.
Adding gravity in supporting roles,
Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda play
Curtis’ neighbors - a couple married
ten years. The scene where they do
the twist gave me a rare burst of
confi dence. I found something I
might do better than Henry Fonda - dance.
The film lacks the sexual female
empowerment of Brown’s novel but
it’s still a charming reminder of a time
in Hollywood when a girl having a one-night
stand meant a girl with one
nightstand next to her bed. Take
that, Carrie Bradshaw.
by Ben Mankiewicz
 
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Lee Remick - 8/26
This sensitive, beautiful actress has rarely garnered the praise she deserves but we hope to remedy that situation with a tribute that includes Days of Wine and Roses (1962), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), A Face in the Crowd (1957) and other wonderful roles.
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