# Cactus Flower (film)

Cactus Flower is a 1969 American screwball comedy film directed by Gene Saks, and starring Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman and Goldie Hawn, who won an Academy Award for her performance.
The screenplay was adapted by I. A. L. Diamond from the 1965 Broadway play of the same title written by Abe Burrows, which, in turn, is based on the French play Fleur de cactus by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Gredy. Cactus Flower was the ninth highest-grossing film of 1969.

## Plot

Twenty-one-year-old Toni Simmons attempts suicide by inhaling gas from her stove. Toni's neighbor Igor Sullivan smells the gas and rescues her by using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which evolves into a kiss after Toni regains consciousness.
Toni's suicide attempt came after being stood up by her lover, Manhattan dentist Julian Winston. Julian had told Toni from the beginning of their relationship that he had a wife and three children. Unbeknownst to Toni, Julian is not married. Unfortunately for Julian, Toni hates lying above all other transgressions. Impressed that Toni had been willing to die over him, Julian decides to marry Toni. However, she is concerned for his wife's well-being and insists on meeting her to ensure that she has agreed to divorce him and will be taken care of. Julian asks Stephanie Dickinson, his longtime nurse, to pose as his wife. At first unwilling, she ultimately relents because she has long been in love with her employer.
When Toni and Stephanie initially meet at the record store where Toni works, Toni senses Stephanie's feelings for Julian and asks him to help Stephanie to find another man. Julian lies again, telling her that his wife already has a boyfriend. Toni immediately insists on meeting him, and Julian's friend Harvey is enlisted in the role of Stephanie's boyfriend. After a "coincidental" encounter with Stephanie and Harvey at a club, Harvey is swiftly chased away by Julian after Harvey's real girlfriend runs into the foursome, humiliating his supposed girlfriend. After the tense night at the club, Julian gifts Toni an expensive mink stole, but Toni sends it to Stephanie with Julian's original note still attached, lifting Stephanie's spirits.
Embracing her newfound confidence, Stephanie finally accepts the overtures of Julian's patient, Señor Arturo Sánchez, a Latin diplomat in the United Nations. After attending a ball with him in a new evening gown and the mink stole, she invites Sánchez to the club from the previous night, where Toni, Julian and Igor have also returned. Stephanie and Igor quickly hit it off to the dismay and jealousy of both Julian and Toni. After dancing with gleeful abandon at the club with Igor, Stephanie arrives at work the next morning giddy, still wearing her outfit from the night before. She happily shares a few vague details with Julian about her night spent on the beach with Igor. Stephanie notices that the cactus on her desk has bloomed.
Moments later, Stephanie and Julian get into an argument, and Stephanie quits. She visits Toni's apartment to confess to her, telling her that she is actually Julian's nurse and that he has never been married. After she leaves, Julian arrives to tell Toni that his wife refuses to divorce him, but that he and Toni can continue their relationship. Toni is exasperated with his dishonesty and decides to do a little lying of her own. She leaves him for Igor, fooling Julian into believing that she and Igor have been seeing each other all along.
Julian storms off, getting drunk at a bar that night, and later encounters Stephanie at the office the next morning. She has returned to pick up the cactus that she keeps on her desk, which has flowered - just like she has. Julian tells her that he and Toni have split up and, although he was initially devastated, he realized that he was relieved that he would not have to marry Toni. Stephanie is overjoyed and embraces him as Julian confesses that he has fallen in love with her, leading them to kiss.

## Cast

* Walter Matthau as Julian Winston, a dentist
* Ingrid Bergman as Stephanie Dickinson, Winston's assistant
* Goldie Hawn as Toni Simmons, Winston's girlfriend
* Jack Weston as Harvey Greenfield, Winston's patient and friend
* Rick Lenz as Igor Sullivan, Toni's neighbor, a writer
* Vito Scotti as Señor Arturo Sánchez, a diplomat and patient of Winston
* Irene Hervey as Mrs. Durant, a patient of Winston
* Eve Bruce as Georgia, Harvey Greenfield's date
* Irwin Charone as Toni's employer, a record store manager
* Matthew Saks as Stephanie Dickinson's nephew

## Release

The film premiered at two locations in New York City, the Paris Theater and Astor Theatre, on Monday, December 15, 1969.

## Reception

The film was a box-office success, becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of 1969.
Howard Thompson of The New York Times stated that "both the expansive scenario of I. A. L. Diamond and the flexible direction of Gene Saks open up and even ventilate the story."
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3½ stars out of four, and declared that "the chemistry works" and "the movie is better than the play."
Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four, writing, "This is a film in the old style, but not in the good old style. The lines are neither current nor witty."
Variety wrote that the names of the stars "should pack some boxoffice punch. The film, however, drags, which is probably the [worst] thing that can be said of a light comedy. It's due to sloppy direction by Gene Saks and the miscasting of Matthau opposite Miss Bergman."
Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Cactus Flower was a successful Broadway comedy and it translates to the screen quite nicely ... It is a craftily contrived piece of silliness enacted by competent and attractive people: Laugh In's Goldie Hawn, Walter Matthau and Ingrid Bergman in that order of laudability."
In her first major film role, Goldie Hawn, once described by Time as the "dizzy cream puff who is constantly blowing her lines [on Laugh-In]", was praised in that same magazine for being "a natural reactress; her timing is so canny that even her tears run amusingly". Hawn's performance in the film won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85%, based on 20 reviews, with an average score of 6.9/10. On Metacritic, the film received a score of 67, based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Category | Subject | Result |
| Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Goldie Hawn | Won |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Goldie Hawn | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Ingrid Bergman | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Goldie Hawn | Won |
| Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium | I. A. L. Diamond | Nominated |

## Music

The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones and featured vocalists Sarah Vaughan and Johnny Wesley. The soundtrack album was released on the Bell label in 1969.
The Vinyl Factory stated, "The music Jones supplied for this trippy film is Quincy's nod to psychedelia and sunshine pop – covering the Monkees' (composed by Neil Diamond)'I'm a Believer', and 'I Wonder What She's Doin' Tonight', which was penned by Boyce and Hart, also of Monkees fame. Sarah Vaughan adds some gravity with 'The Time for Love Is Anytime', and there's even a groovy version of 'To Sir, With Love'. A sweet cocktail." The score also contains a second Monkees cover, "She Hangs Out", written by Jeff Barry, another artist who had worked with the Monkees.

### Track listing

All compositions by Cynthia Weil and Quincy Jones, except where noted:
* "The Time for Love Is Anytime ("Cactus Flower" Theme)" − 2:48
* "To Sir with Love" (Mark London, Don Black) − 3:30
* "I Needs to Be Bee'd With" (Quincy Jones, Ernie Shelby) − 2:35
* "I'm a Believer" (Neil Diamond) − 3:00
* "The Time for Love Is Anytime ("Cactus Flower" Theme)" − 3:25
* "The Time for Love Is Anytime ("Cactus Flower" Theme) [Piano Version]" − 3:25
* "She Hangs Out (Doin' the Dentist)" (Jeff Barry) − 3:45
* "The Spell You Spin" (Quincy Jones, Dave Grusin, Bob Russell) − 3:48
* "I Wonder What She's Doin' Tonight" (Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart) − 3:00
* "The Time for Love Is Anytime ("Cactus Flower" Theme) [Organ Version]" − 3:17

### Personnel

* Orchestra arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones including
** Sarah Vaughan (track 1), Johnny Wesley (track 3) − vocals
** Jimmy Haskell − arranger (tracks 1, 5, 6 & 10)
** Bobby Bryant − fluegelhorn
** Artie Kane, Roger Kellaway − piano
** Dennis Budimir − guitar
** Earl Palmer − drums
** Carol Kaye − electric bass
** Gene Estes, Emil Richards, Larry Bunker − percussion

## Influence

The film has been remade several times. An unauthorized Hindi version titled Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?, starring Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen and Katrina Kaif, was released in 2005. In 2007, it was remade in Kannada as Sathyavan Savithri, starring Ramesh Aravind. An English language remake, Just Go With It, starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, was released in 2011. An Egyptian version titled Nos Sa'a Gawaz (Half-Hour Marriage), starring Rushdy Abaza, Shadia and Adel Imam, was released in 1969.