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Rating: 4.5 out of 5
My journey of watching every Academy Award winner in the Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress categories has led me to discover some interesting and enjoyable movies. I get excited when I get a film that is not an extreme drama and rolls on the comedy side of things. A comedy rarely wins an Academy Award, and I wanted to know what this film would be about. As usual, I shouldn’t judge a movie by its thumbnail. I saw that it starred Walter Matthau, but I didn’t realize it also starred Ingrid Bergman, and that it was Goldie Hawn’s first starring role. Directed by Gene Saks and adapted from the 1965 Broadway play of the same title, Cactus Flower is an adventure for love, trying to play the field and get out of things.
Cactus Flower is a hilarious film that begins with 21-year-old and cutie Toni Simmons (Hawn) who turns on the gas oven, places a picture of a man by her bedside and gets ready for bed. Toni is planning to commit suicide by inhaling the gas from her stove. As she sleeps, her neighbor, Igor Sullivan (Lenz), smells the gas, breaks into her apartment, and uses mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The mouth-to-mouth resuscitation evolves into a passionate kiss from Toni after she regains her senses.
Why is Toni trying to commit suicide? Good question. She was stood up by her lover Julian Winston (Matthau). Julian is a big-time Manhattan dentist who told Toni at the start of their relationship that he had a wife and three children. We know where this is going. Julian is a dawg and was trying to tap that ass. Also, Julian doesn’t have a wife or any kids. Before she was about to kill herself, Toni wrote Julian a suicide note but asked Igor to call Julian’s office and to tell the receptionist to tear up the letter.
Julian, on the other hand, is going on about his day. Stephanie Dickinson (Bergman) is Julian’s long-time, no-nonsense assistant. While with one of his regular clients, Julian is talking about how he is trying to spit game at this new little Australian stewardess. Julian gets the note and almost has a heart attack before running off to see Toni. When he sees that Toni is alright and is willing to die for him, he decides to propose to Toni. Toni wants to accept, but she wants to meet Julian’s “wife” to make sure she is okay before marrying him. Julian, stuck now, asks Stephanie to pose as his wife. Stephanie doesn’t like this too much, as she has strong feelings for Julian, too. What would come of everyone?
The story is all about the craziness that unfolds as Julian tries to juggle his “I wanna be a playa” ways. First, the first interaction between Toni and Stephanie is intense and chilly. Stephanie mistakes one woman for Toni until Toni introduces herself at the record store where she works. Toni senses that Stephanie still loves Julian and asks him to be gentle and help her find a new boo-thang. Julian, the wise man that he is, tells Toni that she has a boyfriend. Julian enlists his friend Harvey to be Stephanie’s boyfriend. He has a “coincidental” encounter with the new love birds at a club. Let me tell you, shit goes down. Harvey’s real girlfriend shows up and makes a scene, and Harvey must have game because homegirl is beautiful. Julian gets into it with Harvey, who is confused. Stephanie is humiliated, and Toni thinks Julian is dreamy.
Things keep getting wild as Julian buys Toni a fly ass, expensive mink stole that looks like it could swallow her. This homegirl sends it to Stephanie with Julian’s original letter, which in turn lifts Stephanie’s spirits. Trifling all around. What does Stephanie do? She accepts a date with Señor Arturo Sánchez, one of Julian’s patients and a Latin diplomat who is also trifling. They go to a ball and then a club where they spot Toni, Julian, and Igor. Stephanie and Igor hit it off. Play that T.I. Get Loose because Stephanie was on that dance floor and getting loose off that goose. I was happy to see the uptight Stephanie get loose and have fun. You could tell that it was all pent-up energy, and she needed a release.
Like all good things, reality came to her the next morning as she was still wearing the same clothes she had on last night. Julian and she get into an argument about her spending time with Igor. Stephanie’s attention goes to her cactus as it blooms. Things get even more heated when Stephanie quits, goes to Toni’s apartment, and tells her it was all a lie, and she is Julian’s nurse. Note to self: don’t piss off a woman. She will bury your life to the ground. This causes Toni to drop Julian’s dumb ass and start hooking up with Igor. Shit gets crazy, and then Stephanie and Julian profess their love for each other and kiss. Only in the movies.
The cast was the highlight of the film, as they made it go. Walter Matthau is a genius with comedy and delivery. He seems to play the same role, or he has the same tone throughout all the roles he has played. I don’t know what it is. It is his voice that seems the same, and it doesn’t have any fluctuation in it.
I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t know how Goldie Hawn won the Best Supporting Actress award. I need to watch the other nominees. Hawn was good, and she played the cute, somewhat naïve other woman. She was a delight to watch, but I don’t know how she won the award. Hey, I give it to her for winning in her first major role.
Ingrid Bergman was way better in her role and should’ve been nominated for a major role. She was more entertaining and had more depth to her character. She plays Stephanie as a no-nonsense woman who deals with Julian’s shit. It was fun to watch her go through this and open up a little bit more and have fun.
I found Cactus Flower an entertaining and fun little movie. If you watch it today, you can name hundreds of other movies that have similar plots to it. This was filmed in the 60s. The cast carries this film, with Bergman being the standout to me, thanks to her performance, but Hawn swoops in for the win. Matthau was Matthau as he always delivers. After watching this film, buy a cactus and hope it blooms.
