Send Me No Flowers
Directed by Norman Jewison
Written by Julius J. Epstein from a play by Norman Barasch and Carroll Moore
1964/USA
Universal Pictures/Martin Melcher Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Judy: When he tells me he’s dying and he doesn’t DIE… wouldn’t he know that I’d get SUSPICIOUS?[/box]
Not the best of the Hudson-Day films but enjoyable, especially for Tony Randall.
George (Rock Hudson) is a hypocondriac whose foibles and dietary quirks are tolerated by his wife Judy. They live in the kind of suburbia where the milkman passes gossip from one house to the next. One day, George goes to the doctor complaining of chest pain. His EKG results are two weeks overdue (?!). The doctor assures him that he is suffering from indigestion. When George overhears the doctor talking on the phone about another patient’s terminal heart problem, he assumes it is a death warrant.
George determines not to tell his wife but starts acting very weird. His one confidant is family friend Arnold. Many comic misunderstandings ensue.
The idiot plot is alive and well in 1964. The movie is really saved by Randall’s character who has some funny scenes. I especially like the one where he is writing Hudson’s eulogy. The franchise seems to have gotten somewhat tired by this point.
