Send Me No Flowers- Norman Jewison Blogathon

Having seen Doris Day and Rock Hudson’s films a long time ago, I was excited to revisit Send Me No Flowers. I did make the mistake of looking through the trivia on IMDB first though, which notes that Rock did not care for the humor of the film, which surrounds death. I always wonder if that comes through in their performance or if I shouldn’t like it either. Despite this, it was an enjoyable film to revisit and not having watched Rock frequently, I’m always floored by how handsome he was. He’s also funny and plays well with Doris and Tony Randall, who plays his friend, who is distraught at his supposed upcoming demise.

Even though there are a couple of things I didn’t like about this film, it’s fun to watch overall and a must for anyone who loves Doris and Rock together. This was their last film, so while it wasn’t as successful as Pillow Talk, it still is great to see them again for the third and final time.

If you choose to buy this film, I may earn a commission as an Amazon affiliate, check out the Bluray, DVD or on streaming! You can also get a DVD box set or a Bluray box set of all three Doris Day/Rock Hudson films!

Synopsis

Hypochondriac George thinks he has everything anyone else gets, so when he feels a pain in his chest, he freaks out and heads back to his doctor, who he just got a checkup from two weeks before. He’s waiting on the results of a heart test, so when he overhears the doctor on the phone speaking about another patient who only has weeks to live, he thinks the call is about him, even though the doctor insists the pain is simply indigestion.

Armed with this bad news, he lets things slip by eating nuts (which he never eats) in front of his friend Arnold (Tony Randall). Then, he admits the bad news he received. Poor Arnold is distraught, but asks to write the eulogy and help George figure out how to prepare for this tragic event. One thing that George does is go purchase burial plots. George also realizes he needs to make sure that Judy is cared for and can handle things when he’s gone, so he goes off on a tirade about her going to night school and paying more attention to pricing when she buys the groceries. After this, while talking to Arnold, he realizes that Judy may marry again after he’s gone, but just one thing… it has to be the right man. This is where George convinces himself that he is going to help her find this new husband before he’s even gone.

Thus begins the mission of finding Judy a husband. George wants someone who can provide for her after he’s gone. They check out a player at the club where Judy is playing golf (alone because George’s heart can’t take it), and circumstances have them running into her college sweetheart. He’s rich and good-looking, but it, understandably, irks George. This guy would be the perfect bit, but he initially resists the idea since he’s almost too good… plus, George is SUPER jealous. Despite this, he does realize that Bert (played by Clint Walker) is the ideal choice, so he pushes aside the jealousy while pushing the two of them together both at the club and then later at a dance.

Judy begins to get suspicious at the dance when George won’t dance with her and then when he disappears (actually, for a noble act of telling this woman going through a divorce that the guy she’s out with is just playing her to sleep with her basically), she goes to search for him. Unfortunately for good old George, the woman is so grateful that she kisses him (in the coat rack room they were hiding in because it was a delicate thing to tell her) and as the timing would have it, Judy seems them just as that is happening. Of course, she then jumps to the conclusion he’s having an affair because he keeps pushing her away and is now making out with another chick.

He finally admits to her that he’s dying (so he thinks) and she forgives him and they get some nice cuddles while reminiscing and she takes care of him…

Things are calm (besides the impending doom of death) until George’s doctor shows up (he’d been out of town fishing all weekend) and tells Judy that George is just fine. She gets super mad and instead of confronting him about it to find out what the hell is happening (as women don’t seem to do in these movies), she slaps him around while he’s asleep and shoves him out the door in his wheelchair after dangling the idea of sex in front of him (but oh, he can’t because of his heart troubles).

Okay, so the wheelchair springing back is kind of funny, but I didn’t really appreciate the slap… I do get that now she thinks again that he cheated on her, but oof.

So now she kicks him out, and he goes to stay with Arnold. They both still think he’s dying, so Arnold puts up with him, despite that George is being kind of snotty. Arnold keeps erasing nice things out of the eulogy he’s working on, which is funny.

So Judy decides she’s going to leave George because she can’t get over the affair. She heads to the train station where George takes Arnold’s bad advice that even though he didn’t cheat, he should say he did and beg for forgiveness. Instead of this working, Judy gets more pissed and heads back to the house for the rest of her stuff.

While there, the funeral director shows up with George’s receipt for the plots, which is the exact about of money he tried to say he used to pay off the woman from his supposed affair. Judy realizes he didn’t cheat and really did believe he was dying.

I’m not sure I love the ending, though. So, they get back together, but Judy says she’s decided to forgive him for the affair, even though she now knows for sure that he didn’t cheat. I would have liked it better if they would have completely cleared the air instead.

The Players

Doris Day

These comedies are sometimes a bit over-the-top, but I do love Doris in this one (minus the ending). She’s funny. The scene where she gets locked out of the house and runs around like a maniac trying to get in is great.

This one is also fun to watch. This is George’s dream about who Judy could end up marrying if he leaves it to her.

Rock Hudson

Despite Rock’s dislike of the material, he and Doris play well off each other, and he is fun to watch. He plays the very intense George so well that you really believe that this guy was freaking out.

Tony Randall

Tony Randall rounds out the trio once again and provides additional (sometimes much needed) comic relief. He takes the material and spins it in funny ways, such as erasing pieces from the eulogy or getting plastered when he finds out George is dying. The placement of this confidante for George gives him an outlet for his thoughts and plans, since he can’t tell Judy. The two of them together are fun to watch, especially in the sleepover scene.

Background Trivia

Norman Jewison’s Influence

At the beginning of the film, there is a sequence with animated fireworks over George’s face while he’s dreaming about what a hypochondriac he is. This was originally created for The Thrill of it all, which Jewison also directed (and also starred Doris Day).

What if…?

Gene Kelly had directed?

Gene was originally slated to direct, so I wonder what would have changed about the film. I feel like there would have been even more dancing (we really only have George’s dream and then the actual dance). Maybe it would have been a bigger deal. I also wonder if Doris would have had an actual number in the film. She has the one song “Send Me No Flowers,” but it’s only played over the credits. He backed out after he couldn’t get either Warren Beatty or Bobby Darin to star in the film.

Warren Beatty had starred?

Rock thought he was too young to play someone like George, so concerned about his heart. He was just 38, but it would have been an even younger character if he had been played by Warren. I’m not sure which part Gene had in mind, but I assume the lead? Warren was only 26 at the time!

Bobby Darin has starred?

Similar thing with Bobby, really. He would have been 27. I wonder if Gene had got his way with one of these stars how the story would have changed. Would it still have been about a hypochondriac, but an even younger one? Would they have cut out Doris since she was 42 at the time? That would have been a much larger age gap. And Bobby would probably have had a bigger musical role, I would think. Rock had issues singing because they made him undergo surgery to make his voice deeper (which seems so odd, but they did do a lot of weird stuff to stars).

If you like alternative history or biographical/historical fiction, I write that as well under the pen name Dottie Fray.

If you choose to buy this film, I may earn a commission as an Amazon affiliate, check out the Bluray, DVD or on streaming! You can also get a DVD box set or a Bluray box set of all three Doris Day/Rock Hudson films!

This article was originally posted as part of Taking Up Room‘s Norman Jewison Blogathon! Check out all the entries!