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Strangers When We Meet

Play trailer Poster for Strangers When We Meet 1960 1h 57m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 4 Reviews 54% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Architect Larry Coe (Kirk Douglas) yearns to create adventurous designs, but his pragmatic wife, Eve (Barbara Rush), is determined to make her husband focus on more marketable, straightforward work. Maggie Gault (Kim Novak), a neighbor of the Coe family who is trapped in a loveless marriage, believes in Larry's creative impulses, and the pair eventually strike up a love affair. However, they're interrupted by the nosy, lecherous Felix (Walter Matthau), who has eyes for Eve.

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Strangers When We Meet

Critics Reviews

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Clyde Gilmour Maclean's Magazine 12/03/2019
Illicit passion around the suburban barbecue pits is the tattered theme in this romantic drama. Go to Full Review
Lori Hoffman Atlantic City Weekly 08/17/2006
3/5
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 06/19/2005
3/5
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 02/26/2005
2/4
The bloated running time is exacerbated by a focus on pointless subplots... Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Marie L Jul 17 My goodness. If I could, would give it a 3 1/2. The script is good and the supporting actors excellent, especially Walter Matthau in a surprising role. However, the leads are wooden and the movie turgid. It moves along at a snail's pace, only enlivened by the comic interludes presented by Kovacs and drama at the Coe household. If only the directing and editing had been more efficient. This is a potboiler that fails to boil, so that even when things heat up, they fail to take off. Novak is so muted that she almost fades into the background. Her 'smoldering' sexuality is underplayed, although there is no denying her beauty. Frosty she is. Douglas tries his best, but he can't breach the walls of her iciness. I'd actually love to see this one updated with a really great director and some of our character actors in lead roles. It has great potential for a moving story of love and loss, choices and chances. So yes, worth a look, but.... See more Jeanne U Jul 9 So California...people searching for passion or abusing each other's fragilities in the name of love. Success and money taken for granted but love always elusive. Kim Novak is too rigid even for her rigid aloof character, the proverbial smouldering nymphette trapped in a sexless marriage. Kirk Douglas is beleaguered by an ambitious wife who"doesn't understand him", mild mannered, stifled in his creativity, accommodating and inviting...all the way into the adultery that was such a popular overworked theme in the repressed late 50s/early 60s. It's a Peyton Place kind of high level soap opera. Too bad so many of us bought into the myth that following your passion would ease unrest. Juicy, good actors including Matthau and Rush and Kovacs as well as Douglas and Novak. Nostalgia but it'd never fly today with its tame approach. Today would require thrashing around in hot tubs, sleazy bars, sex islands a la Epstein and totally nude. See more j F 08/06/2024 It is a bit dated, since the 1950s and 60s deeply explored adultery to death. But regardless, well done, and interesting as a 60s snapshot. Kim Novak whispers throughout the dialog, a bit strange but sort of in theme. See more 02/01/2019 Very interesting movie. A beautiful reflection upon love, art, freedom,,, See more 06/19/2018 A house is constructed at the same an affair is constructed. I think both constructions are worth watching. Kim Novak and Kirk Douglas are legendary! See more 07/03/2016 One of the great, vastly underrated soap operatic love stories, between Kirk Douglas and Kim Novak, who are married to other people. With Walter Matthau, Barbara Rush, and Ernie Kovacs. See more Read all reviews
Strangers When We Meet

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Movie Info

Synopsis Architect Larry Coe (Kirk Douglas) yearns to create adventurous designs, but his pragmatic wife, Eve (Barbara Rush), is determined to make her husband focus on more marketable, straightforward work. Maggie Gault (Kim Novak), a neighbor of the Coe family who is trapped in a loveless marriage, believes in Larry's creative impulses, and the pair eventually strike up a love affair. However, they're interrupted by the nosy, lecherous Felix (Walter Matthau), who has eyes for Eve.
Director
Richard Quine
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 57m
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