This is the kind of comedy Jack Lemmon could do in his sleep. And he plays the part of Hogan, that icon of American sixties cinema-the swinging bachelor. And so he lives in a red-walled lair equipped with ultra-modern, electronic features designed to overcome any girl's inhibitions---a push-button passion pit. His raison d'etre is the seduction of the fairer sex.
He is also landlord and manager of the Centaur Apartments, where he can indulge his sybaritic desires with the numerous women who reside there, since he never rents to men.
The story starts with the arrival of a new tenant, Robin Austin (Carol Lynley), a comely blonde coed who is pleased to find a nice apartment at such a reasonable price. But complications ensue when Robin moves in with her boyfriend, Dave Manning (Dean Jones). The plan is for them to test the strength of their love via an experiment: cohabitation without sex. It's her plan, but he grudgingly agrees.
Lynley has the perfect blend of sexiness and innocence that makes the story concept work, much like a young Jane Fonda. Dean Jones, who would later become a Disney mainstay, gives a good performance as the true-blue boyfriend, rather like a poor man's James Garner. In support are Edie Adams and comedy icons Imogene Coca and Paul Lynde.
The result is a fun time, filled with characters and themes that are familiar to fans of the sixties.
Note that though Robin takes a class called "Education for Marriage" and she uses the lingo of the sixties couched in theoretical psychological jargon, she is liberated from intellectual ignorance but she is not liberated like some other young women of that era. When she says making a bed is "women's work", we know she is not a feminist as classically defined then. And so we know she is not doing battle with men, she is just willing to meet them as equals. And we want what is good for her, even though Hogan is the more fascinating character.
He is also landlord and manager of the Centaur Apartments, where he can indulge his sybaritic desires with the numerous women who reside there, since he never rents to men.
The story starts with the arrival of a new tenant, Robin Austin (Carol Lynley), a comely blonde coed who is pleased to find a nice apartment at such a reasonable price. But complications ensue when Robin moves in with her boyfriend, Dave Manning (Dean Jones). The plan is for them to test the strength of their love via an experiment: cohabitation without sex. It's her plan, but he grudgingly agrees.
Lynley has the perfect blend of sexiness and innocence that makes the story concept work, much like a young Jane Fonda. Dean Jones, who would later become a Disney mainstay, gives a good performance as the true-blue boyfriend, rather like a poor man's James Garner. In support are Edie Adams and comedy icons Imogene Coca and Paul Lynde.
The result is a fun time, filled with characters and themes that are familiar to fans of the sixties.
Note that though Robin takes a class called "Education for Marriage" and she uses the lingo of the sixties couched in theoretical psychological jargon, she is liberated from intellectual ignorance but she is not liberated like some other young women of that era. When she says making a bed is "women's work", we know she is not a feminist as classically defined then. And so we know she is not doing battle with men, she is just willing to meet them as equals. And we want what is good for her, even though Hogan is the more fascinating character.