alh623
I also saw this when it first aired and thought it was called "Female of the Species"...when I first started using IMDb I searched for that title and came up with the true title (only because I remembered that Anna Calder Marshall, who played the female lead, was in the 1970 version of Wuthering Heights; anyway, I was only 10, yes 10! when I saw this on TV. I can't remember much of it (pretty much all I can remember was her winking at the end) but I still remember that I thoroughly enjoyed it...it is great to see all the comments here that vindicate my memory of this presentation; I only wish I could get more info about the story..each comment I have read does help; if it EVER is released on DVD I would like to have a copy...
vjbess
When The Male of the Species aired, I was a college student, home on vacation, and watched with my mother. We were positively glued to the TV set. Sean Connery, known at that time (1969) to American audiences only as 007 in the early James Bond films, showed a bit of his acting range to good advantage. Michael Caine had a big hit in the USA a few years earlier with Alfie, but it was this television role that made him one of my favorite actors. If you were to ask me about any other television shows, specials, or series from 1967-1971 I would be hard pressed to come up with even one. If anyone can find a tape of this outstanding show, please make it available for airing or for purchase!! I believe James Mason was also in this one, in a small role at the end...can anyone confirm?
Horvendale
I saw this film twice when I was 14, in the company of my family. It was a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, and it ran a second time as a summer rerun. We recorded it on audio cassette [VHS didn't exist yet], and that tape was later stolen; however I listened to it a number of times. It was what my brother always called, "a battle of words."Anna Calder-Marshall was a young woman whose view of the male of the species was shaped by her relationship to three examples: her father, a playboy, and an older man.Sean Connery was excellent as a lower-class worker with no respect for women, least of all his female boss. His encounter with her becomes an anecdote to a coworker. `She says, I don't like the way you look at me. I've got to you look at you, you're the boss. She says she doesn't like the way I look at her. So I gave her one, right across the backside.'
The coworker replies, `Oh you never!'`Are you calling me a liar, then?'`No, no! I was only enjoyin'You get the impression his boss really likes him and hates him at the same time. From what I can remember, a fight with his daughter occupies the rest of the act, and she leaves home.The second act takes place at her job. Michael Caine plays a sort of reluctant playboy. He works with a man who can't leave the ladies alone, even though he's married. Every time this man gets in over his head, Caine is called in to seduce her away, and then let her down gently. He almost refuses to help with Anna's character because it has often proved a dangerous game. `And what about that last one, the one with the brother who was kinky for hatchets. You failed to tell me about him.' What Caine doesn't know is that the women in the office are tired of the game, too, and have put Anna, the ice queen into the game to hurt him.That act is the funniest, with Caine trying to get close to her. He asks her to promise not to `glacial scrape me with those two ribbons of ice you call lips.' When she asks what's so great about kissing, anyway, he replies, `If you have to ask, you aren't doing it right.' In the end, her plan works, he falls for her, and she hurts him. But it is a hollow victory, and you can tell it hurts her, too, though I doubt she knows why.And that leads to the comfortable older man, played by Paul Scofield, Oscar winner for A Man For All Seasons. I remember this act the least, probably because the first act had James Bond [I was 14, remember] and the second act had lots of fast, witty dialogue. But one can see the balance of the play. Scofield was the antithesis of her father - kind, caring, compassionate, thoughtful, and well-educated. He must have seemed safe, the dreaded `s' word. What I do seem to remember is that this relationship, also, did not work out. And if she left it somewhat bewildered as to why it didn't work, I seem to think she gained some balance in her life. Or was it the viewer, who watching it, gained the balance and the wisdom.In any event, I have to agree with other reviewers I've seen on this site, that this is a very wanted film. I remember it has some of the charming early 60's television production values. While not as slickly produced as later Hallmark films, it has four strong performances and story that keeps one from noticing any flaws. At least that's how I remember it, 34 years later. I think there are a lot of us who would very much like the chance to see it again.
jean_farrell
This is an excellent film. The cast does interact well with each other and though I was only 16 when I saw it, I have never forgotten it. I, too, would love to own this, but I'm glad that I've at least found others who know and love it as much as I do.
