everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Dreadfully Boring

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The awarded architect Larry Coe (Kirk Douglas) lives a boring marriage with his wife Eve Coe (Barbara Rush) and their two young sons in the suburb. Larry is designing and constructing an unique house to the successful writer Roger Altar (Ernie Kovacs) on the top of a hill. Margaret 'Maggie' Gault (Kim Novak) is a sexy blond sexually neglected by her husband Ken Gault (John Bryant) that lives in the same neighborhood and they have a young son. When Larry meets Maggie at the bus stop of the school bus, he unsuccessfully hits on her. But soon they encounter each other again and they have a love affair. They fall in love with each other, but when their despicable neighbor Felix Anders (Walter Matthau) discovers their affair, they have to decide between loyalty to their families or love."Strangers When We Meet" is a timeless romance that takes place in 1960, but could be in any time. The fight between loyalty and respect to the wife and family and the desire for a sexy woman or a handsome man is eternal and part of the life. The way each part will behave is the variable in this equation of life. "Strangers When We Meet" presents a conventional and moralist commercial conclusion, but totally credible. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Nono Mandamento" ("The Ninth Commandment")

I'm surprised that no one has seen the great possibilities in Strangers When We Meet as a prime time soap opera. The characters of course would have to be updated, still I think it would work. What better proof of that than the success of Desperate Housewives.Kirk Douglas produced this one himself and he did well as he usually did in picking screen properties to further his career. His next production after Strangers When We Meet would be Spartacus.Douglas is your typical suburban man of 1960 with wife Barbara Rush and two sons. He's having the typical angst of a forty something going through mid-life crisis. He's an architect and his latest project is to design a home for writer/playboy Ernie Kovacs who's also a forty something and having his own mid-life crisis.Neighbor Kim Novak starts noticing Kirk and vice versa and pretty soon they're hip deep in an affair. Of course the wife's the last to know and Novak's husband John Bryant doesn't have a clue anyway. Things haven't escaped their predatory neighbor Walter Matthau.It's a lot of high budget soap opera, the stuff that Ross Hunter was great at bringing to the screen. But Douglas who usually did more action oriented stuff does quite well in the lead. What a guy, having both Barbara Rush and Kim Novak in the same film.As for how it all comes out, I won't say. But remember the Code was still in place and things only could go in a certain direction.Best performance in the film has to be Matthau. This guy is one bottom feeding slug who cheats regularly on his own wife and can hone in on a vulnerable female with precision radar.Desperate Housewives has nothing on this group of suburbanites. Just a looser code.

What a HOT movie. Lord, how could this gem be overlooked. When, for the first time, Kim is wearing that red dress and Kirk looks at her with his Kirk Douglas eyes, are you kidding? OMG. What a film.This is a treasure and yes, other than the scene with Jean Simmons in Spartacus, this reigns supreme.Ernie Kovacs is wonderful, simply a joy to watch. Walter Mattheau plays the slime to the 10's. The cast is stunning. Barbara Rush is always beautiful and hard to imagine that a man would be bored with a wife like her but that makes a story. Men, what can I say. But it's a fantasy to imagine meeting your love match dropping your child off at school. Watch out. Loved this film and just had a copy delivered.

I echo the sentiment of the other reviewer. This is so much more than a soap opera...I caught this movie on the late show about 20 years ago and if recall correctly, was going through the end of a relationship at the time. The movie struck a chord, though frankly I'm not sure why I received it's message so deeply. This is my favorite Kirk Douglas movie by far. Kirk is not known for subtlety but he's great here.I typically judge movies by their ring of truth, and this one has it in spades.A must see...