Male of the Species

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...

This must be one of the most wanted 'lost films' on the planet, if not the very most wanted. It's amazing that so little is known about it!!! It stars 3 mayor stars of the time (and still - two of them!) and yet nobody seems to care to get a hold on it and release it on DVD. Not only that: Who was the director? (Shall try to find out). I was about 16 years old when I saw it on television with my (then) living father, who at the time was about 62 years old. We both liked it tremendously and, on behalf of Michael Caine, I don't think he has ever had a more romantic role than this. I remember that it was about a (at first at least) young woman, who has 3 relationships with men, one of them to her father (daughter-father relationsship and nothing dirty as such) as I recall (played by Sean Connery) who has a habit of telling lies (this was the first time I encountered the word 'mendacity', I can still remember it), the other relationships (Caine and Schofield) were romantic (at least the one to Caine)- if she went to bed with any of them I'm however not sure of - this was an intelligent film which did not need that sort of cheap trick and insulting propaganda. It was not a coming-of-age film the way they are done today (totally without brains) but a serious film with real people in it. This is no doubt a 10 out of 10 and that it is not released casts a big shadow over the whole business - how many good films are out there, that we equally know nothing about and are not allowed to see? Well, of course, not many done today but in the times as this film was made the quality of films was at a much higher level and maybe there is more out there. However, the last film by Nick Willing 'doctor sleep' is also not available, which is of course an insult as well. since this director, after 'photographing fairies', should be promoted and not put to silence. Well, 'ken park' by Larry Clark is also not available etc.. But still: 3 mayor stars and still so little information. Amazing. A 10 out of 10 of course.

I also saw Male of the Species once as a teenager and I have never forgotten the movie or how enchanted I was with Michael Caine. I remember it being funny, sad, and terribly romantic. I always wished I could have seen it again. If ever it is released on DVD, run to the nearest store and buy it. I know I will.

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.

This 1969 TV movie starred Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Paul Scofield, and a female British actress whose name I do not remember. Connery was the father of the young woman and he was a master carpenter. Paul Scofield was a prominent businessman (and perhaps a minor government minister--very distinguished). Michael Caine was a cockney office worker who was somewhat bumbling, awkward, unskilled and appeared to lack a promising future. The movie centers around the young woman and her relationship and interaction with each of the males in the story. Broadcast on public television before VCRs, I stayed home to watch the repeat broadcast two weeks after the original. Each of the males was perfectly cast because their offscreen persona are, in my opinion, very much like the characters they played.

I would love to get my hands on a copy of this TV movie and have searched the New York Public Library and the Internet for quite some time. It would be well worth your while to help me find it so you, too, can enjoy this wonderful story.