Petulia (1968) on Netflix
In San Francisco, Dr. Archie Bollen is divorcing his wife Polo and building a new life. Petulia Danner, a young socialite six months into her marriage to the architect David, pursues him.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb6.8/103,762 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes85%
Trailer
Plot summary
Archie Bollen is a San Francisco doctor whose marriage to Polo is ending. Petulia Danner, a young socialite, has been married for six months to David, an architect. She and Archie meet at a concert held to benefit people hurt in traffic accidents. Her romantic interest in him dates from an operation he performed on Oliver, a Mexican boy she had adopted. They go up to a room at the Hilton Hotel together, but she changes her mind and he sees her into a taxi.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Petulia (1968)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Author John Haase and screenwriter Barbara Turner hated the revised script and briefly tried to rescind the studio's option on Haase's novel. Lester barred Haase from the set, and Haase retaliated with a scathing Los Angeles Times account of the development disputes.
- The rock band Jefferson Airplane was slated to appear in Petulia, but it was replaced by the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company, with Janis Joplin, whose scenes were filmed from May 29 to 31.
- The production was said to be the first major studio attempt to shoot a film entirely in San Francisco, with locations including the Filbert Steps, the Embarcadero, the Presidio, Fort Scott, Tiburon, Sausalito and Muir Woods.
- Petulia was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was canceled because of the May 1968 protests and unrest in France.
- In a 1978 Take One magazine poll, 20 critics including Vincent Canby, Janet Maslin, Andrew Sarris and François Truffaut ranked Petulia third among the best American films of the previous decade, behind The Godfather (I and II) and Nashville and ahead of Annie Hall, Mean Streets and 2001.
