Butterflies Are Free is a 1972 film directed by Milton Katselas.
Goldie Hawn plays Jill Taylor, a bubbly, manic blonde (in other words, Goldie Hawn) living in a ratty apartment in San Francisco. Noise going back and forth through the paper-thin walls eventually introduces her to her handsome young neighbor Don Baker (Edward Albert, son of veteran actor Eddie Albert). Don, as it happens, is blind. The reason that he is living in the ratty apartment building is that he is trying to live on his own and establish his independence. Don and Jill hit it off immediately and within a day are having sex and lounging about in their underwear in Don's apartment.
Enter the complication in the form of Don's mother (Eileen Heckart). Mrs. Baker is wealthy (she writes children's books) and overprotective. She doesn't approve of Don's apartment, or his hopes to be a Blind Musician, or his association with the wild and kind of slutty Jill. Mrs. Baker's determination to bring Don home threatens to wreck the budding romance of the two young people.
An adaptation of a 1969 stage play. Eileen Heckart played the same role in each.
Tropes:
- Blind Musician: Don has hopes of being one; he writes songs and plays guitar. When his mom says she doesn't like this plan, Don says jobs like airline pilot and taxi driver weren't on the table.
- Blunt "Yes": When Don can't find the ashtray Jill says "What are you, blind?", and is brought up short when Don answers with a cheerful "Yes!".
- Call-Back: Don says that blind people have a sort of "shadow vision", a literal sixth sense that allows them to sense a "solid obstacle" directly in front of them. At the end Jill says that she had a "shadow vision" of an "obstacle" right in front of her—Ralph.
- Desk Sweep of Rage: Don sweeps the vase of flowers and the tablecloth off the dinner table in a fit of rage, after Jill says that she is leaving to live with Ralph.
- Dramatic Drop: Mrs. Baker drops her coffee cup when Jill reveals that she had to be "completely naked" for her audition.
- Extremely Short Timespan: Apparently not much more than 24 hours.
- Have a Gay Old Time: Jill says she hopes the people who go to her funeral will be dressed in "gay, bright colors and far-out clothes." This 1972 film has to be one of the last times that the word "gay" was used in its original sense.
- Innocently Insensitive: A borderline example. When Mrs. Baker acts skeptical about Ralph's play, with all its sex and nudity and drug use and violence, Ralph says the public likes it, the clarifies "I'm talking about the thinking public, not all those giddy little tight-assed matrons up in Hillsborough." It's innocent in that Ralph didn't know that Mrs. Baker is from the upper-class suburb of Hillsborough, but not that innocent in that he clearly meant tight-assed matrons like her.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Jill is pretty much an arrow-straight manic pixie dream girl, being cheerful and bubbly and hyper and wearing colorful clothes and having a six-day marriage and talking a mile a minute. Somewhat subverted near the end, when we find out that Jill does have her own issues, namely a fear of commitment.Jill: I was going to go to UCLA, but I couldn't find a place to park.
- Minimalist Cast: The stage play origins of the movie are shown by the fact that there are only five speaking parts, and two of them, Jill's director Ralph and Roy from the clothing store, are only in one scene each.
- Ms. Fanservice: Jill spends a goodly portion of the movie in bra and panties.
- My Beloved Smother: The central conflict, as Mrs. Baker wants Don to stay at home where she can look after him and keep him safe, while Don demands his independence. Mrs. Baker conducts an inspection of his apartment, expresses disapproval of everything in it, and demands that Don come home immediately. Later she confronts Jill and, after a series of catty comments, demands that Jill break up with Don because she's not good enough for him.
- Perfumigation: Don doesn't think too much of his mother's perfume, and according to him she uses "half a bottle at a time".
- Stealth Insult: Mrs. Baker, who takes an instant dislike to Jill and her free love ways, does this a lot.Jill: You know, I don't think anyone could call me a prude.
Mrs. Baker: I'd like to see them try. - Title Drop: Jill drops a quote from Bleak House ("I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies."), although she misattributes it to Mark Twain. Don then works the line into a song he's writing.
- Zip Me Up: It plays as flirting when Jill asks Don to zip up her blouse. But as shown later when she asks Mrs. Baker to do it, it really is a matter of Jill buying blouses she has trouble zipping up.
