Pillow Talk

source: Pillow Talk

Many modern viewers might find this film to be 'cheesy', and I'll admit that many of the conventions are outdated and possibly sexist, but the fact is the script and directing are flawless. This sort of film could simply not be made in 2004. In today's industry, the only directors and writers given any kind of control over their product are either head- tripping geniuses (Charlie Kauffman) or sci-fi directors that have proven their box-office worth (Spielberg, Cameron). Any film falling under the category of 'Romantic Comedy' or 'Woman's Picture' is exclusively the domain of the major corporations, and so they're churned out in paint-by-numbers duplicates by Hollywood every year. Anyway, a film doesn't have to 'artistic' or 'deep' to be well made, and this film proves that. The story is perfectly laid out, and Hudson and Day are excellent on camera. Doris Day, in fact, could be the best actress of her generation. Any doubters should see 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' for a more intense role. 8/10

The settings are cute, the wardrobe lovely, the actors talented, and the script snappy, but I really could not get into this film. This is one of the many movies I have seen with the formula of manipulative louse finds upstanding citizen with something they want (ex. power, wealth, that body), cons them, louse ends up not following through with it because true love, upstanding citizen finds out truth and freaks, but no worries, they get back together in under twenty minutes. I disliked it in Guys and Dolls, but here there are no side plots or fantastic music numbers to distract me. So the story is that a man with fantastic charisma which he uses to pick up women is hogging the party line of the female lead. She is rightfully annoyed about this but he is dismissive and says she is just jealous he isn't one of the women he chats up. She complains to multiple people, but everyone without a crush on her hints that she is not really mad about not being able to call people from her home (what?) but what she is really upset over is not getting the D. Manipulative louse gets away with it because he put all his character points on charisma. (I did some home installations a few years ago and I would have been really uncomfortable with someone crowding me like that, no matter how pretty they are.) Then they meet outside of the apartment, face to face, for the first time. Louse goes,'Wait, the woman who has been yelling at me is hot. I want a piece of that.' He proceeds to use a fake accent to chat her up. Cue shenanigans of him trying to keep her from finding out the truth. Insert rest of formula. Movies like this make me want to take the upstanding citizen aside and go, "Honey, I know you are lonely and really attracted to this person, but I want you think about something for a moment. The person you are attracted to has spent years of their life manipulating people to get what they want. Behavior like that does not clear up overnight. Just because they love you doesn't mean those bad habits won't reemerge. So I want you to think about this for a while away from them before you find yourself swept along in something that could be really damaging down the line. I know I'm over-thinking this, it's a comedy. On the other hand, there are much worse movies out there who don't deserve such a loop hole. I'll stick to my 6/10, only because many people won't be bothered by the same things as I.

Pillow Talk was the first of three films Rock Hudson and Doris Day teamed on. Personally, I don't think it was their best, but it's entertaining enough. Though for the life of me I can't understand what Doris did in this particular comedy to warrant an Oscar nomination. Pillow Talk doesn't stand out in that way. Doris was passed over for such things as Love Me Or Leave Me, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Midnight Lace where she really did do some good acting. The premise is dated, party lines are certainly a thing of the past now with text messaging cell phones. I do recall back around the same time my grandparents still having a party line. In that sense Pillow Talk is dated. Still the film is funny enough. Virginal interior decorator Doris Day happens to get the same party line as wolfish songwriter Rock Hudson. Rock with his non-stop love life is constantly cutting in on Doris's business calls. When he accidentally learns who she is when at a bar she's fending off the advances of young Nick Adams, Rock embarks on an all out campaign to nail her as another trophy. Of course the imponderable of love always gets in the way in these films. Doris Day in all of her comedy films, be they with Rock Hudson or others always got a good group of supporting players. It seemed obligatory that Tony Randall before finding fame as Felix Unger, was always cast as the hero's best if goofy friend. It's either him or Gig Young in these roles. He creates his perennial character in Pillow Talk. On the female side Thelma Ritter as Doris's perpetually hung over maid is her deadpan best. My favorite scene in Pillow Talk is her drinking Rock Hudson under the table. Though audiences today might not get the whole party line premise, Pillow Talk is still funny enough for even the younger viewers.

One of the first (and certainly the most popular) of the early-'60s bedroom comedies--movies about sex that never use the word, relying instead on double entendres, implications and innuendo. A New York City party-line connects a single working girl--a somewhat rigid and humorless interior decorator with a shapely figure--and a bachelor songwriter and ladies' man who has one tune for every new gal. They're enemies on the phone-line only; once he gets a good look at her (or rather, her shimmying behind on the dancefloor of a nightclub), he decides to woo her using the alias of a shy Texas cowboy. In their first of three pictures together, Rock Hudson and Doris Day share fresh, happy chemistry; their love scenes are convincing--Hudson is a great kisser--and soon Day is singing "Possess Me" to herself on the car-ride with Hudson to his pal's country hideaway. Tony Randall (who also appeared with Hudson and Day in both 1961's "Lover Come Back" and 1964's "Send Me No Flowers") and Thelma Ritter are equally terrific, and the picture has a lovely, cocktail lounge-styled plastic-perkiness which is very winning. With the advent of '60s permissiveness on the screen, "Pillow Talk" (with it's winking, nudge-nudge 'naughtiness') soon looked coy and antiquated; however, it holds up nicely today. Five Oscar nominations--including Day as Best Actress (her only such nomination!)--with one win: for Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin's original screenplay from an initial treatment by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene. *** from ****

Before I saw Pillow Talk, as much as I did love Young At Heart, Move Over Darling, Love Me or Leave Me and The Thrill of It All, I thought I'd never see a Doris Day film that I loved more than Calamity Jane. Well with Pillow Talk, I found it. It is witty, charming, smart, fresh and funny, and like I said with Move Over Darling it doesn't have a single wasted scene. Also it is my personal favourite of the films Day made with Universal Studios. I will admit when I first saw the film I did occasionally find it slow and the ending a little abrupt. Seeing it again, any flaws I had with it initially went completely, and the more I saw Pillow Talk the more I found to like and the more I liked it. The story about a telephone party line is smart and quite original. It is glossy froth, but I like glossy froth. The production values are pretty simple yet glamorous and the music is pleasant and memorable, I especially loved the title song which is really quite catchy. The screenplay is witty and funny and has charm to it too, while the film is very well directed by Michael Gordon. Even better are the performances. Doris Day once again is fresh and endearing, and Rock Hudson also has his share of adroit humour and does it with flair. But these two are superbly supported by Tony Randall, who I think gives his best performance in this film and Thelma Ritter who also have the best material. In conclusion, a truly wonderful film, if you give it a chance I think you'll like it. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Favorite Movie Quote: "At least my problems can be solved in one bedroom. You couldn't solve yours in a thousand!" With Westerns, War-Dramas, and Sci-Fi dominating the movie-fare of the 1950s, producer Ross Hunter was aptly warned that Screwball Comedy like Pillow Talk would never, ever be a success at the box-office. Even though Screwball Comedy had long been pronounced "dead" at the end of the 1940s, Pillow Talk turned out to be one of the most successful films of the 1950s. It proved just how starved movie-audiences were for pure escapist fluff, such as it was. Pillow Talk went on to be nominated for 5 Academy Awards. It won an Oscar for "Best Screen-writing". Pillow Talk starred Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Pairing these 2 stars together proved to be such a success that they eventually went on to make 2 other Romantic Comedies together, but neither of which turned out to be as magical as Pillow Talk. Featuring some pretty snappy dialogue, energetic performances, lush photography, and high production values, Pillow Talk is certainly an all-round fun and very enjoyable 1950s Comedy.

By 1958, Doris Day's career was on the downslide and something drastic needed to be done to revive her career. 1959'S PILLOW TALK redefined Doris' image and created an entirely new genre of the "will she or won't she" sex comedy as well as introducing one of the greatest romantic screen couplings in history...Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Day plays Jan Morrow, an interior decorator who shares her phone line with Brad Allen (Hudson) a song-writing playboy who ties up Doris' phone by singing love songs (actually the same song) over the phone to the parade of women in his life. Day's attempts to get a private phone line fail and she and Hudson begrudgingly come up with a system to share the phone which Hudson doesn't stick to. Tony Randall plays Jonathan Forbes, a rich playboy who is a client of Doris' and Rock's best friend, who is crazy about Doris but she doesn't feel the same way. One night, Brad discovers Jan at a nightclub and knowing she already hates him, pretends to be a wealthy Texan in order to romance her and this is where the fun begins. Yes, the story is dated because party lines are virtually a thing of the past but it is the linchpin upon which this story delightfully plays out. Director Michael Gordon cleverly uses split-screen images to put Doris and Rock together on screen in seemingly compromising positions, very adult for 1959 and watching Brad pretending to be cowboy Rex Stetson, trying to romance Jan while Brad tries to advise Jan over the phone about what a cad Rex is, is a lot of fun. Day lights up the screen here, in a luminous performance that earned her her first and only Oscar nomination. Hudson, previously only seen in dramatic films up to this point, turns out to be gifted farceur and interviews in his later years, always credited Doris for teaching him how to do comedy. Randall is comic perfection as Jonathan as is Thelma Ritter, who was also nominated for an Oscar for her work as Jan's housekeeper. A delight from start to finish that introduced a new movie couple that would give Fred and Ginger and Spenceer and Kate a run for their money.

Jan Morrow (Doris Day), an interior decorator who moved from Milwaukee to Manhattan, is at wit's end. In the late fifties, especially in the booming New York City area, private phone lines were hard to come by. Thus, she has a "party line" (she shares one) with Brad Allen (Rock Hudson), a smooth songwriter of Broadway hits. Since Brad is very handsome, women call him at all hours, thanking him for their "nights" together and begging him to sing them love songs on the phone. This exasperates Jan, for she needs to make business calls as well as personal. Arguing and pleading with him does no good. So, she goes to the phone company with a complaint and a plea for a private line but it backfires. Wouldn't you know, Ma Bell sends a unmarried female inspector to investigate and Brad charms her into writing a positive report. This upsets Jan even more. But, one day, wealthy businessman, Jonathan (Tony Randall), who provides the finances for Brad's shows, happens to mention that he has a new love interest. Yes, he tells Mr. Allen, her name is Jan and she decorated his office very nicely. Not only that, she's a looker. Well, well. Soon after, a chance encounter at a restaurant lets Brad see Ms. Morrow but he knows if flirts with her as himself, he's dead in the water. Thus, when she needs help with a drunk client, he poses as "Rex Stetson" from Texas, with a drawl and since Jan has never seen him, she has no idea he is pulling one over on her. But, oh, how she likes his looks and charm! The two begin to go out on dates and Jan falls head over heels. Meanwhile, Brad still calls up Jan to give her advice on love, which she can't help listening to, since she knows he's an expert. How soon will it be until the truth comes out? This is a classic romantic comedy that may indeed be the best one ever made. My sisters and I loved it as teens in the early sixties and "caught" it on the tube whenever we could. The two stars, Hudson and Day, are perfection itself as the sparring phone partners and as the couple falling in love. In addition, the rest of the cast, including Randall and Thelma Ritter, is also quite nice. The setting, costumes and camera work are topnotch, too, while the script is gleefully, unabashedly funny AND romantic. If you have never seen it, don't delay. Buy, borrow or rent it, plop yourself onto the couch with some soft pillows, and giggle your cares away.

This first teaming of Doris Day and Rock Hudson is a delightful, visually beautiful comedy - old-fashioned but hardly dated. The two stars make a charming, shiny couple (it's easy to see why they were so popular in their time) and Thelma Ritter steals the show in a needless but funny supporting role. The only problem you may have is that the course of the plot seems to be thoroughly predetermined from the first frame, but the film does a pretty good job of delaying the inevitable. Great sound effects, too. (***)