Pillow Talk

Out of all the "Bedroom Comedies" of the 50's & 60's this is the best by far. Nothing else comes close to "Pillow Talk" with its witty script, stylish sets, and costumes and a great cast of "A" actors at their very best. Some movies wrap you up like a warm mink coat and make everything seem right in the world. 1950's New York looks fabulous, and I've always wanted to go one of those chic supper clubs decked out like Doris is here. This is one of those rare movies that make you laugh, no matter how many times you've seen it. How sad it is for some reviewers to take fault with Alma and her apparent drinking problem (only to find love herself and throw away the bottle!) or Rock's sexuality that some just can't get past. This is an elegant romp with Doris and Rock.

This smart and sassy sex comedy was made in 1959 but it could just as easily have been made in 1939 and the roles played here by Doris Day and Rock Hudson could have been played by Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. Michael Gordon's direction is serviceable at best but it has a likable Oscar-winning script by Russell Rouse, Maurice Richlin, Stanley Shapiro and Clarence Greene that makes the most of it's premise of the mismatched couple who find romance in the most unlikely of farcial situations.

Day is starchy and frigid but Hudson is immensely likable and displays a real comic flair. There is a gay joke at the expense of the Hudson character and knowing what we know now we might well ask how much of an 'in-joke' this really was and just who was in on the joke. The film was a huge success and re-vitalized Day's career in non-musical roles. Tony Randall's character of the slightly effete millionaire who is in love with Day is not unlike David Hyde Pierce's Niles in "Frasier" and you can see some of the best "Frasier" scripts in some of the situations here. Influential or what?

So there I was, in my sick-bed when this film comes on. I start to watch, having never seen it before, and to my surprise, find myself laughing...out loud.

I have never really been a fan of either Doris Day or Rock Hudson, but I did enjoy this piece of fluff. And in our modern times when comedies currently released in the cinema can hardly raise a smile, let alone a laugh, I found this a pure delight. So the sexual politics maybe a little outdated, but there were some beautifully timed comedy set-pieces: The moment Doris Day discovers the real identity of Hudson's character has one of the best use of music I have seen in a movie since the Warner Bros cartoons!

A film that I didn't think I would enjoy, but was completely bowled over by.

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.

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 ****