Bedtime Story

"Bedtime Story" is a very unusual film in that I actually much preferred the remake, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"...and I rarely enjoy remakes. I won't bore you with a lot of details--suffice to say that it's pretty much the same plot but the character played by Marlon Brando is very sexist and crude...much more so and much more of a jerk than the character played by Steve Martin. And, therein lies the problem--he plays such an obvious pig that the film loses the audience. You just cannot believe he's a con man...and a successful one at that. Overall, an interesting idea that only is modestly interesting...at best. Stick with the 1988 film...your brain will thank you.

Between this and Guys and Dolls and the Godfather parody w/ Mathew Broderick, Marlon showed that he could be very funny. Sort of like Errol Flynn, I wish he had been given more opportunities.

I have looked in vain for this on DVD it was supposed to have been released a couple of years ago, I'm not sure what happened.

As noted many will be familiar with the remake (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), though I prefer the original. There is a priceless scene where Marlon (as Freddy)is caught with his pants off after seducing the burgomeister's daughter in a German town. He explains that he is part of the new Exercise instruction program and he begins doing calisthenics as he makes his exit.

I also liked when David Niven and Brando first meet and realize that they are competing in the same line of work albeit at different levels.

Highly recommended.

'shoes

I think the reason I found Bedtime Story so entertaining was because it was surreal to hear the lines from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels delivered by different people in a different movie. I never would have imagined Marlon Brando as Ruprecht and David Niven fits the role of Lawrence Jameson perfectly. This movie features enough similarities to keep me entertained, and enough differences to keep me interested.

Forget "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"! That is a mere imitation and a poor one at that. This is the original and by far one of the most outstanding comedies on film.

There is no foul language, violence, gratuitous sex or any other artifice. Bedtime Story really relies on nothing more than a great script and outstanding actors. I have seen the movie many times since my childhood and I am happy to say that my children (both adults now) also share my views.

Just buy the DVD (freely available from the UK - why not the USA????? Shame, shame).

I saw it in the late '60's on TV when I was home from school. Years later I became a screenwriter and got a call from David Bowie's production company. He and Mick jagger wanted to do a movie together and hoped I would write it. I suggested doing a remake of Bedtime Story with Bowie as Lawrence Jamison and Mick as Freddy.

They were both interested, the studio (UA) was interested, but the movie had been made at Universal and there was no way they could get the rights. A number of other studios were interested, but couldn't wrestle the right away from Universal.

Turns out no had bothered to do a copyright search. I did. Turns out the rights had reverted back to the original writer/producer Stanley Shapiro. We met at the Pink Turtle (a coffee shop at what was the Beverly Wilshire) and did a deal on a napkin.

The original title was King of Hill. Since Stanley was the man behind the Doris Day/Rock Hudson/Cary Grant movies - he decided to write (with Maurice Richlin - who went on to pen the original Pink Panther) a movie where Cary Grant and Rock Hudson would compete for Doris Day.

Apparently, Cary had asked Rock to do a movie with him, but Rock had turned him down. So Cary didn't want to do a movie with Rock. And Doris wouldn't do the movie without the both of them. Hence it was re-cast with Niven, Brando and Shirley Jones.

Stanely said this movie didn't do all that well in its original run. He felt that the movie fell flat in the south because of Brando championing civil rights.

Thought I do prefer my ending, but this is nevertheless a very charming movie. Which is why I tried to preserve as much as the original as possible. Hey, if ain't broke, don't fix it. And certainly don't change it.