Pillow Talk (1959)

A man and woman share a telephone line and despise each other, but then he has fun by romancing her with his voice disguised.

Director:

Michael Gordon

Writers:

Stanley Shapiro (screenplay), Maurice Richlin (screenplay),

Stars:

Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall

Won 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rock Hudson	...	Brad Allen
Doris Day	...	Jan Morrow
Tony Randall	...	Jonathan Forbes
Thelma Ritter	...	Alma
Nick Adams	...	Tony Walters
Julia Meade	...	Marie
Allen Jenkins	...	Harry
Marcel Dalio	...	Pierot
Lee Patrick	...	Mrs. Walters
Mary McCarty	...	Nurse Resnick
Alex Gerry	...	Dr. Maxwell
Hayden Rorke	...	Mr. Conrad
Valerie Allen	...	Eileen
Jacqueline Beer	...	Yvette
Arlen Stuart	...	Tilda

Storyline

In New York, the interior decorator Jan Morrow and the wolf composer Brad Allen share a party line, but Brad keeps it busy most of the time flirting with his girlfriends. They do not know each other but Jan hates Brads since she needs the telephone for her business and can not use it. Coincidently Jan's wealthy client Jonathan Forbes that woos her is the best friend of Brad and he comments with him that he feels an unrequited love for Jan, who is a gorgeous woman. When Brad meets Jan by chance in a restaurant, he poses as a naive tourist from Texas named Rex Stetson and seduces her. But Jonathan hires a private eye to find who Rex Stetson is.

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Plot Keywords:

texan | interior decorator | millionaire | telephone | house warming | 

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Taglines:

Footloose bachelor...beautiful career girl...and the world's most fascinating pastime!

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

7 October 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Problemas de alcoba

Filming Locations:

Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arwin Productions, Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rock Hudson insisted he would not make the film unless Nick Adams was given a part.

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Goofs

Jonathan drives Jan back to New York in a black car with a hard-top, but when they arrive at the diner it is black with a white vinyl roof.

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Quotes

Jan: Officer, arrest this man - he's taking me up to his apartment!
Police Officer: Well, I can't say that I blame him, miss.

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Connections

Featured in Precious Images (1986)

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Soundtracks

"Pillow Talk"
Words and Music by Buddy Pepper and Inez James
Performed by Doris Day (uncredited)

User Reviews

Super! Super! Super!

Well done Cinemax(cable TV channel) for showing this wonderful movie!

Surely this must rank amongst the top romantic comedies of all time.

Brilliant performances from the super stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson, with equally brilliant support from the likes of Tony Randell and Thelma Ritter.

This picture is so good it had me laughing out loud constantly.

Everything about this film is perfect: the script, the acting, the music, the story, the lighting, music, costumes, titles et al.

Why is it that most movies of this type nowadays ain't a patch on this one?! And the movie industry should ask itself why it cannot find megastars as good as the cast in this picture.

The basic story line involves a shared phone line leading to deception and romance. The use of split screen portrayals is done marvelously. For example the two lovers talk romantically in separate bath-tubs in their different apartments the touching of each others feet is magically shown by the split screen.

One of my favorite scenes is where Rock Hudson in one of his deceptions, pretends he is gay, and of course later history reveals the irony of that.

I thought one of the best lines in the movie was when Thelma Ritter says in effect that one cannot tell a good bottle of wine from a mere sip.

All in all, top class entertainment:

10 out of 10.