Pillow Talk (1959)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Michael Gordon

Writers:

Stanley Shapiro (screenplay) and
Maurice Richlin (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

7 October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Interior Decorator | Texan | Telephone | Millionaire | Elevator

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 5 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Rock Hudson	...	Brad Allen - 'Rex Stetson'
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

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (original rating) | Germany:6 (re-rating) (2006) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Unrated | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Arwin Productions

Trivia:

Spanish TV screened "Pillow Talk" on 20th July 1969 while everybody was waiting for the Apollo landing on the Moon. Suddenly, the film stopped and Spanish people could see the landing directly. The film was not reshown on TV until 1999, when Spanish viewers could, at last, see the ending!

Goofs:

Factual errors: A party line phone would not ring when any phone on the line was off-hook. To call the other phone on your line, you had to dial a special code and then hang up and wait for your phone to stop ringing, indicating that the other party had answered. This is not how Jan Morrow does it.

Quotes:

[Trying to convince Alma she loves living alone]
Jan: Well, what am I missing?
Alma: If you have to ask, you're missing it!

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I Need No Atmosphere

Comedy to aid the sick!

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.