Bedtime Story (1964)

The story of two gigolos who vie to see which is the best at their profession.

Director:

Ralph Levy

Writers:

Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning

Stars:

Marlon Brando, David Niven, Shirley Jones

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Marlon Brando	...	Freddy Benson
David Niven	...	Lawrence Jameson
Shirley Jones	...	Janet Walker
Dody Goodman	...	Fanny Eubank
Aram Stephan	...	Andre
Parley Baer	...	Col. Williams
Marie Windsor	...	Mrs. Sutton
Rebecca Sand	...	Miss Trumble
Frances Robinson	...	Miss Harrington
Henry Slate	...	Sattler
Norman Alden	...	Dubin
Susanne Cramer	...	Anna
Cynthia Lynn	...	Frieda
Ilse Taurins	...	Hilda
Francine York	...	Gina

Storyline

Benson, is a Casanova who despises women and invents all sorts of tricks to bed them and leave them. His favorite one is going through Germany posing as an American GI of Teunonic extraction. Whenever he spots a girl he likes, he takes a Polarod picture of her house, knocks on the door waving the photo and pretending to be on a pilgrimage to this very cottage his grandmother so vividly described. It is an infallible system for a hit-and-run seduction. Benson seems content with his game until he meets Jamison, a real operator who has learned to combine sex with money. Jamison poses as an exiled prince and not only gets women to share his bed but also to bestow their jewels on him for the sake of the counterrevolution. Benson decides to corner Jamison's market on sex plus finance. A contest develops, and whoever wins will dominate a small Riviera resort as "King of the Mountain," the film's original title. Remade in 1988 as "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

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Plot Keywords:

swiss psychiatrist | con artist | rivalry | competition

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 1964 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

King of the Mountain

Filming Locations:

Train Station, Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pennebaker Productions, The Lankershim Company, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally, Tippi Hedren was supposed to play Janet Walker, but Alfred Hitchcock told Ralph Levy she was not available. Shirley Jones was cast instead. Years later, Hedren would appear as Marlon Brando's wife in A Countess from Hong Kong

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Connections

Remade as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

User Reviews

A grandson for grannies to dig.

Very funny comedy .The repetitive side ("My granny is sick...She needs an operation...Alas I've not got enough money! Poor dear") is no problem.On the contrary,it becomes funnier and funnier as the movie progresses."Bedtime story" hints at fairy tales characters ,particularly the Little Red Riding Hood and Prince Charming (David Niven may be a fake shrink ,but he is a true prince short of the readies,a prince going as far as to "create" an evil prince in his château).But the most successful gags are provided by the spoof on all the Freudian works which were thriving since the forties (their heyday with such directors as Siodmak,Hitchcock,Lang ,Tourneur ..).Brando about to faint and pretending he is suffering each time he sees lovers dance is a nod to all these movies in which the hero(ine) couldn't stand a certain thing,because in his/her past something bad happened.

I even suspect the writers of having borrowed the scene in which Shirley Jones and Brando are on the beach (You can do it on my legs too)from the famous scene on the boat when Marilyn Monroe tries to arouse Tony Curtis's desire .

A treat for big babies.