Irma la Douce (1963)

In Paris, a former policeman falls in love with a prostitute, and tries to get her out of that life by paying for all of her time.

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Alexandre Breffort (play), Billy Wilder

Stars:

Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi

Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Lemmon	...	Nestor Patou / Lord X
Shirley MacLaine	...	Irma La Douce
Lou Jacobi	...	Moustache
Bruce Yarnell	...	Hippolyte
Herschel Bernardi	...	Inspector Lefevre
Hope Holiday	...	Lolita
Joan Shawlee	...	Amazon Annie
Grace Lee Whitney	...	Kiki - the Cossack
Paul Dubov	...	Andre
Howard McNear	...	Concierge
Cliff Osmond	...	Police Sergeant
Diki Lerner	...	Jojo
Herb Jones	...	Casablanca Charlie
Ruth Earl	...	One of the Zebra Twins
Jane Earl	...	One of the Zebra Twins

Storyline

Naive, by the book French police officer Nester Patou, is transferred to the Red Light district. Upon witnessing what must be a brothel, he calls the station and organizes a raid, transporting all the 'ladies' to the jail. This unfortunately disrupts the well organized system of the police and the Pimps union. Not to mention inadvertently netting his station superior at the brothel. Fired, he goes to a bar to drink, is befriended by Irma, beats up her pimp, and finds he is now Irma's new pimp. Nester's doesn't like the thought of his girl seeing other men, so comes up with a plan.

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Plot Keywords:

pantyhose | prostitute | female stockinged feet | female stockinged legs | foreign language adaptation | 

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Taglines:

3 Lemmons hit the Jackpot

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 June 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

Irma la dulce

Filming Locations:

Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$25,246,588

Company Credits

Production Co:

Phalanx Productions, The Mirisch Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

147 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When translated from French, the film's title means: "Irma the Sweet" or "Sweet Irma".

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Goofs

The shadow of the "boom" can be seen on the brown wall, at the right of the screen, just after Lemmon shows up in MacLaine's apartment, following his jailbreak. It shows up behind Bernardi, just after MacLaine's sarcasm that Lemmon could be found in jail.

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Quotes

Irma La Douce: You know, I'm sort of glad about that girl in Dijon, with the cough.
Nestor Patou: You are?
Irma La Douce: Because frankly, in the police van I thought that you'd never in your life, uh...
Nestor Patou: Oh, she wasn't the only girl. I've had more than one girl.
Irma La Douce: How many?
Nestor Patou: Altogether? Oh, let me see...
Irma La Douce: Three?
Nestor Patou: Not as many as that.

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Connections

Referenced in The Newsroom: Meltdown: Part 1 (1997)

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Soundtracks

Our Language of Love
Music by Marguerite Monnot
French lyrics by Alexandre Breffort
English lyrics by Julian More, David Heneker and Monty Norman

User Reviews

Delightful Fairytale

In Paris, after six months working with children, the decorated rookie policeman Nestor Patou (Jack Lemmon) is assigned to work in the red light district on the Casanova Street, a place crowded of streetwalkers, pimps and corrupt police officers. The honest Nestor, who is naive and strictly by the book, notes the movement of couples in the Casanova Hotel and befriends the prostitute Irma La Douce (Shirley MacLaine) believing that she is a lady. When he discovers that she is also a streetwalker, he calls the central station for a raid in the hotel. However, among the arrested costumers is the corrupt Chief of Police Lefevre (Herschel Bernardi) that has a scheme with the pimps union. Nestor is fired with a dirty record and has difficulties to find a new job; he goes to the bistro of the versatile and experienced Moustache (Lou Jacobi) to drink, and he starts a conversation with Irma La Douce. However, her bully pimp Hippolyte (Bruce Yarnell) fights against Nestor, but he beats him up. Irma brings Nestor home and he becomes Irma's pimp. However he falls in love for her and he is jealous when she meets a client. He decides to create the wealthy British Lord X to be the only regular client of Irma. But things go wrong when Nestor is jealous of Lord X and decides to end his character.

"Irma la Douce" is a delightful fairytale of the fantastic Billy Wilder, certainly one of the five top-directors of Hollywood ever. Based on a play, this delicious romantic comedy has witty and cynical screenplay and dialogs, supported by the chemistry of the charming and gorgeous Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon, who had worked together three years ago in the masterpiece "The Apartment". Lou Jacobi plays a skilled man in hilarious situations. The lines of Jack Lemmon playing a British lord are very funny. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Irma la Douce"