Walk Don't Run (1966)

During the housing shortage of the Summer Olympic Games in 1964, two men and a woman share a small apartment in Tokyo, and the older man soon starts playing Cupid to the younger pair.

Director:

Charles Walters

Writers:

Robert Russell (story), Frank Ross (story)

Stars:

Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, Jim Hutton

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Cary Grant	...	Sir William Rutland
Samantha Eggar	...	Christine Easton
Jim Hutton	...	Steve Davis
John Standing	...	Julius D. Haversack
Miiko Taka	...	Aiko Kurawa
Ted Hartley	...	Yuri Andreyovitch
Ben Astar	...	Dimitri
George Takei	...	Police Captain
Teru Shimada	...	Mr. Kurawa
Lois Kiuchi	...	Mrs. Kurawa

Storyline

British industrialist Sir William Rutland - "Bill" to his friends - is in Tokyo on a business trip during the time of the Summer Olympic Games there in 1964. Having actually arrived in Tokyo two days before his original planned arrival, he has problems finding a hotel room because of the Olympics. Spotting an ad posted on a British Embassy message board of a room available to sublet, Bill is able to wrangle his way into the apartment of Christine Easton, who is renting out the sitting room of her one-bedroom apartment as a bedroom for the duration of the Olympics. Bill's short-term living situation in Christine's sitting room is despite her solely wanting a female roommate. Soon thereafter, Bill meets Steve Davis, an athlete with the American Olympic team who seems to be reluctant to disclose in which event he is competing. Like Bill, Steve has arrived in Tokyo two days early of his scheduled arrival, has nowhere to stay for those two days, and without Christine's knowledge also ...

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Plot Keywords:

housing shortage | matchmaking | tokyo japan | remake | screwball comedy | 

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Taglines:

Run, don't walk to see Walk, Don't Run.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

29 June 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

Walk, Don't Run

Filming Locations:

Shimbashi, Tokyo, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sol C. Siegel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In some scenes, Cary Grant whistles the theme music from Charade (1963) and An Affair to Remember (1957), two of his previous films.

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Goofs

At the race, Julius says the fastest time for the 50 km race-walk is "four hours and fifty-three minutes." At the time of the 1964 Olympics, the men's 50 km race-walk world record was actually 4:00:50. (At the time of the film's release, the record was 3:55:36.)

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Quotes

Christine Easton: After 7:45, you can have the bathroom all day if you'd like.
Sir William Rutland: I wouldn't know what to do in the bathroom all day!

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Connections

Features The Man from Laramie (1955)

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Soundtracks

An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)
(uncredited)
Music by Harry Warren
Lyrics by Harold Adamson and Leo McCarey
Sung by Cary Grant

User Reviews

Breathtaking Tokyo 1966, and Breathtaking Cary Grant, Last Film

Walk Don't Run (1966)

In my book, Cary Grant can do no wrong, and he absolutely makes this movie. It's a bit of a 1960s farce, and is maybe exactly what everyone was reacting against with the shift in movies around this time to greater realism and pertinence. This has neither!

But that's okay, it has beauty (the sets, architecture, and widescreen filming are all really fabulous) and innocence, which is weird to remember. Even sweet romances from our time, like Sleepless in Seattle, don't have the same pure innocence of this, which I think is genuine in its own way. The scene is mid-60s Tokyo, which is hard to beat for interest (and great cars). The plot? Oh, I'm not sure it actually has one that matters, except boy meets girl. It's mostly like a super high class situation comedy, and the comedy is more important than the situation.

And more important than both is Cary Grant, who is in great form. Yes, Jim Hutton is there (and he's fine but forgettable) as well as the female lead, Samantha Eggar (who is not as fine, but is fine anyway, and also forgettable). But then there is Cary Grant. There are even some odd gay gaze moments, where Grant, and the camera, check out the legs or body of a man (Grant, though married, was also gay, it appears). If you catch it it's almost shocking, but perhaps the audience was so innocent, as well, it was thought of as simply funny.

So: drop Cary Grant beautifully in Tokyo and create a nonsensical series of little gags, and you have it. And it's Grant's last film.