Boeing, Boeing (1965) User Reviews

French bedroom farce, American style

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 11 May 2008]

1965's "Boeing Boeing" is a dated but mildly amusing film starring Tony Curtis, Thelma Ritter, Jerry Lewis and Dany Saval. Curtis is a swinging bachelor living in Paris who is juggling three flight attendants at one time, all of whom live with him, and all of them are his fiancees. He's able to do this with the help of his able housekeeper (Ritter) and his carefully worked-out airline schedules. Unfortunately, the new fast planes are goofing up the schedules. Adding to the confusion is a visit by his friend Robert (Lewis), a reporter. The two men and an exhausted Ritter try to keep the women from running into one another at the apartment as their arrivals overlap.

"Boeing Boeing" was originally a play that had a very brief run on Broadway in the 1960's and went on to become the mainstay of dinner theaters throughout the U.S. After a very successful run in London, it has recently been revived on Broadway starring Christine Baranski as the maid, Bradley Whitford in the Tony Curtis role, Gina Gershon as an Italian flight attendant and Maureen McCormack as a German one. Not having seen the original play, it's hard to know what if anything in the film was changed from the play. In the current Broadway production, the Jerry Lewis character, done to great acclaim on both continents by Mark Rylance, is totally different - he's a shlub who's never seen a woman before. Lewis would have been perfect playing it that way - instead, in the film, the character of Robert is very against type, quite serious. The handsome Curtis does comedy well and is a perfect playboy. Baranski currently does the Ritter role with a French accent, which wrecks most of the dry humor that Baranski, like Ritter, brings to a role. Ritter is very funny as she changes the photograph on the desk, cooks sauerkraut for the German flight attendant, tosses it when the French flight attendant arrives and makes a soufflé instead and basically wears herself out.

"Boeing Boeing" is pleasant and fun to watch as an example of that great comedy form, the farce.

A delightful surprise

[fletch5 · 7/10 · 27 October 2000]

I first saw "Boeing Boeing" almost exactly a year ago when it came on TV, and I must say that I was delightfully surprised. While it was no comedy masterpiece, it still offered many genuinely amusing moments. The pairing of Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis worked perfectly and it was interesting to see Thelma Ritter (who appeared in Hitchcock's "Rear Window") as the over-employed housekeeper.

Good entertainment, if you can ignore its staginess (the film takes place almost entirely in one apartment).

Jerry Lewis plays it straight to Tony Curtis.

[Doctor_Bombay · 17 March 1999]

When the opening credits run, and the supporting female cast members ‘measurements' are shown beneath their names, you have no doubt you're in the 60's, bedroom farce, defined. In a role reversal of sorts Jerry Lewis plays straight man to Tony Curtis this time around .

Bernie Lawrence (Curtis) is an American newspaper man stationed in Paris, the man for whom there is never too many airline hostesses, just too little time. His delicately balanced, and timed to the minute, 4-way love life comes totally unwound when old pal Robert Reed (Lewis) arrives for an unexpected stay.

Cliché after cliché, time stamped in most every shot, Boeing Boeing is a tribute to a different type of filmmaking than we see today, a different morality, a different approach to comedy.

Wonderful Paris sights are an added treat. Recommended.

An excellent film, with two of the greats as the leading men

[Sarah-95 · 7/10 · 26 August 1999]

In my mind Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis are two of the best actors of that era, and they both bring to this film a star quality, which I don't think the film could do without. Jerry Lewis proving himself to actually be a good actor without having to resort to over the top slapstick. And I really don't think I need to say anything about the greatness that Tony brings.

The plot though kind of cute isn't all that, and I suppose nowadays is considered to be quite politically incorrect. However the plot is secondary to the interactions between the two main characters and the housekeeper which is really what the film is about.

I used to watch this film on a very regular basis, and I would encourage everyone else to do the same!

too silly to laugh at, yet totally unavoidable

[daviddaphneredding · 6/10 · 29 April 2015]

In this 1965 Paramount Pictures comedy, Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis are nutty and, for all practical purposes, perpetual kids. The setting is Paris where Bernard Lewis (played by Curtis) is definitely a philanderer who never wants to marry but have only fiancees, and he has three who are all airline stewardesses; there is the beautiful actress Christiane Schmitdner who plays a stewardess for Lufthansa, Davy Saval plays a stewardess for Air France, and Suzanna Leigh plays a stewardess for British Airways. Robert Reed, played by Lewis, is a newspaper man assigned to Paris where he stays with his friend of many years Bernard. During his time there, against his wishes Bernard's fiancees end up arriving at his apartment at the same time due to sudden changes in flight schedules, but one doesn't know the others are there. It does become silly and comical when the two men are hiding each girl in a separate bedroom, sometimes moving them around fast, and coming up with weak last-minute excuses as to why each one of them cannot stay where she has been resting. Thelma Ritter is quite comical as the maid who gets caught in the middle of the entire zany situation. The Paris sights are beautiful and, again, despite the bizarre story line, it is hard not to laugh at the nutty piece

Boeing, Boeing, Gone

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 28 October 2008]

Boeing Boeing is known primarily today as the film where Jerry Lewis stepped out of his schnook character and played a lead role in a Sixties sex comedy. Jerry does all right in expanding his range on this one, but the whole thing itself is not the greatest these type of films ever.

It's more of a warmed over version of The Tender Trap than anything else with Lewis playing not quite so second a banana to Tony Curtis as David Wayne did with Frank Sinatra.

Curtis has a great little operation going over at his place, he's got three fiancés, all airline stewardesses working at different airlines who live at his rather sumptuous bachelor pad in Paris. He keeps complete track of the schedule of Dany Saval for Air France, Christine Schmidtmer for Lufthansa, and Susanna Leigh for British Airways. But one fine day schedules change. Not only that, but an old rival Jerry Lewis comes into town and watches in amazement.

I'm still trying to figure out just how Tony Curtis could afford the living quarters he was in together with live-in maid Thelma Ritter who helps him keep the pretenses up. Just how a Jewish maid from Queens got to be living in Paris is also a mystery. All this mind you is on a reporter's salary and no one said that Curtis was Carl Bernstein.

Good thing he could afford her because Thelma Ritter as usual is the best thing in the film despite the statuesque proportions of the ladies involved. Especially Schmidtmer as Ritter caustically commented.

In his memoirs Tony Curtis says he liked making Boeing Boeing and thinks highly of Jerry Lewis as a person and comedian. He also said Lewis even when not doing his usual shtick in a film was still the greatest scene stealer on the planet with whom he had to stay constantly alert.

It's not a bad comedy, some will find it incredibly sexist for their taste. It does suffer by comparison to The Tender Trap.

It has a lot of energy and some funny moments...but almost all the characters are selfish or nasty.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 29 June 2016]

"Boeing, Boeing" is a very unusual film for the time because although Jerry Lewis is one of the stars of the picture, he neither directed nor wrote it. He's simply there as an actor and isn't quite the same goofy guy he is in his other films. In fact, in some ways he's quite a jerk...a definite departure.

The story is about a super-selfish guy. Bernard (Tony Curtis) is a major womanizer. He's arranged his life in Paris so that he's engaged to three different stewardesses at the same time. It works out because each thinks she's his only woman and because their schedules work out so, they are oblivious to his machinations. However, two things upset his plans...the arrival of Robert (Lewis) and the women's schedules...which suddenly start getting discombobulated. So for most of the film, Bernard works tirelessly to hide each woman from the others...sometimes with Robert's help and sometimes Robert seems to be out for just himself.

This American-made bedroom farce suffers because Bernard and Robert are jerks...and two of the three fiancees seem pretty nasty. The third fiancé is just kind of dumb. Because of all this, the film doesn't work as well as it could and it's obvious that the director and stars try to make up for a somewhat weak plot by putting TONS of energy into their performances. It's not unpleasant but can understand why this isn't one of Lewis' or Curtis' more famous efforts.

Engaged to three

[Petey-10 · 10/10 · 14 December 1999]

Boeing Boeing is a great 1960's comedy about a reporter called Bernard Lawrence, played by Tony Curtis, who has three fiancees. They all are air hostesses, one is working for Luftansa, one for Air France and one for British United.Bernard has to keep looking the air schedules very often, that the ladies won't be at Bernard's Paris apartment at the same time.Bernard has a little helper in the house called Bertha (Thelma Ritter), so Bernard's doesn't have to do all the work.But everything starts going wrong when Bernard's reporter buddy Robert Reed ,played by the great Jerry Lewis, comes to stay at Bernard's place.And everything goes even worse when the air schedules change. Bernard's perfect plan starts to fail. It is very funny to watch Bernard and Robert try to hide the ladies from each others.Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis are great comedy actors and they do a great acting job in this 1965 comedy called Boeing Boeing.

Paris When It Sizzles

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 14 September 2008]

"All you need is a timetable," explains playboy Tony Curtis (as Bernard Lawrence), an American reporter working in Paris. Mr. Curtis keeps three blondes in one apartment, each thinking she is Curtis' "one-and-only" fiancée. The rotating women are all airline stewardesses, on different timetables. Curtis' sexy arrangement is discovered by envious old pal Jerry Lewis (as Robert Reed). Mr. Lewis plots to take over the satisfying arrangement of women, after he learns Curtis may be transferred to New York. But, both men are threatened when the stewardesses' flight patterns change; and, everyone heads for the apartment bed!

Funnier than its reputation; perhaps, the film's celebration of pseudo-promiscuity distanced it from other sixties sex comedies - the "romance" between Lewis and Suzanna Leigh (as Vicky "British United" Hawkins) comes closest to "acceptable" for the genre. The other two women, hefty knockwurst-loving Christiane Schmidtmer (as Lise "Lufthansa" Bruner) and wispy soufflé-loving Dany Saval (as Jacqueline "Air France" Grieux), are more funny than romantic. Curtis is finely frantic; however, Lewis, in a lower key, and Thelma Ritter (as Bertha) are more outstanding.

****** Boeing Boeing (12/22/65) John Rich ~ Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Thelma Ritter, Dany Saval

Simply Painful

[Nemesis7293-1 · 2/10 · 12 March 2008]

A prime example of cookie-cutter 60's sex comedy. Tired, banal, limp, lukewarm, strenuously forced drivel who's only source of real humor is the wonderful Thelma Ritter, and the laughs she gets come much more from her persona than from the dry well of the script she had to work with. Curtis tries, but his efforts are in vain. Lewis is actually quite good in a very restrained performance, which is a shame in that it's wasted in this wasteland. None of the characters, save Ritter's, behave in a fashion even beginning to resemble a human being, let alone an intelligent human being. The resulting "humor" is numbingly artificial and contrived. In an outlandish situation genuine humor comes from realistic reactions and behavior. Something you need not expect from the cartoons that populate this sad, inane excuse for comedy.

Just One! Not for Tony!

[JLRMovieReviews · 7/10 · 18 December 2014]

Tony Curtis has a tight schedule keeping track of the airline stewardesses or hostesses, as they call them here, that are coming and going at his bachelor pad, so the last thing he needs is a roommate, but he gets one when Jerry Lewis shows up in "Boeing Boeing." Even Jerry picks one out for himself. A fast paced, almost frenetic time you will have if you spend any time here. Just ask Thelma Ritter, the cook and maid, who has to know the delicate palate of each and when to show whose picture when, as the picture in the frame is changed constantly. Tony is a news reporter, but that really plays hardly any part of the plot at all, when Tony is always at odds with keeping up with the revolving door. But he tells Jerry that three is just the right number. Four would be too much, and two would be too repetitive. Yes. Three girls to have and bed is just right. He says he's engaged to them, but he secretly has no plans to change the status quo. Despite the ever-changing roster of activity, Thelma Ritter supplies much of the film's humor with her usual delivery of witty one-liners. She does add a degree of respectability to this film, that, without her, would probably feel a bit sleazy. For a non-stop parade of young ladies in Tony Curtis' pad, check out "Boeing Boeing" and see if he and Jerry Lewis ever settle down!

It Was The Women's Movie

[richard.fuller1 · 19 June 2004]

Curtis and Lewis didn't work well as a comedy team. Lewis seemed to be wanting to do something more than his nasal simpletons. How about that name, Robert Reed?

For those who may not know, Robert Reed was Mike Brady in the Brady Bunch tv show.

The movie seemed to be wanting to be a racy European comedy, but the stewardess who roomed with Tony Curtis had her own room. The maid, Thelma Ritter, would change out all of the belongings of the stewardess who was leaving and replace them with the belongings of the one who was coming in.

Jerry wanted some of this action, which was weak. All the conflict could have taken place without Lewis being there.

Lewis would get beaten up as he spoke badly about Lufthansa (referring to the German stewardess) and some Germans overheard him. This became the code, to refer to each stewardess by the airline she flew for.

There would be one bad moment in the restaurant when Jerry would talk about another stewardess returning and one not leaving yet, and he would proclaim "Boeing, Boeing" as tho to say 'boing, boing' and this made for a very unnecessary inclusion of the title in the movie.

But hands down, the stewardesses and Thelma Ritter were the stars.

The British Vicky, played by Suzanna Leigh, liked kidneys. We began with her and she said everytime she was ready to go out, Thelma Ritter would get hostile toward her. She didn't know that Ritter now had to make way for the incoming flight.

Air France's Jacqueline, played by bobbed Dany Saval, was a tiny wisp of a girl who liked soufflets.

But it was Lufthansa's Lise, played by Christiane Schmidtmer, who made it all funny. Very well endowed (VERY well endowed!) she would arrive when the soufflet was still around.

"Soufflets are for people mitout teeth," she would state and want weiner-schnitzels.

As one stewardess would be leaving, Thelma Ritter would start getting snide.

the British stewardess would tell Ritter something.

"Vunderbar," Ritter would exclaim disinterested.

The funniest was when she was changing out the undergarments and said Jacqueline would get lost in Lise's brassiere.

She had to keep throwing away soufflets and sausages, in anticipation of which stewardess was coming next.

Then there would be one grand moment when two of the stewardesses were heading into the restroom at the same time! Oh no!

Turns out there was no need to worry, as the women didn't know one another.

The women were the stars of this movie in the end, including Thelma Ritter. The guys could have been played by anyone else.

Cute little "la la" tune played at the beginning and the end tho.

Staged, but same conclusion.

[Carrie_the_Oracle · 6/10 · 30 October 2005]

I saw this play in a 99-seat theater tonight in Sierra Madre, CA. I came to the same conclusion; the guys could have been anyone else. Berthe was the star of the show here, too--a really superb actress. The girls were good, But TWA was obviously anorexic. Luftansa was, well, Ruebenesquely cast.

The men were not slick enough for this phenotype, and they tended to garble and fall over the laughs. Most of the laughter came from this mostly SBNN (straight but not narrow) audience, who laughed at the self-delusion and naiveté of both the lead and his foil. They also wanted to know Berthe's cell number.

old fashion sex comedy

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 18 July 2017]

Bernard Lawrence (Tony Curtis) is a reporter based in Paris. His British stewardess fiancée Vicky Hawkins (Suzanna Leigh) hates his housekeeper Bertha (Thelma Ritter). He's very careful with scheduling. He drops Vicky off at the airport, and surprisingly, picks up his other fiancée, German stewardess, Lise Bruner (Christiane Schmidtmer). In addition, there is his Air France girlfriend Jacqueline Grieux (Dany Saval). The tight precise juggling is threatened by any scheduling changes, the new faster planes, and fellow reporter Robert Reed (Jerry Lewis) with no hotel vacancy who insists on staying at his apartment.

The idea is cute. Starting with listing the girls' measurements in the opening credits, this is an old fashion sex romp. Jerry Lewis is playing straight in this one. It's not that funny especially in terms of modern sex comedies. There are a few fun moments but no big laughs. It's probably not a classic but a good choice for fans of these legends.

nice chaotic comedy

[petersjoelen · 7/10 · 1 February 2024]

Nice film about a man who is engaged to three different flight attendants at the same time. A typical Hollywood farce. Entertaining developments and situations continue to follow one another. However, it is all a bit repetitive. The cast knows how to bring fun and it is always a pleasure to see Thelma Ritter at work.

Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis do a nice job together, but the housekeeper Bertha provides the nicest one-liners and steals the show.

It's always fun to see Lewis busy, although he doesn't make the funny faces we're used to from him in this film, the interplay with his colleague Curtis makes for funny scenes, although the rest of the cast also do there job pretty good .

A beautiful evening

[sara-13779 · 8/10 · 28 January 2019]

You'll enjoy this movie from start to end if you take it as it is: a fun, entertaining film with two wonderful leading men. Tony Curtis was a brilliant actor, and in comedies he's simply amazing. I spent a wonderful evening laughing out loud in certain moments. See it!

Jerry was kicked to secondary role!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 1 March 2019]

Unnoticed Jerry Lewis was totally shallowed by Tony Curtis in this sexy comedy by the way he appears around after half hour, when Curtis's character took over the picture and didn't share the leadership anymore, Sorry to Jerry who accepted a serious role instead a dumb guy which he used to do on Lewis & Martin era, but the three steward a breathtaking beauties who saves the whole picture of the entire flop, the germany there was the most sex appeal for all them, his voluptuous body size is outrageous sexy followed by Suzanna Leigh ( The Deadly Bees ) a really stunning beauty, Dany Saval was too skinny, lovely face only without attributes needs to this kind of role, also a speechless and priceless performance by Thelma Ritter!!

Resume:

First watch: 2012 / How many: 2 / Source: Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 7

Mishandled opportunities...

[IslandMadMacs · 4/10 · 29 March 2006]

Unlike several of the IMDb reviewers who have obviously grinded their sexual/political axe when viewing it through their tinted prisms - I never go into a film with a 21st century predisposition. Still, this is a difficult movie to critique, even taking into consideration the period and accepting the mindset when this movie was filmed.

Clearly this falls into the farcical light comedies of the late 50's/early-mid 60's. Exemplfying the male 'heaven' where a dashing global man of means has several beautiful women (airline "hostesses" no less) plugged into his sexual carnival. But even taking this into account - 'Boeing Boeing' fails to deliver the barrel full of expected suggestive laughs. Levity is there of course, but very sporadic and uneven.

How and Where specifically?

Difficult to define. As both Curtis and Lewis bring their talents to bear, I can only point to the director, John Rich. He tries to capture the 'martini' energy of similar films of the period - 'Some Like It Hot' or 'The Love God?' - but lacked the skill to mesh the cast and material together. (not surprising to discover that he's a TV director and this was his one and only directorial attempt at a feature film) But equally at fault is a script clearly written for the rambling open stage - forced into the constrained demands of film. The harried and frenetic pace reflects a haphazard adaptation of the stage production material.

Rule of thumb to filmmakers: If your viewing audience needs a scorecard to keep track of the players and plot directions - your film needs new a edit, maybe even a new editor.

And scenes that should create sexual tension fall flat as they compete against, and not blend into or with, the slapstick. Conversely, slapstick scenes, which should've brought the skills of Curtis and/or Lewis to the forefront, dribble because they're competing against the sexual energy the scenes actually calls for. An example: When Jerry is "ordered" to massage Ms. Lufthansa - the scene itself isn't filmed; nor is Tony's natural reaction when this event is discovered. Both missing scenes would've led to hilarity. Can you imagine Lewis oiling up and slipping/sliding over Ms. Lufthansa who is curtly directing where he should put his hands or how hard he should push? Or Curtis confronting Lewis, while still covered in oil? Opportunity lost. Instead, the film cuts to Lewis wiping down his hands still *completely dressed* in suit and tie! He then snidely comments "It was like oiling down a baby whale." So is he supposed to be lusting after Ms. Lufthansa, as presented throughout the first half of the film? Or is he disgusted that she's a large woman and he did it only to fulfill her demands as suggested in the second half? Indecision on the part of the director = no laughs.

The entire film is a bunch of similar set-ups with mishandled deliveries. Imagine simultaneously being told ten jokes, but the punchlines are delivered out of order and left for you to decide what fits best and when.

Others have noted the incredible anchor of this film: Thelma Ritter. Cast into the role of 'straight man' against the wackiness of her male co-stars, her character steals this film. Notably, scenes with her in it are where the laughs can be found. This is both enjoyable and sad. So much potential and missed opportunities. It was all 'there' - if only this movie had the right director at its helm.

Because there's not enough laughs to justify purchasing this film at current market prices, which is considerable given it's "OOP" or "LOOP" status, this one is only for true devotees of the genre - or for dedicated fans of Tony Curtis and/or Jerry Lewis.

As funny as it gets!

[Ru-Dy · 10/10 · 19 August 2021]

When I want to laugh, I watch this one! It is my favorite romantic comedy! Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis are hilarious, and Thelma Ritter as the maid completes this non-stop laugh-a-thon! Give it a look, it's one of the all time classics!

Family-friendly bachelor escapades...

[moonspinner55 · 3/10 · 17 December 2006]

This Tony Curtis-Jerry Lewis combination, adapted from a play by Marc Camoletti, is yet another bedroom comedy without anything actually happening in the bedroom. Curtis plays an American in Paris juggling the affections of different sexy stewardesses. Director John Rich is faced with staging slapstick he has no intrinsic feeling or affection for; instead of a spirited good time, he has his cast running around crazily hoping it will translate into laughs. Perky Dany Saval (as "Air France") is the stand-out amongst the lovely ladies, none of whom gets an actual character to play. Curtis and Lewis might have been an interesting duo under better circumstances (and with snappier dialogue), but this material is beneath them. *1/2 from ****

A must see...again and again and again

[paul-685-664575 · 10/10 · 4 October 2020]

I discovered the movie about 10 years ago after I saw the play. I saw it 5 times since then. One of my all time favorites. I read in Wikipedia that Jerry Lewis turned down Jerry's role in "Some Like It Hot". Can you imagine Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis in the best comedy of all time? Well, they were finally paired up in this one. And then there is Thelma Ritter. A triple treat. Also, finally an American movie where the French and the German and even the British women are played by real life French, German, and British correspondingly.

I never saw any of the silly comedies by Jerry Lewis but I loved "King of the Comedy" where again he proves that he is a great actor.

In summary, the movie is perfect until they end up in the restaurant. After that not so much. Nevertheless, I give 10 stars and plan to see it again and again every couple of years or so.

Note that there is another movie that I saw 5 times: Pas sur la bouche. Highly recommended despite the similarly low score on IMDB.

Not a Flattering Take on Mid-60's Culture

[aimless-46 · 3/10 · 20 May 2008]

I don't get it, the humor in "Boeing Boeing" (1965) that is. And neither will those who are not into what passed for sex-farce comedy in the early 1960's. You know, take the Doris Day/Rock Hudson stuff, throw in the Matt Helm "irresistible to women" device, and release to a target audience of Hugh Hefner lifestyle wanna-be's.

No wonder the Haight-Asbury, counterculture, free-speech movement got such traction at the time from films like "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) and "Easy Rider" (1969). Judging from the content of "Boeing Boeing", the movement simply filled a cultural vacuum in which the highest aspiration of an American male was to be playboy with a cool pad and a harem of gullible but gorgeous and adoring women (then again there is a simplistic superficial charm to this notion).

In "Boeing Boeing", Bernard Lawrence (Tony Curtis) has a multi-bedroom apartment in Paris which he shares with his three flight attendant fiancés; Vicky (Suzanna Leigh), Jacqueline (Dany Saval), and Lise (Christiane Schmidtmer). None of the three actresses were particularly talented or successful, but their characters are not intended to be anything more than superficial eye candy (although even in this they are not especially notable). Bernard, his friend Robert (Jerry Lewis in a relatively straight role), and his housekeeper Bertha (Thelma Ritter who is responsible for the film's meager moments of actual comedy) spend the film trying to keep the three fiancés from finding about each other. This arrangement is possible because the three work for different airlines and fly at times.

The awkward thing for contemporary viewers (and apparently for viewers in 1965 as the film was not well received) is that Bernard has no sincere feelings for any of the three, nor any intention of marrying one of them. He has practiced this kind of scam in the past with other women, and is realistic enough to know that he will eventually be exposed. At which time he will move on and set up shop somewhere else.

Now I'm normally willing to suspend disbelief about the entire premise and just go with along with the storyline; even finding some unintended humor in how they dance around and never directly confront the fact that Bernard is sleeping with three women. But I found it troubling that the three women are portrayed as sincere and likable. If they had been gold-digging schemers, or if Bernard was simply indecisive and using the set-up as a means to make a decision about which one to marry, the film would not seem so mean-spirited. The flip-side of this basic premise was the subject of several "Three Stooges" shorts, with the boys eventually getting mega-revenge on the "three-timing" woman. These were considerably more humorous than "Boeing Boeing"; with Larry, Curly, and Moe generally behaving more intelligently that anyone in this film.

I would neither avoid nor seek out this film. It does provide some interesting clues about the pre-hippie culture of America or at least what Hollywood thought would attract film viewers during that period.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Gender equality? What's that?

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 13 April 2019]

Slickly produced but unfunny, stagy, and cringingly, embarrassingly sexist door-slamming farce, set in Paris (but mostly shot in a studio set apartment). Jerry Lewis plays it rather low-key and comes off better than Tony Curtis; in supporting roles, the statuesque Christiane Schmidtmer and the sarcastic Thelma Ritter try to breathe some life into the non-story, with only moderate success. ** out of 4.

fluff with piff and puff

[karlericsson · 3/10 · 8 May 2012]

In Swedish the names for those Disney chipmunks are "Piff" and "Puff". That happens to rime with "Fluff" and I'd like that as a summary for this film.

Well, all comedies are "fluff", more or less. A comedy always leans on society as it is with no ambition of changing anything of it. The farce or impertinence of, say, Laurel and Hardy, is quite different. These guys made fun of whole constitutions and they were never better than when Hardy had a high position in society and Laurel comes and spoils it all. Also their destructiveness as in Tit for Tat or Big Business has a certain edge to it and we never walk away from a Laurel and Hardy film with more respect for society and instead always with less. In fact, when you look at those two as on insults to society, then you start to grasp their "comedy", which is just the opposite of usual comedy.

This film is a usual comedy. This film is fluff with piff and puff. Still, for Tony Curtis sake, it is still watchable. He plays it for what it is worth with a shrug like "OK, I was bought and I'm just a slave like all you others".

Reunion Intended?

[dweilermg-1 · 5/10 · 16 February 2020]

It seemed to me that this movie may have been intended as a Dean & Jerry reunion film but Tony Curtis ended up getting the handsome leading man role that may have been meant for Dean Martin. Still a great comedy of its era nonetheless. ☺