Pillow Talk
Jan: Officer, arrest this man - he's taking me up to his apartment!
Police Officer: Well, I can't say that I blame him, miss.
Party Lines. . . what a headache that must of been!
And, obviously, a juicy bit of fodder for a pitch for a Hollywood flick.
"I'm tellin' ya Harry, it'll be great! They hate each other for the inconvenience of sharing a line and then we get 'em to fall in love in person! It's brilliant I tell ya!"
"I don't know, Charlie, ain't they gonna recognize each other's voice when they start talkin'?"
"Don't you worry, Harry. Leave it to me."
[[Why don't you both leave it and hang up - I gotta a call I gotta make, already!]]
Born of frustration and the ill perceptions of the person they share a phone line with, Doris Day and Rock Hudson start off irritated by one another. Until, Hudson's character SEES Day when visiting his friend, played with lovable whiny privilege like only Tony Randall can. Who also has a thing for her as well. So, the player that he is, Hudson pulls off a Texan accent and proceeds to attempt to sweep Day off her feet while at the same time, teasing and generally messing with her on the phone.
It's almost a sorority gag that backfires when the man doing it actually falls for the woman he's playing.
Which, of course, results in the woman finding out the truth and getting her revenge.
But it's Hollywood and everything works out in the end.
All of which is actually done with charm, wit and some clever split screen effects that keep things moving at a wonderful clip. Along with Randall as a secondary character, there is also Thelma Ritter doing her patented hard drinking woman with equal lovable aplomb.
I enjoyed this film and it kept a smile on my face the entire time. I would have felt sorry for Doris Day's character but there are some women that get even more beautiful when they get angry, and I'm pretty sure I would have been stoking that fire as well, in Rock Hudson's place, regarding the phone calls between them.
A very fun film and one I'm glad to have finally seen.