"Boeing, Boeing" ** 1\2 (out of ****) Sex. It has always been a rich topic for comedians. In the 1960s there was an almost unhealthy (or healthy depending on your view-point) preoccupation with it. It was a time when nearly every comedy was a wild sex romp creating its own sub-genre in comedy.
One of the better known sex comedies of the 1960s might be "What's New Pussycat?" (1965). It gave us the screen debut of Woody Allen, who also co-wrote the film, and starred Peter O' Toole and Peter Sellers. It was the highest grossing comedy of its time. But I never cared much for that film. It got the feeling of the times right. It is something of a time capsule with the Burt Bacharach score, the Paris streets and the fashion, but, as a comedy the film never really seemed to make much sense to me.
And that's sort of where "Boeing, Boeing" (1965) comes in. It doesn't give us a true feeling of the times but it is a more polished comedy, sorta.
Tony Curtis plays Bernard Lawrence. An American correspondent in Paris. When we first see Bernard he is having breakfast with his fiancee, Vicky (Suzanna Leigh). But Bernard seems uneasy. He keeps checking his watch. He keeps reminding Vicky about the time. She is a stewardess for British United and he doesn't want her to be late for work. He even writes down her schedule down to the minute for when she will be returning and leaving. Is Bernard a creature of habit? Is he one of those people who cannot have his daily routine disturbed?
The answer is no. What Vicky doesn't know is Bernard is having an affair. But he is not just seeing another woman. He is seeing two other women. And all three claim to be his fiancee! If that isn't enough, all three are stewardess working for different airlines. But as complicated as this set-up may be, and boy is it ever, things are going to get worst. A friend of Bernard's, another correspondent, is coming to France from Berlin. The friend, Robert Reed (Jerry Lewis) wants to stay at Bernard's place for a few days since every hotel is booked.
From the film's earliest moments we can see Bernard's life is a juggling act. All three women have very different work schedules. Sometimes their schedules are days apart. Bernard keeps track of their every movement in order to ensure these women never met. In one scene, just as soon as one woman's flight takes off, another plane is arriving with his other fiancee. But no man can keep this system up by himself. So Bernard has informed his housekeeper, Bertha (Thelma Ritter) of the details. She is the one who must keep track of what each woman likes to eat, separate their laundry and constantly change photo lying around the house to match the current woman staying in his apartment.
But now with Robert spending a few days Bernard is worried he will interfere with his schedule. And as you can tell, Bernard has a lot to lose if anything is ever revealed.
On this particular day though Bernard's system will be put to the test. Each woman will have unexpected plans bringing them all home during the same day. The other women are Lise (Christiane Shmidtmer) who works for Lufthansa airlines and Jacqueline (Dany Saval) who works for Air France.
As is the case with all sex farce there is a lot of jumping and running and bedroom doors opening and closing with one person running out while another runs in or someone unexpected is in one room or another. And that is the big problem with "Boeing, Boeing". It is so predictable and by the numbers that we know the set-up. You may not have seen this particular film before but you've seen countless others like it. Take Blake Edward's "Micki & Maude" (1984) for example. "Boeing, Boeing" is a one joke film that after a while no longer seems to be funny. All of the compromising situations are exhausted.
The only thing the film has going in its favor is we have three engaging, entertainers performing. I took no real joy in the plot after a while and merely enjoyed watching the interplay between Curtis and Lewis and Thelma Ritter's wise-cracks.
As far as casting goes I doubt you could have gotten a better actor than Tony Curtis for the role. If the film had been made 30 years earlier, possibly Cary Grant could have played this part. Curtis however is one of those great talents which can play drama, watch him in "The Sweet Smell of Success" (1957) and comedy. And Curtis was no stranger to these sex comedies. Consider Billy Wilder's "Some Like It Hot" (1959) and "Goodbye Charlie" (1964) as prime examples. Plus, Curtis seems like the playboy type. Lets not kid ourselves. He was a good looking man and was without doubt a matinee idol. For years that bothered Curtis who felt Hollywood always looked pasted him. He felt people thought of him as only a pretty face.
With Jerry Lewis though, maybe you could have found another actor. Lewis however is good in the film but I wonder how a true Jerry Lewis fan would react to his performance here. That is not to say I dislike Lewis. I appreciate his comedy skills but I'm not a member of the Jerry Lewis fan club. Lewis is one of those performers whose reputation proceeds him. We all have a certain idea of what to expect from him after watching such films as "The Bellboy" (1960) and "The Patsy" (1964), one of my favorites of the films he directed.
Lewis doesn't go into that nutty childlike character he often played in his movies. With this script and another director Lewis tones it down several notches. He doesn't even get many, if any, memorable physical comedy bits in. That is not a bad thing per se, since the script doesn't really call for it as far as his character is concern but if you are a Jerry Lewis fan and see he is in this, you might be disappointed not to find him doing his usual schtick.
The funny thing about Lewis is the next film he would act and direct would be also be a similar story, "Three On A Couch" (1966) which co-starred Curtis' wife, Janet Leigh. Sadly it seems to be no longer available but in it Leigh plays a psychiatrist and Lewis an artist who wants to move to France but because of Leigh's patients she can't leave. Since her patients have romantic problems Lewis dates them all disguised as different characters behind Leigh's back. Working on "Boeing, Boeing" simply must have provided some sort of inspiration for him.
And six-time Oscar nominee Thelma Ritter plays the kind of character we've come to expect from her. It is no different from the role she played in Hitchcock's "Rear Window" (1954) in the sense she is street smart and wise-cracking or her role in the Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedy "Pillow Talk" (1959). Though she did have some range to herself. Check out her Oscar nominated performance in John Frankenheimer's "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1961). In "Boeing, Boeing" though she keeps the one-liners coming fast and heavy.
The film was based on a French play written by Marc Camoletti. And adapted by Edward Anhalt who wrote another 60s sex comedy "Wives and Lovers" (1963) with Van Johnson and again Janet Leigh. I've never seen the play which this was based on. And I have no idea how faithful Anahlt is to it. But "Boeing, Boeing" suffers from a truly pathetic ending. The film has no ending. I suppose there was no truly satisfying way to end this story but I refuse to believe there wasn't a more clever way to end the film. It is a total cop out. I was almost going to give the film the benefit of the doubt and recommend it but once I saw the ending I simply had to draw the line somewhere. You can't have this kind of ending and not expect to disappoint viewers. Maybe such an ending would have worked on the stage, I don't know, but it doesn't work in a film.
"Boeing, Boeing" isn't a terrible film but there are better comedies of this sort to watch. I've mentioned a few of them in this review; "Micki & Maude" and "Goodbye Charlie". If you are a big fan of the stars in the film I'd say check it out. But if you never see this movie I seriously doubt it will ever come up in conversation, so don't worry about it.
Posts
