Pillow Talk (1959)

Overall rating from 1 to 100: 54

O Masterpiece (95-100)
O Excellent (75-94)
O Good video rental (60-74)
X Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don't watch (1-29)

Review by Jason Pyles / June 23, 2007

If you’ve seen “Down With Love” (2003), the one that stars Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, then you’ll know exactly what you’re in for with “Pillow Talk.” Why? Because movies like “Pillow Talk” were the inspiration for “Down With Love.”

“Pillow Talk” is a late ‘50s, sexual, romantic comedy. But it’s not a sexual comedy like we see in today’s movies. By today’s standards, it has very subdued innuendo that would only earn a PG rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. (And if you’re worried about such things, I would warn that “Down With Love” is updated to modern “standards” (or lack thereof) and has a PG-13 rating that really should have been R.) In “Pillow Talk” we get one “d” word, and dialogue like this: “Don’t worry about what he does to me — or when ... ” Or, “Don’t take your bedroom problems out on me.” At one point a character is referred to as a “sex maniac.” All of this may have been edgy for the ‘50s, before the Sexual Revolution seeped into cinema, but the banter seems rather dated and benign now.

Jan Morrow (Doris Day) is a single woman who is an interior decorator. But she has a problem: She has “a party line” (which is a telephone line that she must share with other callers in New York). Every time she needs to call a client, she picks up the phone and hears some playboy wooing a different woman.

Brad Allen (Rock Hudson) is this womanizer. He is a songwriter who uses the same song to sing to various women; he simply inserts the latest gal’s name. In addition to his being a nuisance with his constant calls, Jan finds Brad’s lifestyle reprehensible. One of Jan’s clients, Jonathan Forbes (Tony Randall, “The Odd Couple”), is a millionaire who is in love with her. This spark simply isn’t returned from her though. Coincidentally, Jonathan is Brad’s best friend and boss, sort of.

Basically, Brad hears via Jonathan that Jan is actually quite attractive. Brad ends up seeing for himself, and he agrees. But since Jan is already disgusted with Brad, the ladies’ man disguises himself with a false identity. Naturally, Jan begins falling for Brad (and his trick alter ego who has a horrible accent). Further complicating matters, Brad must keep his deception a secret from Jonathan and figure out a way to reveal his true identity to her with minimal damage. And so forth. (Don’t worry, this lengthy plot description hasn’t spoiled the movie for you.)

“Pillow Talk” seems lame at first, but once you get used to its dated feel (such as voice-over thoughts), you begin to roll with it. About 45 minutes into the movie, it gets interesting. And the last 20 minutes is actually rather funny. I was pleasantly surprised.

Perhaps the most noteworthy, shocking thing about “Pillow Talk” is what amounts to an attempted rape scene: One of Jan’s clients has a son who offers to drive her home one night. On the way, he begins forcing himself upon her. The scene merely shows him trying to hug and kiss her. She keeps pushing him away, rather violently. It continues for an uncomfortably long amount of time and is quite bizarre when viewed in our modern times of “No Means No” and sexual harassment lawsuits.

“Pillow Talk” is weird in a “I’m glad I saw it” kind of way, but there’s no real reason to see it.

Directed by Michael Gordon
Rock Hudson / Doris Day / Tony Randall
102 min. Comedy / Romance
MPAA: Not rated (but probably PG for mild innuendo)

Copyright 2007.
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