Boeing Boeing

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.

"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.

I usually don't crave for comedies, but this one, I must admit, is purely exquisite. How could it be else, with the likes of Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis? The plot, scheme, of course suggests a stage play behind it. The situations can't let you evoke something else.... I have heard this film had a great great success all over the world. I remember that this film was shown in Paris till the mid eighties. But I had never seen it before. And Tony Curtis could not avoid a meeting with Jerry Lewis, another born comedy actor; both were made to fit together, as the bullet with the gun barrel. I don't know the director though, I guess that's the only film he made for the big screen.

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!

"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