Quel numéro ce faux numéro!

I just watched this film after taping it among several others from TCM's recent Bob Hope movie marathon. I saw it originally in a downtown theater here as a kid with my parents and sisters in the summer of 1966. I didn't see it again until about 20 years later, upon renting a copy of it from a local video store. My viewing of it the other night made it almost another 20 years since I'd last seen it. I'm a huge Bob Hope fan, so in my eyes he can do no wrong. Although it has its critics, one must realize the context of the times in which "Number" was made. Sex farces were all the rage in the 60's, especially smack-dab in the middle of the decade, when this film was released. Bob appeared regularly throughout each TV season on his NBC specials, and they always got huge ratings, especially his annual Christmas shows from Vietnam. The release of a new Bob Hope movie was a cause for celebration, especially in the long, hot summers of those days. Yes, "Number" essentially is an elongated TV sketch, but it presented a mildly risqué plot in which Bob had to deal with a world-famous sex kitten who suddenly disrupts his life as a married-with-2-children, middle-class realtor, who's experiencing a sales slump. He decides to use runaway movie star Didi as a promotional point for selling an undesirable lakefront cabin he can't sell. His plan backfires, though, but not before he fends off each crisis with his usual breezy one-liners and humorous repartee. Bob's character certainly appreciates Didi's seductive charms, but he's not lecherous. Although he has to control himself at times, the male viewer can really sympathize and identify with his plight. Just when we think he's going to give in and become unfaithful to his marriage vows, his comical responses pull him back from the brink, the viewers laughing at his self-imposed reprieves. I think female viewers enjoy watching these kinds of situations, too. In short, I still like the film. Bob had both discovered and made Phyllis Diller's career, frequently having her on his TV specials in those years. To today's audiences, she may be unrecognizable or of no special consequence in this movie, but to audiences of 1966, she was a household name, her pairing with Bob in "Number" being a big draw. I think the movie was meant primarily as a breezy summer sex comedy, not to be taken seriously. Many of the lines are quite funny, although a few are obvious and uninspired. Still, though, it remains amusing throughout, but it's more in the vein of Bob's TV presence--a huge star who just wanted to stay in touch with the modern film audiences of the mid-1960's, and be seen in the type of sex farce that Americans of that generation enjoyed. One must also realize that Bob had been promoting Elke Sommer on his TV specials at this time, too, so this movie had a lot of built-in publicity and interest surrounding it. True, it's a forgettable film, and hardly one of Bob's classics, but it showcases him as a modern suburban husband and father, and a very witty and likable one at that, thus keeping him in step with how most Americans viewed themselves at the time, or would like to. P.S.: One of my favorite lines in the movie comes during the car chase near the end, where Bob's escaping in a police car while being followed by about 4 other police cars. He looks in his rearview mirror and says, "I've got more fuzz on my tail than a French poodle!" Great stuff!

Wholesome sitcom style family comedy not as bad as critics deemed. This G-rated comedy is very Brady Bunch style with the sum better than the parts. If your family is a fan of Nick at Nite then this movie should delight them. Directed by legendary Hollywood director turned TV-director, George Marshal, this film offers wacky slapstick, a wacky car chase, wacky boyscouts and wacky Phylis Diller on a motorcycle. Bob Hope play's a happily married (to "Make Room For Daddy"'s Marjorie Lord) real estate agent with two kids and a maid (Phylis Diller). One day he gets a wrong number from a Hollywood movie star (a dazzling and very funny Elke Sommer) in hiding from her studio. Eventually Hope tries to help the starlet in her quest for privacy. Trying to keep the news out of the paper, and his association with her from his wife, the film is basically one situation after another of trying to hide Sommer from someone. Hope is a bit subdued with terrible lines but, as usual, has good chemistry with Diller and plays the part of the responsible loving husband but victim of circumstances very well. The part of the movie starlet could easily have been a dumb-blonde role, but Elke Sommer (who was great in the comedy "A Shot in the Dark") brings the role life with a very clever performance and a great flair for physical comedy. She gets a bit upstaged by Hope and Diller, but does just fine alongside the two pros. Just a nice, clean, fun show for all ages.

Silly, scrappy comedy with Bob Hope trying to hide sleepy sexpot Elke Sommer from his wife. Low-budget screwball antics looks really bad, with sets which are far too large for the minimal action taking place there (the kitchen in Bob's house is positively drafty), and the poor lighting and awkward camera-work do not help. Once the action swings from suburbia to a cabin in the woods, the picture perks up a bit. The one-dimensional cabin set is another eyesore, but the slapstick involved isn't too bad (and Sommer's shrieks are funny). Phyllis Diller, as the family housekeeper with a hair problem, should've written her own dialogue: the woman is all revved up and ready, yet she's given no funny lines. As for Bob Hope, I have never been a particular admirer of his, but he's not bad here, coasting through without hogging the camera too much. I would have to say "Wrong Number" isn't offensive the way Hope's "Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell" was, but--for a comedy--shouldn't somebody be having a good time? ** from ****

A real Bob Hope farce is the 1966 film, "Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number."

A businessman (Hope) gets a wrong number and it turns out to be that of a hot-tempered actress (Ilke Sommer) who seems to have a love-hate relationship with her lover-director, a very handsome Cesare Danova. During a major spat, she runs off and is hidden by Hope.

Marjorie Lord plays the goody-goody wife and Phyllis Diller is literally along for the ride as a ditzy housekeeper, Lili. Diller is the sole of the film. She is hilarious and she aids her boss Hope.

Of course, when it appears that Sommer is dead, Hope becomes the main suspect. True to form, there is a major chase scene and an ending that we can say is appropriate for a comic "soap" opera. Silly, but the laughs are worth it. Hope and Diller were an excellent twosome together.

I saw this film twice: once when I was a pre-teen in the 60s and then about 40 years later. The first time I saw it, I thought it was one of the funniest movies I had ever seen. The second time I saw it, I wondered what I saw in it the first time. Since it was the same movie, I guess it had to be me, but what a difference 40 years makes. This movie seems to have been made as a vehicle for Bob Hope's and Phyllis Diller's comic skills. However, what seemed knee-slapping funny back then, seems dull and trite now, especially Hope's one-liners. Most of the movie revolves around Hope's character keeping his association with Didi secret. It was funny then but a little overbearing now. His "murder confession" seems just silly now. I gave the movie a 6 rating because the chase scene with Phyllis Diller still ranks high as a hilarious chase scene, just as funny now as when the film was new.