Deux Minets pour Juliette

I've watched this film a few times over the past few years because the it does my head in. In the Tony Curtis autobiography he said he wanted to play the George C Scott role. He should have. Other reviews make a comparison to Hope and Crosby films and rightfully so, this is more Bob and Bing than Tony and George.

So here's the problem. George and Tony are both in the military and George is Tony's superior. Both are in love with Virna. Virna marries Tony. That makes sense.

However Tony is sent away and George uses this time to romance Virna and she is okay with this and Tony is the "sort of" jealous husband. It may happen in real life but in a Hollywood film, it's the craggy faced George who should be married to Virna worried about what the handsome and charming Tony is up to, that may make for fun comedy, maybe.

In a Bing and Bob movie it's obvious, Bob marries Verna and is worried what the sneaky Bing would be getting up to.

Here's a thought Robert Downey Jnr remakes this movie (plot) with say Russell Crowe for example. However Downey plays the charmer. It could work, however it may not be worth the effort.

Korean War buddies Tony Curtis (as Tom) and George C. Scott (as Tank) would rather fight over blonde Italian beauty Virna Lisi (as Julie). She likes to have two of everything, but Ms. Lisi can't juggle two contentious colonels. Lisi marries Mr. Curtis, but since he won her deceptively, she may decide to hook up with Mr. Scott. Naturally, Mr. Curtis thinks, "Not with My Wife, You Don't!"

After Bob Hope's cameo, it occurred to me that if they were 20 years younger, Mr. Hope and Bing Crosby might have starred in this film. Hope would play "Tom" and Mr. Crosby would be perfect as "Tank"; of course, somehow both Hope and Crosby would be sent snow-sledding to Labrador. Now, who would win Virna Lisi is debatable. Well, flash-forward to director Norman Panama's present…

The actors have a few good moments, like Curtis trying show Scott he's temporarily gone blind, in an early hospital scene. And, later in the running time, watch for the very best part of the movie, with Scott and Curtis joining Lisi in a black-and-white Italian movie spoof - if only the entire movie were as good as this scene. Most prophetic line: Curtis, in Arab drag, says "Let's get the Shah on the road."

**** Not with My Wife, You Don't! (11/2/66) Norman Panama ~ Tony Curtis, George C. Scott, Virna Lisi

Air Force colonel Tom Ferris (Tony Curtis) is busy climbing the military ladder to the frustration of his wife Julie. Their marriage is in trouble. 14 years earlier during the Korean War, American flyboy buddies Tom Ferris and Tank Martin (George C. Scott) both fall for Italian nurse Julie. The two friends are willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get the girl.

I'm surprised with George C. Scott doing a light screwball comedy. There is a bit joy in the shock. This is perfectly harmless. The love triangle is actually compelling mostly due to the two leads. The girl is easy on the eyes. The quiet fight is probably the most fun. Otherwise, this is a minor comedy with minor laughs.

Although Tony Curtis in his memoirs compared Not With My Wife You Don't to a Crosby/Hope Road picture in point of fact this film for me came off more like one of those post sound Flagg and Quirt movies. Certainly the military aspect of this film lent itself better to the Captain Flagg Sergeant Quirt hijinks. And neither Curtis or Scott warbled a note.

When we meet the guys they're in Korea, a pair of Air Force fliers who are rivals for everything including Italian nurse Virna Lisi. Curtis wins her by foul means though when Scott is shot down on a mission. He's all right, but he's shipped to hospital in Manila. Curtis intercepts the telegram saying so and tells Lisi he died. So she marries him, possibly on the rebound.

14 years go by and Curtis is now a Lieutenant-Colonel stationed in Europe and Scott gets stationed there. Of course he has to fake surprise that his old buddy is alive and actually has a higher rank. When Scott learns of the deception the old games resume with a vengeance.

In his memoirs Curtis says that Scott was an actor of great intensity who really could over power other players. He had to really be on his toes to make sure he didn't steal the whole film. I suspect there was a little bit of professional jealousy in his words. Now that Curtis, Scott, and Lisi are all gone they can argue it out in the next world.

Fans of the three stars should like it. But whatever it is Not With My Wife You Don't is far from a male buddy picture.

Virna Lisi plays "Julietta", the femme fatale here, who is chased after by soldiers Tank Martin (George Scott) and Tom Ferris, (Tony Curtis). Scott and Curtis had appeared together in "The List of Adrian Messenger" back in 1963. Carroll O'Connor (Oh Archie!) in supporting role, as the big shot General. The "other" big Hollywood role for which V. Lisi is known is "How to Murder your Wife", a similar farce, with Jack Lemmon, in 1965. Julietta flirts with both men, as they get sent to various places around the world, even after she gets married. You need to have a lot of patience for the many physical and sight gags here, much like a slow moving "Pink Panther" movie. Another little weird connection here - Note actor Robert Cleaves, the reporter Chandler McVey, from Time Magazine -- he will appear with Carroll O'Connor in "Archie Bunker's Place" in the late 1970s; Cleaves has quite the interesting bio on IMDb for those interested. Directed by Norman Panama, who had directed Bob Hope in "Road to Hong Kong", "That Certain Feeling" and "How to Commit Marriage". That may explain why we see footage of Bob Hope in this film.... "Not with my Wife" is okay... nothing earth shattering, just one of the romps from the free-loving 1960s, after being stifled so long under the film production code.