Taglines: She made up her mind to resist… and resist…until her resistance met an irresistible force!
Pillow Talk movie storyline. In New York City, Brad Allen (Rock Hudson) is a Lothario, a songwriter who casually strings along several women at one time, they who willingly follow. Jan Morrow (Doris Day) is an interior designer, who is saving herself for Mr. Right. Although they have never met face to face, they know each other since they share a telephone party line. Jan is not only irked by Brad always seemingly being on the telephone when she needs it, but is also disgusted by his telephone conversations, which generally include serenading these unsuspecting women with the same original song, only changing the name to fit the woman in question.
Brad, in turn, doesn’t like what he sees as Jan meddling in his affairs, which he argues is because she is repressed sexually. There is a mutual attraction between the two upon a chance face to face meeting. While she does not know who he is, he knows who she is, and thus passes himself off as a chivalrous Texan named Rex Stetson (Tony Randall) instead of his true self. He is perpetuating this ruse in part to get to know her better, but also so that he as Brad Allen can taunt her over the telephone about her affairs about which he would have inside knowledge without her knowing it.
It works as Jan falls for Rex. The situation is even more complicated in the form of millionaire Jonathan Forbes, one of Jan’s clients who is in love with her, but she not with him. Jonathan also happens to be Brad’s oldest and dearest friend, who has commissioned Brad to write songs for a Broadway show. The person who may be able to get them all out of this complicated situation is Jan’s drunkard of a housekeeper, Alma, who is Brad’s most devoted telephone eavesdropper, and who truly does live vicariously through Brad’s telephone calls.
Pillow Talk is a 1959 American romantic comedy film in CinemaScope directed by Michael Gordon. It features Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter, Nick Adams, Karen Norris, Julia Meade, Allen Jenkins, Marcel Dalio, Lee Patrick, Mary McCarty, Jacqueline Beer and Valerie Allen. The film was written by Russell Rouse, Maurice Richlin, Stanley Shapiro, and Clarence Greene.
It tells the story of Jan Morrow (Day), an interior decorator and Brad Allen (Hudson), a womanizing composer / bachelor, who share a telephone party line. When she unsuccessfully files a complaint on him for constantly using the line to woo his conquests, Brad decides to take a chance on Jan by masquerading as a Texas rancher, resulting in the two falling in love. The scheme seems to work until Brad’s mutual friend and Jan’s client Jonathan Forbes (Randall) finds out about this, causing a love triangle in the process.
According to a “Rambling Reporter” (August 28, 1959) item in The Hollywood Reporter, RKO originally bought the script by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene in 1942, but since it was not produced, the writers bought it back in 1945. In 1947, they sold it as a play, but bought it back once again four years later, finally selling it in 1958 to Arwin Productions, the company owned by Doris Day’s husband, Martin Melcher. Although the film was originally titled Pillow Talk, according to a February 2, 1959 “Rambling Reporter” item in The Hollywood Reporter, the title “displeased” the PCA, and was changed to Any Way the Wind Blows. In August 1959, however, the original title was reinstated.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Doris Day), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Thelma Ritter), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color (Richard H. Riedel, Russell A. Gausman, Ruby R. Levitt) and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.
This is the first of three romantic comedies in which Day, Hudson and Randall starred together, the other two being Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964). Upon its release, Pillow Talk brought in a then staggering domestic box-office gross of $18,750,000 and gave Rock Hudson’s career a comeback after the failure of A Farewell to Arms earlier that year.
Pillow Talk (1959)
Directed by: Michael Gordon
Starring: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter, Nick Adams, Karen Norris, Julia Meade, Allen Jenkins, Marcel Dalio, Lee Patrick, Mary McCarty, Jacqueline Beer, Valerie Allen
Screenplay by: Russell Rouse, Maurice Richlin, Stanley Shapiro, Clarence Greene
Production Design by: Edward Muhl
Cinematography by: Arthur E. Arling
Film Editing by: Milton Carruth
Costume Design by: Bill Thomas
Set Decoration by: Russell A. Gausman, Ruby R. Levitt
Art Direction by: Richard H. Riedel
Music by: Frank De Vol
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: October 6, 1959 (New York City)
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