Themes: Cons and Scams, Playing the Field, Mistaken Identities
Main Cast: Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Dany Saval, Christiane Schmidtmer, Suzanna Leigh
Release Year: 1965
Country: US
Run Time: 102 minutes
Plot
Marc Camoletti's popular stage farce Boeing Boeing is watered down and realigned into a Tony Curtis/Jerry Lewis vehicle. Curtis plays an American journalist living in Paris; Lewis is his goonish (but surprisingly restrained) buddy. Partial to stewardesses, Curtis manages to juggle the affections of three luscious flight attendants (Dany Saval, Christiane Schmidtmer, and Suzanna Leigh), whose schedules are such that their visits to Curtis' bachelor pad never overlap. Complications ensue when the Boeing company speeds up its air service, and when Lewis tries to muscle in on Curtis' "racket." The best lines go to Thelma Ritter as Curtis' disapproving housekeeper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
By all rights, Boeing Boeing shouldn't be as entertaining as it is. After all, '60s sex comedies tend to date terribly, and their attitudes in terms of male-female relationships can sometimes cause modern audiences to wince. Boeing is undeniably dated, and its attitudes are certainly bothersome, yet somehow Boeing remains an entertaining piece of fluff. Part of the credit is due to Edward Anhalt's adaptation of Marc Camoletti's play. It's been bowdlerized somewhat and lost some punch, but it retains a great deal of the classic farce structure that made the play a huge hit in England and France. The situations that arise can be seen from miles away, but until the climax, they have the taste of inevitability rather than predictability. The climax, however, misses the mark and is quite disappointing; the coda that follows redeems things somewhat, but definitely not entirely. More credit is due the cast, starting with the surprisingly restrained Jerry Lewis. The trademark high-pitched whine is nowhere in evidence, and although there are a couple of body contortions in view, for the most part this is a subdued and surprisingly effective performance. Tony Curtis is also very much on the mark; perhaps because he is kept so incredibly busy throughout; there's no time for the smarminess which often seeps through when he's cast in this kind of role. But, as is often the case, it's wisecracking Thelma Ritter who wins the most plaudits. No one else has a face and delivery that says "I've seen it all and I'm still surprised and a little disgusted" like Ritter, and she's in top form in Boeing Boeing. This silly little sex farce won't make anyone's "ten best" list, but it's frothy and fun. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Hal Pereira - Art Director, Walter Tyler - Art Director, Paul Nathan - Associate Producer, Edith Head - Costume Designer, Daniel McCauley - First Assistant Director, John Rich - Director, Warren Low - Editor, Archie Marshek - Editor, Neal Hefti - Composer (Music Score), Wally Westmore - Makeup, Lucien Ballard - Cinematographer, Hal B. Wallis - Producer, Ray Moyer - Set Designer, Sam Comer - Set Designer, Paul K. Lerpae - Special Effects, Harold Lewis - Sound/Sound Designer, Charles Grenzbach - Sound/Sound Designer, Edward Anhalt - Screenwriter, Marc Camoletti - Play Author
Boeing (707) Boeing (707) (alternately titled Boeing Boeing) is a 1965 comedy film, based on the 1960 French farce Boeing-Boeing, and starring Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis. It was released on December 22, 1965 by Paramount Pictures.
Bernard Lawrence (Tony Curtis) is an American journalist stationed in Paris, France. A playboy, he has devised an ingenious system for juggling three different girlfriends: by dating stewardesses who are assigned to international routes on non-intersecting flight schedules, only one woman is in the country at any given time. He has their comings and goings timetabled with such precision that he can drop off his British United Airways girlfriend (Suzanna Leigh) for her outgoing flight and pick up his inbound Lufthansa girlfriend (Christiane Schmidtmer) on the very same trip to the airport—while his Air France girlfriend (Dany Saval) is in a holding pattern elsewhere.
With help from his long-suffering housekeeper Bertha (Thelma Ritter) -- who swaps the appropriate photos and food in and out of the apartment to match the incoming girlfriend—none of the ladies is aware of each other's presence in the apartment. They regard Lawrence's flat as their "home" during their Paris layovers.
Bernard is so happy with his life in Paris that he intends to turn down an imminent promotion that would require him to move to New York City.
Bernard's life is turned upside down when his girlfriends' airlines begin putting new, state-of-the-art aircraft into service. These faster airplanes change all of the existing route schedules and allow the stewardesses to spend more time in Paris. Most alarming for Bernard, his three girlfriends will now all be in Paris at the same time.
Robert Reed (Jerry Lewis), a fellow journalist and an old acquaintance, complicates Bernard's life even further when he arrives in town and is unable to find a hotel room. He insists on staying in Bernard's apartment for a few days. When he sees Bernard's living situation, he schemes to take over Bernard's apartment, his girls, his housekeeper, and Bernard's Paris job and manipulate him into taking the new job in New York.
Production
Boeing Boeing was filmed from April 8 to June 30, 1965 and marked Jerry Lewis' last film for Paramount Pictures, for which he had made films exclusively since 1949's My Friend Irma.
