Main Cast: Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Gig Young, Edward Judd, Terry-Thomas
Release Year: 1965
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
Plot
This romantic comedy stars Rock Hudson as Carter Harrison, an executive rising through the ranks of a major oil company. When he meets Toni Vincente (Gina Lollobrigida), a beautiful but hot-tempered artist, it's love at first sight and they quickly marry. The bloom is soon off the rose, however, and, five years later, Carter and Toni are about to finalize their divorce. However, just as the final paperwork is about to go through, Carter learns that he's up for a major promotion which would hinge on his being married. Carter is able to engineer a reconciliation with Toni with the help of his friend Richard Bramwell (Gig Young), a PR agent with the firm who hopes that a happy marriage will improve Carter's reputation. Since his separation from Toni, Carter has become known as something of a lothario, a reputation that the family-oriented company would like to avoid. But even though the couple patches things up, Richard has his work cut out for him when Toni announces that she'll be reenacting Lady Godiva's naked ride as part of a protest organized by an artists' group. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
One wishes that Strange Bedfellows really was a bit strange, rather than the mediocre, cookie-cutter 1960s sex comedy that it actually is. While enjoyable enough, especially for a viewer who is in a particularly undemanding mood, Bedfellows resolutely lacks any sparkle or fizz. Lay the majority of the blame at the feet (or hands) of the screenwriters, who have fashioned a script that is almost unrelievedly flat. Flat is rarely a good idea, but it's especially damaging to his kind of project, which rises or falls on its ability to attract and engage, no matter how silly the premise or far-fetched the plotting. With leaden dialogue and characters that are not very interesting, it's hard for the cast to do much -- and it's to their credit that they manage to make the proceedings moderately entertaining. Gina Lollabrigida and Rock Hudson are a bit lacking in chemistry this time out, but they have personality and appeal, and that helps a great deal. Lollabrigida even mines some laughs out of gags that have no right to ask her to do their work for them. Hudson is a bit less successful in this area, but he tries. Gig Young does even better with a nothing part, and there's good comic support from the likes of Terry-Thomas and Nancy Kulp. Fans of the stars will enjoy it; others may want to give Bedfellows a pass. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Arthur Haynes - Carter's Taxi Driver; Nancy Kulp - Aggressive Woman; Howard St. John - J.L. Stevens; Dave King - Toni's Taxi Driver; Peggy Rea - Mavis; Joseph Sirola - Petracini; Lucy Landau - Jolly Woman; Bernard Fox - Policeman; Edith Atwater - Mrs. Stevens; James McCallion - Old Man; Hedley Mattingly - Bagshott; John Orchard - Radio Dispatcher; Henry Corden - Interpreter; Maurice Dallimore - Gentleman in Rain; Arthur E. Gould-Porter - Chief Mortician; Dinah Anne Rogers - Secretary; Simon Scott - Slade; Frederic Worlock - Lawyer; Alan Caillou - Magistrate
