Strange Bedfellows (1965)

• Year: 1965
• Released: 10 Feb 1965
• Country: United States
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058621/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/strange_bedfellows
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• Genre: Comedy, Romance
• Runtime: 98 min
• Writer: Norman Panama, Melvin Frank, Michael Pertwee
• Director: Melvin Frank
• Cast: Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Gig Young

	6.0/10
	80% – Critics
	58% – Audience

Strange Bedfellows Storyline

In London, stuffy statesman Carter Harrison meets Toni, a Bohemian artist with a hot Italian temper. The two impulsively marry and then find that they disagree on everything. Shortly afterward they separate. We then meet them seven years later on the eve before their divorce becomes final. After seeing each other again, sparks are reignited and they spend the night together. Reality sets in when morning comes and they begin arguing again. Once again, divorce proceedings are on, until Carter finds out that an important promotion hinges on whether he’s married. He schemes to win back Toni and eventually succeeds. But can he keep her from destroying his career by posing as Lady Godiva in a protest movement?

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Strange Bedfellows Movie Reviews

A zany, far out comedy with hilarious shenanigans

“Strange Bedfellows” is a very funny movie. The plot is superb, but it just misses the continuity of the great comedies Rock Hudson and Doris Day made. Still, Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida have excellent chemistry and some hilarious scenes. Gig Young as Richard Bramwell, is very good but still not up to the roles that Tony Randall played in “Pillow Talk” of 1959 and “Lover Come Back” of 1961. The comedy here is in a few riotously hilarious scenarios, with very snappy dialog spread between these scenes. And, there are also a couple of scenes of light satire.

The first spoof is in a desert setting, where Hudson’s Carter Harrison closes an oil lease deal with an Arabian Sheik. After they say goodbye, Carter mounts a camel and rides off while the sheik and his aides get in a fancy limousine and drive off. Another is at a meeting of the International Society for Freedom of Expression – ISFE. The London group plans to protest outside the American embassy because a U. S.museum won’t display a lewd sculpture by an Italian artist, Petracini. He insists that he doesn’t have a lustful bone in his body and that his sculpture is pure art, while he lustfully eyes Lollobrigida’s Toni Vincente up and down.

This film must have the funniest scenes ever in taxi cabs. As Carter, in one taxi, pursues Toni in another, he tries to relay messages to her. His driver relays his message to the radio operator, who relays it to Toni’s driver, who then tells her. The dialog is very funny in the first place, and open to wild interpretations by the taxis drivers and radio operator. These are howlingly funny scenes that repeat when Carter chases after Toni a second time and catches the same taxi driver. At the film’s end, Carter and Toni together get in the same taxi with his driver from the earlier scenarios.

The next riotously funny scenario had me laughing continuously as Carter pursues Toni on foot in the Soho district. He buys a couple of bouquets of flowers and mistakenly enters a mortuary. But, he’s so focused on finding Toni, he doesn’t pay attention to the “shop” he has entered. Terry-Thomas, the Assistant Mortician greets him, and the ensuing dialog between the two men is hilarious.

Just before this, Carter had caused a major street disruption. Later, as he tries to stop Toni from riding as Lady Godiva, fighting breaks out. The ensuing fracas involves motorists, a bobby, the ISFE members, and Carter. The next day’s headlines are all about the American oil executive causing a street riot. One headline reads, “Yankee Doodle Flips His Noodle.”

This film did quite well at the box office in 1965, with ticket sales of $7.3 million. It is a hilarious and fun movie that is very much screwball comedy. Here are some favorite lines. For many more, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie.

Carter Harrison, “What’s wrong with my image? You make it sound like I’ve just been named leper of the year.”

Carter, “You don’t know what kind of a nut I was married to.” Richard Bramwell, “No, no, I don’t. What kind of a nut was she?” Carter, “She was a half Italian fruitcake, that’s what she was.” Richard, “Oh, that doesn’t sound too bad. What was the other half?” Carter, “Gorgeous.”

Carter, “Um, I suppose an artist used to live here.” Toni Vincente, “Yes, he was quite famous. He died.” Carter, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” Toni, “He was 98.” Carter,, “Oh, well.”

Carter, “I must say, she didn’t seem very surprised. Does she usually walk in and find strange men in your bed?” Toni, “Every morning. She validates their parking ticket.”

Toni, “Petracini happens to be the world’s leading expressionist sculptor. He does wonderful things with a blow torch.” Carter, “To whom?”

Carter, to Harry Jones, “I’ll thank you to keep your food-stained beard out of my affairs…and my eggs.”

Carter, “If you saw six people waiting in line for a bus you’d join ’em because you thought they were picketing something.”

Toni, “Oh, I could kill you.” Carter, “With what – a slogan?”

Toni, “My father was a martyr to humanity.” Carter, “Some martyr. He got drunk and fell off a wall.”

Carter, “Let me get this straight. You’re picketing the American embassy in London in order to keep fig leaves off of lewd Italian horses in Washington, D. C.?” Toni, “It’s not the fig leaves, it’s the principle.”

Carter, to Harry, “You keep your big nose out of this.” Harry Jones, “The same charm. The same sophisticated wit.” Carter, “Oh, butt out!” Harry, “And getting sharper all the time.”

Richard, “Boy, you really did marry a nut.” Carter, “A nut? I married a whole plantation.”

Richard, “Look, if you wanna commit suicide, use my razor. It’s electric, but you can hang yourself on the cord.”

Julius L. Stevens, “Did she say poison darts?” Richard , “An explorer, J. L. One of those crazy Italians. Climb anything.”

Carter, “She’d never leave with me – not with the Lady Godiva thing. She’d suspect something immediately. And that’s precisely what that bearded vulture’s waiting for.” Richard, “She wears a beard?” Carter, “No, she doesn’t wear a beard. I have other enemies in this thing.”

Carter, not knowing he’s talking to a mortician, “It was all my fault, and before I had a chance to explain, she left a note and was gone – just like that.” Terry-Thomas, Assistant Martinican, “Well, that’s life sir, isn’t it? Here one moment, gone the next.”

Harry Jones, “Did a lady just run out of here?” Assistant Mortician, “Oh, no sir. Once they’re in, they’re inclined to stay.”

Magistrate, concluding the court hearing, “Thank you, Mr. Harrison. I hope you get her back … if that’s what you want.”

The cinematic equivalent of pudding

Witless farce from the usually-estimable comedy writer Melvin Frank, who also produced and directed, stars Rock Hudson as an American oil company executive in London, married but estranged from fiery Gina Lollobrigida for the past seven years, who must present a happily-united front for the company’s general (why? so it’ll “look good”). When Rock first meets Gina, she’s an artist painting protest slogans on signs and walls–but the movie is so bashful, her signs are always half-finished so we won’t know what she’s protesting against. They marry immediately (presumably so they can have sex without guilt), but the next morning find they have nothing in common. Frank, who co-authored the screenplay with Michael Pertwee from a rather old-fashioned story he originated with Norman Panama, substitutes shouting for snap–and Lollobrigida does must of the shouting. Hudson tries to keep up with her, but his colorless brand of acting assures that he’ll blend in with the furniture and nothing more. Atrociously shot by cinematographer Leo Tover, with the phony backdrops and scrappy rear-projection upstaging even Gina Lollobrigida in a variety of ‘kooky’ outfits. * from ****

The Oilman and the Bohemian

The Strange Bedfellows are Rock Hudson and Gina Lollabrigida, a married but separated couple, separated now for seven years. Gina would like a divorce because she wants to marry her new boss Edward Judd. But Rock has reasons to want to patch things up. He’s in line for a big promotion on his job and the old money in the person of Howard St. John that runs the company likes the stability of a family man in his top executives.

Rock and Gina had a lot of passion in their relationship. Great for sex, but they brought into other things and didn’t agree on anything. Gina is a bohemian free spirit and Rock is a conservative oil executive and is that ever a redundancy.

Gig Young is in a typical Gig Young part and I did love seeing the way Edward Judd got over him pretending to be a British secret agent. Paul Lynde did a fabulous job in Rock’s Send Me No Flowers as a funeral director and since the film is set in London, Terry-Thomas steps in and does a fine job as a British funeral director.

Strange Bedfellows is not as good as Rock’s films with Doris Day, not quite as good as his previous film with Lollabrigida, Come September. Still I think it will please audiences today.