Boeing Boeing (1965 film)

Boeing (707) Boeing (707) (alternately titled Boeing Boeing) is a 1965 American bedroom farce comedy film based on the 1960 French play Boeing-Boeing and starring Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis. Released on December 22, 1965, it was the last film that Lewis made for Paramount Pictures, which had produced all of his films since My Friend Irma (1949).

This article is about the 1965 film. For other uses, see Boeing Boeing.
Boeing (707) Boeing (707)
Film poster by Jack Rickard
Directed byJohn Rich
Produced byHal B. Wallis
Screenplay byEdward Anhalt
Based onBoeing-Boeing play
by Marc Camoletti
StarringTony Curtis
Jerry Lewis
Thelma Ritter
Christiane Schmidtmer
Dany Saval
Suzanna Leigh
Music byNeal Hefti
CinematographyLucien Ballard
Edited byWarren Low
Archie Marshek
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • December 22, 1965 (1965-12-22)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
French
German
Box office$3 million (est. US/ Canada rentals)[1]
1,128,519 admissions (France)[2]

Plot

Bernard Lawrence is an American journalist stationed in Paris. A playboy, he has devised an ingenious system for juggling three girlfriends: he dates stewardesses who are assigned to international routes on non-intersecting flight schedules so that only one is in the country at any given time. He has their routes detailed with such precision that he can drop off his British United Airways girlfriend for her outgoing flight and pick up his inbound Lufthansa girlfriend on the same trip to the airport, while his Air France girlfriend is in a holding pattern elsewhere.

With help from his long-suffering housekeeper Bertha, who swaps the appropriate photos and food in and out of the apartment to match the incoming girlfriend, Lawrence keeps the women are unaware of each others' 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. But his 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, 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, girls, housekeeper and job while manipulating Bernard into taking the new job in New York.

Cast

Production

Boeing Boeing was filmed from April 8 to June 30, 1965.

As Curtis and Lewis both wanted top billing, their names at the beginning of the film spin around in a circle with an airplane nacelle behind them.[3] For the film's trailer, the animation was repeated and neither name was spoken aloud. On the film's posters, the names made an "X", with Lewis' name going up from the bottom left and Curtis' name going down from the upper left.

Reception

Writing in The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson called the film a "strictly one-gag frolic" and "just middling, passable nonsense."[4]

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on February 14, 2012.[5]

Legacy

The film was selected by Quentin Tarantino for the first Quentin Tarantino Film Fest in Austin, Texas in 1996.[6]

See also

References
  1. "Big Rental Pictures of 1966", Variety, 4 January 1967 p 8
  2. Jerry Lewis films French box office information at Box Office Story
  3. Private Screenings: Tony Curtis. Turner Classic Movies, 19 Jan 1999.
  4. Thompson, Howard (1965-12-24). "'Boeing Boeing' Opens". The New York Times. p. 24.
  5. https://www.amazon.com/Boeing-Jerry-Lewis/dp/B006A8XFSA/ref=pd_bxgy_mov_img_c
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