Movie 7 - "Pillow Talk"

Soooo...I know lots of people find these romantic comedies totally cheesey, but I love them!  When you just want to relax and watch a fun movie, you can't go wrong with Rock Hudson and Doris Day.  In this 1959 comedy, Day and Hudson are joined by some wonderful comedic actors in Thelma Ritter as Alma, Day's drunken maid, and Tony Randall as Jonathan, Day's client and Hudson's best friend.  Day plays Jan Morrow, an interior designer being wooed by Jonathan and antagonized by her party line counterpart, Brad Allen, played by Hudson.  With false personas, secrets, and a horribly fake Texas accent, this movie is full of laughs and some great music.

Jan Morrow is a single, professional woman in New York in the late fifties.  At the time, private phone lines were still being laid, so many people had to settle for a party, or shared, line.  In this case, Miss Morrow's party line is shared by Brad Allen, a playboy songwriter who spends every waking moment seducing different women on the shared phone line.  This causes the two to despise each other before ever even meeting.  To throw a curveball into the mix, Jan's client, who is trying to marry her, happens to be Jonathan, Brad's best friend.  Jan doesn't know that the two know each other, and Jonathan doesn't realize Brad is Jan's party line disaster, but Brad realizes both.  After accidentally running into Jan at a club, Brad pretends to be "Rex Stetson," from Texas.  He acts as a knight in shining armor and sweeps Jan off her feet.  Brad and "Rex" play their parts so that Jan does nothing but fall more head over heels for the Texan cowboy version of himself.  In my favorite scene in the whole film, Jonathan confronts Brad after finding out the truth, and tries to send Brad away so that he will leave Jan alone for good.  This scene has wonderful music sung by Perry Blackwell.  Instead, Brad double crosses and takes Jan with him, only to have her figure out the truth and leave herself.  All hope seems lost for Brad, until he asks Jan to redecorate his apartment just for a reason to talk.  She vengefully "decorates" his apartment in the most tacky, gaudy, horrifying manner possible.  After that, does he even want her anymore?  Would she ever forgive him for all the lies?  Hmmmmm.  I don't knowwww.  Watch it!

I love this movie!  These two are great together and Thelma Ritter and Tony Randall were comedic gold in this!  They both play quirky, neurotic characters...which I always seem to like.  I wonder why...