Boeing, Boeing (1965)

Who payed the critics

Purely Joyful Movie!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

I happened to see " Boeing, Boeing" on the TCM cable channel, and enjoyed seeing Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis in this farce. They reminded me of a slightly more modern version of the comical "Road to ..." series of movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.Although not quite as polished as Hope & Crosby, Curtis & Lewis performed better than I expected together, and all the actors performed well. The story idea of a bachelor trying to juggle relationships and schedules with three flight attendants staying in one Paris apartment was interesting even if flawed at times.Fans of Hope & Crosby movies, or Tony Curtis & Jack Lemon should like this pairing of Curtis & Lewis working together to keep the three flight attendants, all engaged to Curtis, from discovering each other. As the scheme falls apart due to flight schedule changes and early arrivals, it is enjoyable to find out how long the girls can be kept unaware that they are sharing the same fiancé and apartment.I do agree with another reviewer that the movie retains a stage play quality, but that is not a significant drawback to the story.

A prime example of cookie-cutter 60's sex comedy. Tired, banal, limp, lukewarm, strenuously forced drivel who's only source of real humor is the wonderful Thelma Ritter, and the laughs she gets come much more from her persona than from the dry well of the script she had to work with. Curtis tries, but his efforts are in vain. Lewis is actually quite good in a very restrained performance, which is a shame in that it's wasted in this wasteland. None of the characters, save Ritter's, behave in a fashion even beginning to resemble a human being, let alone an intelligent human being. The resulting "humor" is numbingly artificial and contrived. In an outlandish situation genuine humor comes from realistic reactions and behavior. Something you need not expect from the cartoons that populate this sad, inane excuse for comedy.

I saw this play in a 99-seat theater tonight in Sierra Madre, CA. I came to the same conclusion; the guys could have been anyone else. Berthe was the star of the show here, too--a really superb actress. The girls were good, But TWA was obviously anorexic. Luftansa was, well, Ruebenesquely cast.The men were not slick enough for this phenotype, and they tended to garble and fall over the laughs. Most of the laughter came from this mostly SBNN (straight but not narrow) audience, who laughed at the self-delusion and naiveté of both the lead and his foil. They also wanted to know Berthe's cell number.

When the opening credits run, and the supporting female cast members ‘measurements' are shown beneath their names, you have no doubt you're in the 60's, bedroom farce, defined. In a role reversal of sorts Jerry Lewis plays straight man to Tony Curtis this time around .Bernie Lawrence (Curtis) is an American newspaper man stationed in Paris, the man for whom there is never too many airline hostesses, just too little time. His delicately balanced, and timed to the minute, 4-way love life comes totally unwound when old pal Robert Reed (Lewis) arrives for an unexpected stay.Cliché after cliché, time stamped in most every shot, Boeing Boeing is a tribute to a different type of filmmaking than we see today, a different morality, a different approach to comedy.Wonderful Paris sights are an added treat. Recommended.