daviddaphneredding In this 1965 Paramount Pictures comedy, Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis are nutty and, for all practical purposes, perpetual kids. The setting is Paris where Bernard Lewis (played by Curtis) is definitely a philanderer who never wants to marry but have only fiancees, and he has three who are all airline stewardesses; there is the beautiful actress Christiane Schmitdner who plays a stewardess for Lufthansa, Davy Saval plays a stewardess for Air France, and Suzanna Leigh plays a stewardess for British Airways. Robert Reed, played by Lewis, is a newspaper man assigned to Paris where he stays with his friend of many years Bernard. During his time there, against his wishes Bernard's fiancees end up arriving at his apartment at the same time due to sudden changes in flight schedules, but one doesn't know the others are there. It does become silly and comical when the two men are hiding each girl in a separate bedroom, sometimes moving them around fast, and coming up with weak last-minute excuses as to why each one of them cannot stay where she has been resting. Thelma Ritter is quite comical as the maid who gets caught in the middle of the entire zany situation. The Paris sights are beautiful and, again, despite the bizarre story line, it is hard not to laugh at the nutty piece

stevepem Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis reversing roles as straight man and funny man, that alone is brilliant casting. Of course even as a straight man Lewis still manages to steal nearly every scene that he is in with his inimitable comic style. Leigh, Schmidtmer and Saval are delightful as the three nationalities of flight attendants. Thelma Ritter of course is terrific as the maid.One thing that some of the other reviewers seem to have missed is that Robert (Jerry Lewis) actually helped Bernard (Tony Curtis) manage the crisis, rather than contribute to the crisis as some have suggested. The sole cause of the unraveling of the "perfect crime" had nothing to do with Robert's arrival, it was the sudden change in airline schedules due to the faster jets which caused Bernard's house of cards to start falling in. Robert, clearly in awe of the situation, was fully committed to helping Bernard keep the charade going. Yes, as a sub-plot Robert quickly became interested in siphoning off some of the action for himself, something that he had apparently done to Bernard before. However Robert was not a total heel. Initially he had no intention of going after Vicky (British United) when he thought that she was Bernard's fiancée. It was only after he learned that Bernard had two, no make that three fiancées that Robert started making some moves of his own. However in no way did Robert's presence (and move making) jeopardize the operation as some have suggested. Rather his help, oftentimes on his own initiative, turned out to be desperately needed by Bernard as the chaos unfolded. As the new schedules kicked in and one by one each fiancée arrived home sooner than expected, Robert played a vital role in keeping them separated and he also kept an increasingly beleaguered Bernard informed of the latest developments. In fact even before Robert arrived Bernard was using him as an excuse for why there were kidneys left over from breakfast. Robert and Bernard were at once both rivals and partners, a complicated relationship that in my opinion Jerry Lewis played brilliantly. I refer to Boeing Boeing as being a farce because of one minor and one major problem with the plot that makes it totally unbelievable. The minor one is the aircraft references. In the late 50's and early 60's the introduction of jet passenger planes did in fact dramatically alter airline schedules, as the average speed jumped from around 325 mph for piston engine propeller airplanes to around 550 mph for jet airliners. In many cases what were previously overnight trips for the crew were now one day round-trips. However in the movie the drastic schedule changes were due not to the transition from propeller planes to jets, but a transition from existing jets to newer models with higher thrust. In reality, in spite of much higher thrust, jet airliners today fly at roughly the same speed as the original Boeing 707 that was introduced in 1958. Advances in jet engine technology sometimes resulted in increased range which meant fewer stops on some routes, and it is true that there are some minor speed differences between different models of jets (not counting the now-retired Concorde) but neither of these would have resulted in the drastic effect on crew schedules as portrayed in the movie. The original French play which debuted in 1960 was more realistic as it was based on the transition from props to jets which would have been going on at that time. However I can guess that in 1965 when the movie was produced the writers probably desired to modernize the script by having the plot revolve around new models of jets, even though technically this wasn't very realistic. The good news is that the airplane references were pretty accurate, i.e. British United actually flew VC-10's, Air France flew Caravelles, etc. One goof was when Robert informed Bernard that Vicky (British United) has arrived early, Bernard says "But the Super Boeing isn't due until midnight" to which Robert replies "Boeing, Boeing". However it had already been established that the new British United plane that Vicky was on was a VC-10. The VC-10 was built by Vickers-Armstrongs of England, not by U.S. based Boeing. Aircraft inaccuracies in a movie are to be expected and can be forgiven, but the much larger, and perhaps unforgivable plot issue has to do with the fact that each of the three flight attendants lived in Bernard's apartment. That arrangement wouldn't last a week. I could believe that Bernard could juggle three girlfriends by meticulously tracking their schedules, and then coming up with excuses as needed as to why he couldn't see them or have them over when they were in town. However since all three lived in his apartment (which each had a key to) this meant that they would always go there when they were in town, even if he was at work. It would be impossible for Bernard to keep coming up with excuses why they couldn't go home to "their" apartment. Bernard couldn't control their schedules, only track them, so in no time an unavoidable "collision" would have occurred. Maybe if they all worked for the same airline and he was a crew scheduler (or he could bribe one) it could have worked, however they each worked for different airlines and he was a newspaper reporter with no control over their comings and goings. Allowing them to live in his apartment doesn't work even in a movie without total suspension of disbelief. If the writers had fixed this one thing the plot would have been much more believable. Would it have been funnier? I doubt it. So I have no real issue with the plot I'm just pointing out the facts. And actually now that I think about Christiane Schmidtmer being repeatedly dragged and carried unconscious around the apartment, all is forgiven.

bkoganbing Boeing Boeing is known primarily today as the film where Jerry Lewis stepped out of his schnook character and played a lead role in a Sixties sex comedy. Jerry does all right in expanding his range on this one, but the whole thing itself is not the greatest these type of films ever. It's more of a warmed over version of The Tender Trap than anything else with Lewis playing not quite so second a banana to Tony Curtis as David Wayne did with Frank Sinatra.Curtis has a great little operation going over at his place, he's got three fiancés, all airline stewardesses working at different airlines who live at his rather sumptuous bachelor pad in Paris. He keeps complete track of the schedule of Dany Saval for Air France, Christine Schmidtmer for Lufthansa, and Susanna Leigh for British Airways. But one fine day schedules change. Not only that, but an old rival Jerry Lewis comes into town and watches in amazement.I'm still trying to figure out just how Tony Curtis could afford the living quarters he was in together with live-in maid Thelma Ritter who helps him keep the pretenses up. Just how a Jewish maid from Queens got to be living in Paris is also a mystery. All this mind you is on a reporter's salary and no one said that Curtis was Carl Bernstein.Good thing he could afford her because Thelma Ritter as usual is the best thing in the film despite the statuesque proportions of the ladies involved. Especially Schmidtmer as Ritter caustically commented.In his memoirs Tony Curtis says he liked making Boeing Boeing and thinks highly of Jerry Lewis as a person and comedian. He also said Lewis even when not doing his usual shtick in a film was still the greatest scene stealer on the planet with whom he had to stay constantly alert.It's not a bad comedy, some will find it incredibly sexist for their taste. It does suffer by comparison to The Tender Trap.

fletch5 I first saw "Boeing Boeing" almost exactly a year ago when it came on TV, and I must say that I was delightfully surprised. While it was no comedy masterpiece, it still offered many genuinely amusing moments. The pairing of Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis worked perfectly and it was interesting to see Thelma Ritter (who appeared in Hitchcock's "Rear Window") as the over-employed housekeeper.Good entertainment, if you can ignore its staginess (the film takes place almost entirely in one apartment).