Top 50 Actresses, #39 - Doris Day: "Pillow Talk" (1959)

Movie Stats:
Released 1959 (USA)
American, in English (minor translated French)
Director - Michael Gordon
Stars - Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall

Plot Summary:
When independent, career-oriented Jan Morrow (Day) shares a party line with womanizer Brad Allen (Hudson), hijinks and romance ensue. Randall co-stars as Jonathan Forbes, Brad’s best friend/Jan’s would-be husband.

Warnings:
Attempted sexual assault; minor violence.

Bad Stuff:
Look, this is a movie that hasn’t aged well. There’s a lot of stuff that’s cringe-inducing to a modern audience, such as the gross gender stereotyping, the misogyny, the homophobia, the blasé attitude toward sexual assault, and alcoholism played for laughs. I greatly dislike films where men misrepresent themselves in order to get what they want from women. I dislike it even more when the woman forgives the man the second marriage is on the table. So there’s a lot about this movie that’s annoying/offensive to me, and I think that many others would feel the same way.

Good Stuff:
If I ignore all of the above, it’s quite fun & funny.

I can’t stress enough how much I loved the costuming & set design. This film is gorgeous. It almost didn’t matter what happened during it; I could’ve looked at it forever.

There was an exchange between Brad & Jonathan that I appreciated, where Jonathan is insisting that Brad will want to settle down & marry one day and Brad keeps asking him to explain why. I liked that Brad kept pushing it, no matter what Jonathan said, trying to get to the heart of why we, as a society, insist upon marriage. I thought it was clever. I wish Jan had been allowed a similar conversation.

About the Performance:
This is the first film of Day’s I’ve seen all the way through. I thought she was great. Very charismatic. Her character was lot stronger, more independent, and much less man-crazy, than I was expecting. Day seems to have done a lot of romantic comedies, like almost exclusively. I’m not convinced that a person who only worked in one genre deserves a place on a “best actor” list, or at least not this high on that list, but I’m willing to be wrong about that. I’d like to see more of her films.

Other performances of Day’s I’ve reviewed: none.

The Verdict:
This film irritated pretty much every feminist bone in my body, and yet I enjoyed it anyway. There’s something very charming about it. I want to hate it but I don’t. Of course, you always have to give movies a little leeway for being of their time. So I’m giving it that leeway. Do I think it’s a cinematic masterpiece? No. But it’s fun, cute, and, ultimately, good-hearted.

I give it 3.25 stars.