Sunday, April 2, 2017

Irma La Douce (1963) Wilder

Plot: A Parisian Policeman falls in love with a prostitute, and tries to get her to go straight by paying for all of her time.
Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon

A single idea spread out over a charm-free  witless, 147 minutes minus the songs from the Broadway (Paris) musical it's based on. It's a pace-less, pointless, plot less, plodding...but why go on and on like the movie.  MacLaine received an Oscar nomination, but I don't know why.  And neither did MacLaine, who called the script "crude" and "clumsy". Supposedly, Wilder planned to make a musical, but then dropped all the songs because it slowed up the plot - too bad he didn't add any good jokes. This was the first movie, that showed Wilder needed the Production code and Studio Execs to keep his natural vulgarity in check.

Summary: Its amazing that the same man who made "The Apartment"  just a few years before, made this atrocity. Even more incredible "Irma La Douce" was Wilder's most popular film, and made him more money than "The Apartment" and "Some like it Hot" combined.  Zero Stars.

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