‎Pillow Talk (1959) directed by Michael Gordon • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Pillow Talk

1959 Directed by Michael Gordon

...It's What Goes On When The Lights Go Off!

A man and woman share a telephone line and despise each other, but then he has fun by romancing her with his voice disguised.

Rock Hudson Doris Day Tony Randall Thelma Ritter Nick Adams Marcel Dalio Julia Meade Allen Jenkins Lee Patrick Hayden Rorke Robert Williams William Schallert Valerie Allen

102 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Sara ★★★★

I knew I'd enjoy this once the intro music started playing. It's a cheesy love-hate romance comedy that works and deserves its title as one of the best classic comedies from the 1950s.

Rock Hudson and Doris Day are an iconic duo that really work well together. Day's comedic timing mixed with Hudson's charm really lights up this blandly set Cinemascope feature (but Day's apartment is to die for). The manner in which they discussed sex, pushed the censors and was way ahead of its time.

This is definitely a feel-good movie that I'll revisit on dull, rainy days.

2017 Queer Films Challenge.

Week 46: A film starring closeted film actor Rock Hudson.
Review by sarah 🌙 ★★★½

It's always fun to see what films do with their newfound freedom as the censorship code got more and more lax, and late 1950s films are so fascinating in the ways they explored sex and other previously censored themes. (Unfortunately, it also allowed way more obvious homophobia to creep in, as seen in this film.)

Pillow Talk is silly, but it's just so much pure FUN that I didn't even care. Rock Hudson and Doris Day are two of the most charismatic Classic Hollywood actors, and I had a great time watching them on screen for 100 minutes.

3.6/5
Review by Pippin ★★★★

While watching this movie I stopped feeling so sick and could finally breathe through my nose again! I'm not saying that Pillow Talk cured me of my cold, but Pillow Talk definitely cured me.

Holds up amazingly on rewatch, and my heart filled with joy. This is easily one of my favorite romantic comedies ever. If you just look at the plot it might not seem wholesome, but believe me it is! If your heart isn't filled with love and joy while watching this, I don't know if I can trust you.

Why can't I have a party line and have someone fall in love with me? I love technology, but it has robbed me of experiences!
Review by Sir William Blake 🎥 ★★★★ 2

Pillow Talk is the most traditional rom-com you'll ever see today, everything here is so usual, but for the year of 1959 is not. Once released in cinemas with many doubts in the product. Pillow Talk has become of most popular and well-made rom-com of all times and even nominated for some Oscars.

So here I explain the plot, a very original storyline. The plot is about two neighbours Doris Day and Rock Hudson have one phone connections which if you every time talks on the phone the other could hear your most private conversations. And Hudson hears every conversation from Day causing the both problems. Doris, of course, didn't want somebody to hear your private conversation, and Hudson uses…
Review by b rad ★★★ 2

This is a film that despite being fairly frank and ahead of its time in terms of it's dealing with sex was a subject - Day calls Hudson a "sex maniac" at the start, and it's clear her character's underlying motivation is that she's desperate to get laid - the film is still pretty frustratingly conservative in its gender politics that haven't aged well. Hudson's character is sleeping with multiple women (and the film isn't very judgemental on this, and his effect on women is comically exaggerated) while she is the typical career-driven woman that we're supposed to want to be wooed by Hudson. Just another example of peddling the sort of bullshit concept that a good relationship will stop…
Review by Gunnar Larson 2

“Oh, Jan! How could you fall in love with a tourist?”

Recent reviews

Review by erikhatspass ★★★★

'Bettgeflüster' oder besser gesagt 'Pillow Talk' ist eine wunderbare Romantikkomödie aus den 50ern mit dem Traum-Duo Rock Hudson und Doris Day. Wenn dann noch Tony Randall dazu stößt, hat man eine von drei Klassikern erwischt, die einem eine kurzweilige, unterhaltsame Zeit bescheren. Ich mag die drei Darsteller sehr. Das Drehbuch ist darüber hinaus wirklich großartig gelungen. Viele amüsante Einfälle, die hervorragend miteinander verwoben sind.
Review by stubbygirdle

Horrific
Review by Devon ★★★★

You know what, I was charmed! Even if it is slightly problematic...
Review by alicia🥝 ★★★★½

yes...men are liars....but true love man...
Review by Ryan Spaghettio ★★★

How does one go about reviewing a beloved film, with great actors, great chemistry, great energy, and all the other elements that would make a timeless film, but one that is so much of its time?

As someone who watches quite a lot from Classic Hollywood, I have a large tolerance for outdated social norms, weird anachronisms, and so on... but I just couldn't get past Rock Hudson's terrible, unethical decisions made throughout the film. This would not bother me if his decisions were presented as such, but it seems as though the film is trying to get the viewer to root for a deceitful, fraudulent pervert half of the time.

Rock Hudson spends the entire film pretending to be…
Review by Kay sauce ★★★

I love watching those kinds of movies where the guy and the girl hate each other in the beginning but slowly fall in love. I spent so much time trying to google a list of those kind of rom coms. And finally I got this movie. And I liked it!
Review by Katie ✨

"Mr. Allen, this may come as a surprise to you, but there are some men who don't end every sentence with a proposition."
If they exist they're not in this movie!!! Yikes there are so many uncomfortable moments in this one that no amount of clever puns can atone for.
Review by Mary

This might be one of the funniest movies I've watched this year. The chemistry between Day and Hudson is so good, but of course, I am always partial to an uptight prude falling for a debonair asshole. That's just like my whole Thing. Of the three Day × Hudson flicks, I think this is my favorite.
Review by ltopomcfly ★★★★★

Excellent screwball rom-com with experimental direction, visual artistry and subtle transgressive themes. Rock Hudson gives maybe his most warm and dimensional performances in a long list of them and gracefully gives Doris Day tons of spotlight where she excels as sweet, sexy and uniguely funny. But Tony Randall steals the film as the very broad comic relief/foil. What makes this such a great example of Kennedy Era liberal Hollywood is it's feminist love story and the many tasteful gay jokes that give Rock Hudson & Doris Day so much passion for the material.