35 Replies to “Bedtime Story (1964)”

  6. Sooo dirty rotten scoundrels actually wasn’t the original!!! Steve Martin was sooo funny though. Funny at the beginning of this film- back when a 34 year old woman was seen as past her prime and ready for a hustle, is that how over 30’s used to look?! ?

  7. I am going to do a review of dirty rotten scoundrels for "steve martin month" on my podcast. Then i had the idea to watch the hustle and this film to refine my critique of the film…like reading "a scanner darkly" before watching the film

    Edit: now that I have seen all 3,
    I would rank them dirty rotten scoundrels as the best, bedtime stories in 2nd, and hustle as the worst of the 3. That isn't to say bedtime stories wasn't good, but I think scoundrels improved on several things. While brando was great as freddie, martin's brand of comedy just accentuates freddie's lines and punchlines. It's more physical and dynamic but still had subtlety that wilson's version lacked. The other major improvement is the ending. I liked the twist ending in scoundrels because it wasn't quite the storybook ending that bedtime stories had, but it was more modern and timeless; showing that karma is a bitch and to never underestimate your rival or your target. I also think that the 2nd version of janet helped make it work by having a performance that came off more sincerely naive, making the twist have a better pay-off. I have nothing to say about michael caine because he was simply a perfect duplicate of the original laurence.

    Now on to the hustle. Gender-swapping the characters didn't help at all, and if one watched scoundrels and only the trailer for the hustle, they would not be invested because the plot would be predictable and ironically backfire the female empowerment that would come with the genderswap (because you got 2 women scammed by a man at the end). Hathaway and wilson are not terrible actresses. I rather enjoy them, but this plot just doesn't work with them. 95% of the film is a carbon copy of scoundrels in a modern setting, but the one bit that perfectly encapsulates where it went wrong was wilson faking blindness instead of paraplegia. Sure the disorder is more over-the-top but the "treatment" is made less interesting in the process….and male-janet ends up dating female-benson in the end. Maybe it is meant as a subtle nod to bedtime stories, but given that they went with the scoundrels ending of working together as a con artist trio, i like the idea of them being platonic partners better than have 2 of them become a couple. You know…part of what made donna noble in doctor who such a fun companion is BECAUSE she and the doctor are just mates, and nothing else as partners in crime (pun intended)

  9. This is something simple to love 🙂 Love the story, love the boys, love this humor. There was a time when driving was possible at the Côte d'Azur … nice memories and good times bring this film back <3 Thank You (y)

  12. Thanks for sharing this. Didn’t know it existed. Steve Martin really made the role his. Normally not a great fan but he was hilarious. Niven and Caine are equally good.

  27. I don't like how arrogant Fred is in this version. Though I haven't finished it yet and I hope he redeems himself in some way. I think I like Steve Martin and Rebel Wilson both better in that part, but then again, David Niven is more sympathetic in this version and Anne Hathaway was just plain mean. I like that Niven shows Brando/Fred about the people who really need money to fund their work.

  30. So after watching "The Hustle" and being upset that they tried to remake "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", I found out about this being the original and had to watch it. The original was great and quite a different ending that I wasn't expecting after Scoundrels. I must admit I prefer the scene when the "Dr" makes smacking Freddy cry by seeing if he feels pain better in Scoundrels (when he runs from one side of the room to smack his leg).

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