Amazon.com: In 1963, Billy Wilder's Irma La Douce was one of the biggest box-office hits of the year, grossing twice as much as The Great Escape and The Birds. Yet this popular movie has been almost completely forgotten by film history, even to fans of Wilder or stars Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine (the same trio had made a masterpiece, The Apartment, three years earlier). It doesn't represent the best work of those legends, but Irma provides tart entertainment. At least some of the movie's popularity can be chalked up to its subject, which was pretty risqué for the time: Lemmon plays a Paris policeman who falls in love with a prostitute (MacLaine). The script was adapted from a stage musical, but Wilder decided to cut the songs, instead developing the humor and romance into his own blend of bittersweet perversity; this Technicolor-fantasy Paris is kind of a dark cousin to Gigi. Lemmon is in his prime period of hand-wringing self-doubt, and MacLaine is perfectly in tune with his rhythms, especially in scenes that add tenderness to the sometimes queasy mix of moods. Ironically--given the nixing of the songs--the film won its only Oscar for André Previn's adaptation of the stage play's music into a wordless orchestral score. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - I've fallen head over heals for Irma...
Yet another Billy Wilder smash hit, `Irma La Douce' pits the wonderfully charming Shirley MacLaine against the hilariously witty Jack Lemmon in a comedy that is every bit as smart as it is unforgettable. ... Read More
Rating: - Green Stocking Diaries
One character in "Irma La Douce" describes the love between Jack Lemmon's sad sack and Shirley MacLaine's heart-of-gold streetwalker as "cute". Herein lies my problem with the film. I liked it, though it ... Read More
Rating: - Here's looking at you, Irma...
Is there any denying how beautiful Shirley MacLaine was in this film?
I just finished watching Irma La Douce with my wife, over dinner. It's a delightful comedy, also starring Jack Lemmon as a ... Read More
Rating: - Too long, but full of charm
In an attempt to recapture the magic of The Apartment, director Billy Wilder reassembled the stars of that film, Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, in an adaptation of a popular musical -- and promptly removed ... Read More
Rating: - JUST A CLASSIC
SINCE I WAS A CHILD, WHEN WATCHED THIS FILM IN TV, I DREAMT OF BUYING A COPY IN THE FUTURE.
FINALLY GOT IT AND IS REALLY A TREASURE LIKE THE BEST OF THE BOOKS, THAT YOU CAN SEE MANY TIMES WITHOUT GETTING ... Read More
- I've fallen head over heals for Irma...
- Green Stocking Diaries