Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!

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Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!
Boy did i get a wrong number.jpg
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by George Marshall
Screenplay byGeorge Kennett
Albert E. Lewin
Burt Styler
Story byGeorge Beck
Produced by Edward Small
Starring Bob Hope
Elke Sommer
Phyllis Diller
Cesare Danova
Marjorie Lord
Cinematography Lionel Lindon
Edited by Grant Whytock
Music by William "By" Dunham
Richard LaSalle
Production
company
Edward Small Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • June 8, 1966 (1966-06-08)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
Box office$4.3 million (est. US/ Canada rentals) [1]

Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! is a 1966 DeLuxe Color American comedy film starring Bob Hope and Elke Sommer. This film marked the first of three film collaborations for Hope and comedian Phyllis Diller, and was followed by Eight on the Lam in 1967 and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell in 1968. [2]

Contents

Plot

A gorgeous French actress named Didi (Elke Sommer) has become more famous for commercials involving bubble baths than for acting. Fed up with the situation, she winds up running away for a while to Oregon, where she encounters a middle-aged married realtor (Bob Hope) who agrees to secretly assist her and thereby becomes enmeshed in various complications when the realtor and his wacky housekeeper try to hide her from being found by his wife and by the public.

Cast

Production

The film was Bob Hope's second with Edward Small. [3] Filming started in October 1965. [4] It marked Phyllis Diller's film debut as a lead – she signed for five more pictures with Hope. [5]

Reception

With Bob Hope's film career on the downswing by the '60s, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! was critically panned and compared to a "90-minute TV sitcom". [6] The critic for The New York Times drew parallels with Up in Mabel's Room which Edward Small had made twenty years previously. [7] Reviews were poor. [8] However it performed well at the box office. Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! was listed in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time .

See also

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References

  1. "Big Rental Pictures of 1966", Variety, January 4, 1967 p 8
  2. "Feature Film/TV Episode/Video/TV Movie/TV Special/TV Mini-Series/Documentary/Video Game/Short Film, with Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller (Sorted by Year Ascending)". IMDb .
  3. Hopper, Hedda (Aug 2, 1965). "Star of 'Luv' Called Genius". Los Angeles Times. p. d17.
  4. Martin, Betty (Aug 11, 1965). "MOVIE CALL SHEET: Train Wreck Derails Film". Los Angeles Times. p. d12.
  5. Clifford, Terry. (May 1, 1966). "'Wrong Number' Starts Diller in Films". Chicago Tribune. p. g15.
  6. JEFFREY COUCHMAN (May 6, 1979). "Bob Hope: More Than A Gagster?: Bob Hope: More Than A Gagster?". New York Times. p. 85.
  7. "Bob Hope and 'A Wrong Number'". New York Times. June 9, 1966. p. 52.
  8. Scheuer, Philip K. (15 June 1966). "lke Sommer, Gags Bubble in Hope's 'Wrong Number'". Los Angeles Times. p. d14.