Walk, Don't Run


1h 57m 1966
Walk, Don't Run

Brief Synopsis

Set during the Tokyo Olympics, one of three unlikely housemates plays matchmaker with the other two.

Film Details

Genre
Comedy
Sports
Release Date
Jan 1966
Premiere Information
Los Angeles opening: 29 Jun 1966
Production Company
Walk Co.
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures
Country
United States

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 57m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1

Synopsis

British industrialist Sir William Rutland arrives in Tokyo 2 days earlier than expected during the Olympic Games and finds it impossible to get hotel accommodations. Desperate, he answers an "apartment to share" advertisement and persuades the occupant, Christine Easton, to rent him her sitting room. The following day he meets Steve Davis, a member of the United States Olympic walking team. Steve has arrived early in order to study Japan's architecture, and he also needs a room. After persuading Christine to take on a second lodger, Rutland puts his matchmaking talents into action--particularly after he meets Christine's pompous and boring fiancé, Julius D. Haversack. Everything goes according to Rutland's plans until Christine overhears the two lodgers candidly discuss her virtue. When she orders them out, Rutland persuades her that it is her patriotic duty to allow Steve to remain until the games are over. Meanwhile, a Soviet security agent has become convinced that Steve and Christine are spies; and he has them arrested. Rutland bails them out, but Haversack feels certain his diplomatic career will be ruined unless the information about Steve sharing Christine's apartment can be struck from the official police records. The resourceful Rutland not only makes the necessary arrangements (he negotiates a marriage of convenience for Steve and Christine) but also sees that the couple are left alone long enough to admit they love each other. Content that he has completed his job as Cupid, Rutland returns to London to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary.

Film Details

Genre
Comedy
Sports
Release Date
Jan 1966
Premiere Information
Los Angeles opening: 29 Jun 1966
Production Company
Walk Co.
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures
Country
United States

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 57m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1

Articles

Walk, Don't Run


The 1966 romantic comedy Walk, Don't Run is an updated remake of the Oscar-winning 1943 film The More the Merrier. Cary Grant stars as Sir William Rutland, a British industrialist visiting Tokyo during the 1964 Olympic games. Due to a severe housing shortage, Rutland bamboozles his way into sharing an apartment with a young single woman, Christine (Samantha Eggar), who wants to keep the arrangement secret. Soon Rutland invites an American Olympic athlete, Steve (Jim Hutton), to share the apartment with them. It isn't long before Rutland finds himself playing cupid to the young couple and the sparks start flying between Christine and Steve.

Walk, Don't Run is most notable because it was the last film Cary Grant ever made. Even though he was still considered at the top of his game in 1966 and plenty of roles were regularly offered to him, Grant felt it was time to quit for several reasons. First, at the age of 62, Grant believed he was too old to be romancing women half his age on screen as he had done with Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963) and Leslie Caron in Father Goose (1964). Second, Grant had felt for a long time that Hollywood was changing for the worse. He was not impressed with most of the scripts he was getting, and he felt that the studios were beginning to exploit rather than protect their stars. In addition, many of Grant's actor colleagues of the same age had already retired or left the business. The third and most significant reason for Grant's unofficial retirement after Walk, Don't Run was a personal and joyous one. For the first time in his life, Grant had become a father at age 62. Daughter and only child Jennifer Grant was born to Cary and his fourth wife, actress Dyan Cannon, in February 1965, five months before Walk, Don't Run was released in theaters. Cary Grant was ecstatic and was intent on devoting himself to being the best father possible to Jennifer, whom he called his "best production." "My life changed the day Jennifer was born," Grant later said. "I've come to think that the reason we're put on this earth is to procreate. To leave something behind. Not films, because you know that I don't think my films will last very long once I'm gone. But another human being. That's what's important."

While the critical reception of Walk, Don't Run was mixed, Cary Grant's performance was a big hit. Newsweek said that Grant "could not be unfunny if he tried," and The New Yorker said that Grant had "never looked handsomer or in finer fettle...if Walk, Don't Run proves anything it is that his attempted abdication as a screen dreamboat is premature and will have to be withdrawn: he is a good ten years away from playing anyone's jolly, knowing uncle."br>
Walk, Don't Run also features a buoyant musical score written by Quincy Jones. It was one of Jones' first big breaks, thanks to Cary Grant who had met Jones through singer Peggy Lee. The actor felt Jones' style would be perfect for the film and made sure he was hired. Jones went on to enormous success as the composer of numerous notable film scores such as In the Heat of the Night (1967) and The Color Purple (1985) and the producer of many successful pop recordings (like Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall" album).

Fans of Cary Grant will enjoy his cheeky humor coming through in Walk, Don't Run if they pay close attention: Grant occasionally hums the themes to An Affair to Remember (1957) and Charade, two of his best known films. Though he went on to live another twenty years, Cary Grant never did return to the movies despite the many attempts to lure him out of his self-imposed retirement. "I could have gone on acting and playing a grandfather or a bum," he commented later on, "but I discovered more important things in life."

Producer: Sol C. Siegel
Director: Charles Walters
Screenplay: Frank Ross (story), Robert Russell (story), Sol Saks
Cinematography: Harry Stradling, Sr.
Film Editing: Walter Thompson, James D. Wells
Art Direction: Joseph C. Wright
Music: Quincy Jones
Cast: Cary Grant (Sir William Rutland), Samantha Eggar (Christine Easton), Jim Hutton (Steve Davis), John Standing (Julius P. Haversack), Miiko Taka (Aiko Kurawa), Ted Hartley (Yuri Andreyovitch).
C-114m. Letterboxed.

by Andrea Passafiume
Walk, Don't Run

Walk, Don't Run

The 1966 romantic comedy Walk, Don't Run is an updated remake of the Oscar-winning 1943 film The More the Merrier. Cary Grant stars as Sir William Rutland, a British industrialist visiting Tokyo during the 1964 Olympic games. Due to a severe housing shortage, Rutland bamboozles his way into sharing an apartment with a young single woman, Christine (Samantha Eggar), who wants to keep the arrangement secret. Soon Rutland invites an American Olympic athlete, Steve (Jim Hutton), to share the apartment with them. It isn't long before Rutland finds himself playing cupid to the young couple and the sparks start flying between Christine and Steve. Walk, Don't Run is most notable because it was the last film Cary Grant ever made. Even though he was still considered at the top of his game in 1966 and plenty of roles were regularly offered to him, Grant felt it was time to quit for several reasons. First, at the age of 62, Grant believed he was too old to be romancing women half his age on screen as he had done with Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963) and Leslie Caron in Father Goose (1964). Second, Grant had felt for a long time that Hollywood was changing for the worse. He was not impressed with most of the scripts he was getting, and he felt that the studios were beginning to exploit rather than protect their stars. In addition, many of Grant's actor colleagues of the same age had already retired or left the business. The third and most significant reason for Grant's unofficial retirement after Walk, Don't Run was a personal and joyous one. For the first time in his life, Grant had become a father at age 62. Daughter and only child Jennifer Grant was born to Cary and his fourth wife, actress Dyan Cannon, in February 1965, five months before Walk, Don't Run was released in theaters. Cary Grant was ecstatic and was intent on devoting himself to being the best father possible to Jennifer, whom he called his "best production." "My life changed the day Jennifer was born," Grant later said. "I've come to think that the reason we're put on this earth is to procreate. To leave something behind. Not films, because you know that I don't think my films will last very long once I'm gone. But another human being. That's what's important." While the critical reception of Walk, Don't Run was mixed, Cary Grant's performance was a big hit. Newsweek said that Grant "could not be unfunny if he tried," and The New Yorker said that Grant had "never looked handsomer or in finer fettle...if Walk, Don't Run proves anything it is that his attempted abdication as a screen dreamboat is premature and will have to be withdrawn: he is a good ten years away from playing anyone's jolly, knowing uncle."br> Walk, Don't Run also features a buoyant musical score written by Quincy Jones. It was one of Jones' first big breaks, thanks to Cary Grant who had met Jones through singer Peggy Lee. The actor felt Jones' style would be perfect for the film and made sure he was hired. Jones went on to enormous success as the composer of numerous notable film scores such as In the Heat of the Night (1967) and The Color Purple (1985) and the producer of many successful pop recordings (like Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall" album). Fans of Cary Grant will enjoy his cheeky humor coming through in Walk, Don't Run if they pay close attention: Grant occasionally hums the themes to An Affair to Remember (1957) and Charade, two of his best known films. Though he went on to live another twenty years, Cary Grant never did return to the movies despite the many attempts to lure him out of his self-imposed retirement. "I could have gone on acting and playing a grandfather or a bum," he commented later on, "but I discovered more important things in life." Producer: Sol C. Siegel Director: Charles Walters Screenplay: Frank Ross (story), Robert Russell (story), Sol Saks Cinematography: Harry Stradling, Sr. Film Editing: Walter Thompson, James D. Wells Art Direction: Joseph C. Wright Music: Quincy Jones Cast: Cary Grant (Sir William Rutland), Samantha Eggar (Christine Easton), Jim Hutton (Steve Davis), John Standing (Julius P. Haversack), Miiko Taka (Aiko Kurawa), Ted Hartley (Yuri Andreyovitch). C-114m. Letterboxed. by Andrea Passafiume

Quotes

After 7:45, you can have the bathroom all day if you'd like.
- Chris
I wouldn't know what to do in the bathroom all day!
- Bill
I don't know why you wanted a room, you spend all of your time outside!
- Chris

Trivia

Cary Grant's last film.

In some scenes, Cary Grant whistles the theme music from Charade and Affair to Remember, An (1957), two of his previous films.

Notes

Location scenes filmed in Japan. The film is a remake of The More the Merrier (1943, Columbia).

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States on Video March 1988

Released in United States Summer July 1966

Shown at Vancouver International Film Festival October 5, 1989.

Remake of "The More the Merrier" (1943) directed by George Stevens. Cary Grant whistles the theme from "Charade."

Cary Grant's last film.

Remade as "Walk, Don't Run" (1966) directed by Charles Walters.

Released in United States on Video March 1988

Released in United States Summer July 1966