Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Fantastic!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Very funny comedy .The repetitive side ("My granny is sick...She needs an operation...Alas I've not got enough money! Poor dear") is no problem.On the contrary,it becomes funnier and funnier as the movie progresses."Bedtime story" hints at fairy tales characters ,particularly the Little Red Riding Hood and Prince Charming (David Niven may be a fake shrink ,but he is a true prince short of the readies,a prince going as far as to "create" an evil prince in his château).But the most successful gags are provided by the spoof on all the Freudian works which were thriving since the forties (their heyday with such directors as Siodmak,Hitchcock,Lang ,Tourneur ..).Brando about to faint and pretending he is suffering each time he sees lovers dance is a nod to all these movies in which the hero(ine) couldn't stand a certain thing,because in his/her past something bad happened.I even suspect the writers of having borrowed the scene in which Shirley Jones and Brando are on the beach (You can do it on my legs too)from the famous scene on the boat when Marilyn Monroe tries to arouse Tony Curtis's desire .A treat for big babies.

Having enjoyed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the 1980s comedy with Michael Caine and Steve Martin, i was intrigued to learn it was a remake of a 1964 film, Bedtime Story. The story is mostly the same: an elegant English conman on the Riviera is annoyed to find his pitch invaded by an uncouth American huckster. They briefly become partners, then rivals.In the original, the leads are taken by David Niven and Marlon Brando, of all people. But it's a comedy masterclass - in how not to do comedy. Just about every scene in the remake milks the full comic potential far better.In DRS, there's a scene where Freddie the Yank conman is thrown into a French jail. Steve Martin has a loud check shirt, a big white Panama hat and big shades, he's the epitome of the loud American abroad and out of his depth as, leaning against the bars,he goes all self- pitying and pleading to the unimpressed French inspector. Watching the original we find that Martin filched the entire performance from Brando, with one crucial difference - Martin is funny. Brando - he just ain't funny...At one point, Freddie is asked if he has a reliable local character witness. Martin goes through a minute of exasperated tip-of-his-tongue recall, jumping up and down, banging his head until he gets it at last. Brando just gives him the name. Brando seems to be enjoying himself, but Martin has the comic's gleeful sadism/masochism towards his character's plight.Later you may recall Caine is required to impersonate a German psychotherapist. He has a cold sadistic tone that works well against Martin's horrified incredulity. Niven, who plays the same role, is called upon to impersonate a Swiss doctor. And just plays him as Niven, with the same voice and everything. Critics say Caine is always the same, but Niven though urbane really is shown to be a one-note actor in this.The comic scenes are generally leaden, though to be fair Martin borrowed Rupret's hulking suspicious demeanor from Brando, except again he's funny and Brando is not. Worst of all, the film ditches the surprise twist of DRS, ending with a real cop out.They could have cast it with Jerry Lewis as Freddie and maybe Dean Martin as the smooth one, or even as a Hope and Crosby vehicle. But bland Niven and unfunny Brando sink it.

This film has a history of name confusion to rival Hitchcock's SECRET AGENT, SABOTAGE, and SABOTEUR, or HERE COMES MR. JORDAN, HEAVEN CAN WAIT, and HEAVEN CAN WAIT. There is a 1941 comedy with Loretta Young and Frederic March called BEDTIME STORY about Broadway theater people. Then this film was created in 1964, and marked the only time David Niven and Marlon Brando co-starred in a comedy. Then the 1964 comedy was remade in 1988 with Michael Caine and Steve Martin in the Niven and Brando film, but was now called DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS. That is the title that shall always be recalled with this story, especially since it has been turned into a successful musical show in London and New York City. Truth be told, I favor the 1988 version, because the two male leads manage to squeeze more reality out of their characters than Niven and Brando did. Brando had too much intelligence for playing the slovenly conman Freddy Benson, while Steve Martin showed his intellectual limitations far better. Niven got carried away showing Jamieson's intellectual philanthropy (from the proceeds of his swindles), while Caine took the same material and showed it for what it really was - an emotional hobby. That said the 1964 film was good within it's own limits (not notable for nearly a quarter century). The only other alteration was a final surprise which makes the remake much superior.Lawrence Jamieson has set himself up in a mansion on the gold coast of the Riviera, and attracts wealthy women (with the assistance of the local police chief - who is in his pay). He convinces wealthy women (pretending he is doing it in a noble cause) to give him thousands of dollars for the purpose of freeing his country from the tyrants (it is obvious he is supposed to be a deposed Balkan monarch, fighting the Communists). The con is perfect, and the machinery is well oiled. But along comes Freddy Benson, an American conman, who threatens to ruin the con Jamieson sets up. They try to work together for awhile, but Jamieson sees Freddy as an apprentice (at best a junior partner) and that irks Freddy. So they set up a bet - winner takes over the local Riviera town as his preserve. They will both go after a new target, and whoever gets $10,000.00 from her first wins. Soon, a young American woman (Shirley Jones) shows up as "the American Soap Queen". Freddy pretends that he is a soldier suffering from some psychological shock that has left him crippled (he is actually spoofing, in part, his serious performance in his first movie THE MEN where he was a crippled war hero). Jamieson pretends he is a famous Vienese psychologist who Freddie claims he has tried to contact. And the film gets into a series of feints and pretenses that both men play on each other (to get them out of the way while they work out their wiles on Jones). Jones is a perfectly decent type, who gradually is very attracted to Brando. SPOILERS COMING UP.It turns out that Jones is the winner of a big contest from the American Soap Company, and she is not a millionaire. Niven learns this first and then Brando. But Brando has slowly gotten to like Jones too, so he ends up returning to America with her as her husband. Niven accepts that he must struggle on as a bachelor to the end - and heads back to the glittering life of the Riviera.That is not how the remake ended. Jones' character turned out to be a very successful female con-artist, who beats Caine and Martin. Caine, of course, fully appreciates the artistry of the woman (Martin's just angry), but she returns, as she sees both men can be useful partners to her schemes (especially the smarter Caine). So the three of them go after their rich prey with glee at the end.The remake had the better ending...hand's down! It kept the surprises coming up to the conclusion of the film. But the original had some nice moments. Brando playing the silent assistant to Niven as his apprentice has to play a half-wit brother Prince to Niven's exiled King (Prince Rupprecht), who wears "Napoleon" suits. He also, towards the end, does a nice brief imitation of Niven as the art and culture lover, admiring a "Stradavarius violin". The Chief of Police helping Niven also has an interesting plan to get rid of Brando with a gun whose fingerprints will lead to a weird historical dead end (you have to hear the plan to understand it). So I would recommend the film as a worthy comedy, but one that eventually was far improved upon.

Being the basis for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," I couldn't help watching this one. I had the bad fortune of seeing the remake first, however, and they are scene-by-scene identical up until the last bits. I think that I liked "Bedtime Story" more, however. Marlon Brando did a much better job than Steve Martin did 25 years later. David Niven played the part better too. "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" twisted the end of the movie and set it up for a sequel, but that never came through. I like it fine, anyway, just how it is.