Walk Don't Run (1966)

Director:

Charles Walters

Writers:

Robert Russell (story) &
Frank Ross (story) ...

Release Date:

29 June 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Run, don't walk to see Walk, Don't Run.

Plot:

During the housing shortage of the 1964 Toyko Olympics, two men and a woman share a single apartment and the older man plays Cupid to the other two.

Plot Keywords:

Olympics | Housing Shortage | Embassy | Remake | Tokyo Japan

Cast

Cary Grant	...	Sir William Rutland
Samantha Eggar	...	Christine Easton
Jim Hutton	...	Steve Davis
John Standing	...	Julius D. Haversack
Miiko Taka	...	Aiko Kurawa
Ted Hartley	...	Yuri Andreyovitch
Ben Astar	...	Dimitri
George Takei	...	Police Captain
Teru Shimada	...	Mr. Kurawa
Lois Kiuchi	...	Mrs. Kurawa

Also Known As:

Walk, Don't Run (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:G (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:L | Australia:G | West Germany:12 | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Hotel Okura, Toranomon, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Charles Walters's last theatrical feature as director.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Rutland leaves Haversacks office the Japanese flag is on his left (and Union Jack on his right) in the next shot it is on his right (and Union Jack on his left).

Quotes:

Christine Easton: After 7:45, you can have the bathroom all day if you'd like.
Sir William Rutland: I wouldn't know what to do in the bathroom all day!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Night Court: Walk, Don't Wheel (#2.22)" (1985)

Soundtrack:

Charade

A Tokyo Location

I'm sure that Cary Grant was dangled the prospect of a nice all expenses paid for location shooting in Tokyo for his final film, Walk Don't Run. It's the reason he did the film I'm sure.

It's not a bad film to go out on, not near as good as say The Shootist was for John Wayne, but no Cuban Rebel Girl like Errol Flynn had. It's a remake of an earlier Columbia Pictures hit, The More the Merrier that starred Joel McCrea, Jean Arthur, and Charles Coburn. Coburn got a best supporting Actor Oscar for his performance and Grant has his part.

The original film dealt with a tremendous housing shortage in Washington, DC during the World War II, a crisis of four year duration as opposed to a few weeks in Tokyo where because of the Olympics of 1964 there are no hotel rooms to be had.

On a whim, visiting industrialist Cary Grant answers an ad for a room mate posted at the British Embassy by Samantha Eggar. She gets the full court Cary Grant charm and after a bit of reluctance, allows him to stay. Then Grant lends half of his half to American Olympic athlete Jim Hutton.

Eggar has a fiancé, but foxy Cary works his wiles on both Samantha and Jim. The results are obvious.

Walk Don't Run has a few funny moments, Cary Grant style, especially when Grant strips down to his underwear to talk to Hutton during Hutton's event which is the long distance walk. He also has to pry Eggar's fiancé away to get Eggar and Hutton together. John Standing is Eggar's fiancé and he puts in a droll performance as a dull predictable British civil servant.

Cary managed to mine a few more laughs out of his last screen role, but you decide if the trip was worth it.