Bedtime Story (1964)

Freddy Benson (Marlon Brando), an American serviceman stationed in the Europe, gets out of the Army early by blackmailing his commanding officer. He plans to run confidence schemes to fleece rich women out of their money. He runs into Lawrence Jameson (David Niven) on the train. Jameson pretends to be a hen pecked husband even though, like Freddy, he's a con artist.

Freddy decides to ply his trade in Jameson's town in the south of France. Jameson uses his connections with the local police to get Freddy placed on a plane back to the United States. On the plane Freddy runs into a woman who saw him talking to Jameson. She was conned into believing he was a prince. Freddy sees the light  and returns to France to confront Jameson.

For a brief period the two men work together but when Freddy asks for his cut of the money they've made Jameson gives him the run around. Freddy decides he's had enough of working with Jameson and decides to strike out on his own.

The two men agree to a competition to see who can get $25,000 from a new arrival in town: Janet Walker (Shirley Jones). Freddy pretends to be crippled to win her sympathy. Jameson pretends to be a famous Swiss doctor who believes he can cure Freddy.

Janet Walker doesn't enter the movie until it is over halfway over. She plays a major role in the last third of the movie but prior to that it is all Freddy, Lawrence, and the many women they con prior to meeting Janet.

I first saw this movie over 30 years ago. I enjoyed watching it again. My favorite part is the relationship between the two male leads. I got a lot of laughs from watching them take advantage of one another as they try to one up and out do each other. I wasn't too crazy about the way the movie ended. It was all wrapped up a little too neatly for my tastes.

I didn't realize it before watching the movie but today is Shirley Jones 84th birthday. She is still alive and still making movies. Glenne Headley, who plays the role of Janet Walker in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, died in 2017 at the age of 62.

All three leads won Oscars prior to making this movie.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), which I have not seen, is a remake of this movie.