Irma La Douce (1963)

An honest policeman (Jack Lemmon) is assigned to a district where prostitutes ply their trade. Naively and on his own volition, he stages a vice raid which infuriates the police including the police captain (Herschel Bernardi) who are all accepting bribes to look the other way. After being fired, he is taken in by one (Shirley MacLaine) of the prostitutes and falls in love with her even though she refuses to give up streetwalking. Directed by Billy Wilder and based on the 1956 French stage musical which had a great success on Broadway in 1960 winning a best actress Tony award for Elizabeth Seal who played Irma. Inexplicably, the film version omits all the songs (Andre Previn adapts the musical's songs as the underscore) and the film remains a straight comedy. I've seen IRMA LA DOUCE on stage and it's an absolutely charming musical. But by eliminating all the songs, Wilder's film loses its charm and becomes rather sordid. In 1963, a brazen comedy about a hooker was shocking and "adult" but in 2018, it's no longer risque and what we get is an anemic comedy. It still has its moments, mostly with Lemmon who gives us a nice comic performance but MacLaine's best actress Oscar nomination is a real head scratcher. The real scene stealer is Shorty who plays MacLaine's champagne guzzling lapdog. Whenever he's in a scene, your eyes immediately go to him. With James Caan, Bill Bixby, Lou Jacobi, Joan Shawlee and Hope Holiday.