A generation before Patty Hearst embraced her kidnappers and joined in their criminal enterprises, Jane Russell in The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown feels kind of sorry for kidnappers Ralph Meeker and Keenan Wynn and actually falls for Meeker. Totally outrageous but these two are such schlepps you can feel sorry for them. And God knows as movie star playing a movie star Russell knew what it was like to be trapped in that plastic bubble.Given what Wynn's straight job is in the film their scheme wasn't a bad one. Of course that would have meant killing Russell to keep her quiet or keeping Wynn from her. You'll have to watch the film to see what I mean.The title is the rather ridiculous looking feminine nightgown they have for Russell to wear while they are holding her. For myself when you use a color in a title it's almost a necessity to shoot in color. You will see no Fuzzy Pink Nightgown on the screen in this black and white film.The cast also includes Adolphe Menjou as the studio head, Robert Harris as Jane's agent, Una Merkel as her secretary, and Fred Clark as the cop assigned to the case. All filling out their type cast parts.The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown, this film about the Stockholm syndrome years before it was called that has a few laughs, but generally is kind of flat.

JANE RUSSELL, wearing the worst looking blonde wig since Barbara Stanwyck went blonde for "Double Indemnity", does nothing to enhance the reputation she had after "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", wherein she sometimes stole scenes from Marilyn Monroe and Charles Coburn. Here she plays a ditsy actress supposedly a blonde bombshell whose latest film is about a kidnapped bride.Here she's not exactly a scene-stealer--in fact, her performance is rather strained and only improves after she takes off that horrendous wig. Then, it improves considerably.No help is the script, a tiresome thing that is silly from the start and wastes some talented people--like ADOLPHE MENJOU, RALPH MEEKER and KEENAN WYNN. Meeker seems so uninterested in his role that it shows. Badly.Meeker and Wynn are partners in a kidnapping scheme that fails to go smoothly because Russell is a regular spitfire who proves hard to handle, until she decides the kidnapping would be good publicity for her latest film. The script only gets worse as it goes along, with only FRED CLARK able to put some laughs into a brief supporting role.Summing up: A really clumsy script, it does nothing for the careers of Russell, Meeker or Wynn who have all done better elsewhere.

I remember seeing this picture as a kid but recall only the title. It now resembles nothing so much as a high fifties artifact. The unexplained super deluxe beach house complete with private beach is done up in fieldstone and knotty pine, in other words, fifties heaven. The music is by Billy May, the heir apparent to irrelevant big band music jazzed up in fifties fashion. Then there's the reliable fifties trope whereby the feisty bitchy woman is tamed by the alpha male who it is agreed upon will be "the boss". In fact the pairing is the typical one whereby the designated "good looking" guy (just check out the impermeability of what was considered "good looking" in any other period) gets the girl. We have to go through the whole story to arrive at the obvious, predestined ending. To go deeper, the limited cast of three, (and a few others) captured mostly on one set, functions as a sort of fifties commedia dell'arte. We have the hero (Ralph Meeker), his dumb guy assistant (Keenan Wynn) and the beautiful lady (Jane Russell) who must be tamed. There's even a policeman (Fred Clark) to play straight and a denouement based on switching suitcases.I hadn't remembered that the title, obviously used to lend the picture an undeserved prurient aspect, is a terrible misnomer considering its in black and white. Is that '57 T-Bird being drive at the beginning of the picture fire engine red? Who knows. It just seems odd in the extreme for a film with a color in the title to be made in black and white but it is understandable that in that it was a low budget affair produced by Jane Russell and her husband, former football hero Q back (Cleveland and Los Angeles Rams) Bob Waterfield. Not only was FUZZY shot in black and white, but also in academy ratio and not wide screen. There aren't that many sets either so it resembles independent productions of today. However the crafts people, cameraman, editor etc. were first rate. This picture was a flop when it came out, the last picture that Russ-Field made and really the last starring role for Jane Russell, save for a couple of those weird A. C. Lyles nostalgia fests where vintage actors go through the motions in generic scripts as if it were 20 years earlier and they still had careers.The central character, a spoiled brat ego maniac female star, is relevant today, but the whole thought about kidnapping isn't funny or even amusing anymore, even though the kidnapee turning the tables on the kidnappers story has had a long and honorable history since at least O'Henry and maybe existed in 4th century B.C. Greece. Not recommended except for decoration, fashion, design and American Studies students who need inspiration to do a paper for school.

may contain Spoilers ** pretty good story of a movie star Laurel Stevens (Jane Russell) who disappears, and happens to have a movie opening that very night. Fuzzy Pink Nightgown has some similarities to the more modern "Ruthless People". Directed by Norman Taurog, who directed many Elvis movies, as well as Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis. Also Keenan Wynn (Dandy), who was the crazy Colonel Guano in Dr. Strangelove, has done TONS of films and TV appearances. Ralph Meeker (Mike) had done a mix of TV shows and movies. Fred Clark (the married man from "How to Marry a Millionaire"; was also the neighbor Harry on Burns/Allen TV show) plays Sergeant McBride searching for Laurel. Adolphe Menjou plays the director of the film being shown in the story, and may or may not be involved in her disappearance. The film wavers between a love story, an adventure/drama, and a comedy. Good film, but probably would have been stronger if it stuck to one theme.