Irma La Douce

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Irma La Douce ★★½ 1963

A gendarme pulls a one-man raid on a backstreet Parisian joint and falls in love with one of the hookers he arrests. Lemmon is great as a well-meaning, incompetent boob, and MacLaine gives her all as the hapless hooker. A plodding pace, however, robs it of the original's zip, though it was a boxoffice smash. Broadway musical is lost without the music. 144m/C VHS, DVD . Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Herschel Bernardi; D: Billy Wilder; W: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond; M: Andre Previn. Oscars ‘63: Adapt. Score; Golden Globes ‘64: Actress—Mus./Comedy (MacLaine).