''Behave Yourself!'' is a 1951 American

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed and cowritten by George Beck, starring Farley Granger and

Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American film actress whose career spanned seven decades. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film), The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ' ...

and released by

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

Plot

Mild mannered young CPA Bill Denny forgets about his and his wife Kate's second anniversary until the last minute, when a small dog starts to follow him. After Kate mistakes the dog for her present, mayhem ensues, and Bill is chased by police, smugglers, counterfeiters and murderers while being harassed by his mother-in-law. Since Archie insists on sleeping in their bed, Bill and Kate's ability to "celebrate" their wedding anniversary is indefinitely postponed. At least three different gangs want the dog back and have placed "lost dog ads" in the newspapers. Every time Bill goes to answer an ad, he finds a dead body on the premises and always manages to leave panicky clues that he was at the crime scene. He is repeatedly hauled to the police station and grilled by homicide chief O'Ryan. Meek mild "Max The Umbrella" is assigned to 24-hour rain or shine lookout duty at the spot where the dog was supposed to pass by and deliver the message. When Kate happens to walk past the spot with the dog, Max thinks she's "part of the mob" and hands her the goods, 100 thousand dollars in counterfeit money. Once that mistake is discovered, the surviving mobsters converge on the Denny home for a showdown. They end up shooting each other dead, except for Pinky as Bill tricks him into backing out a high window and knocking himself out. With the sizeable reward money on many of the gangsters, Bill and Kate can finally buy their own house and get away from the interfering mother-in-law. But Archie remains a permanent part of the family.

Cast

* Farley Granger as William Calhoun 'Bill' Denny *

as Kate Denny * William Demarest as Officer O'Ryan * Francis L. Sullivan as Fat Freddy * Margalo Gillmore as Mother * Lon Chaney Jr. as Pinky * Hans Conried as Gillie the Blade * Elisha Cook Jr. as Albert Jonas * Glenn Anders as Pete the Pusher * Allen Jenkins as Plainclothesman * Sheldon Leonard as Shortwave Bert * Marvin Kaplan as Max the Umbrella * Archie as himself * Henry Corden as Numi * Herburt Vigran as Police Desk Sargeant(uncredited) * Ralph Sanford as Plainclothesman (uncredited) * Frank Sully as Taxi Driver(uncredited) * Don Beddoe as Sgt. O'Neill(uncredited) * Kathleen Freeman as Wife of Pet Shop Owner (uncredited) * King Donovan as Lingerie Shop Owner (uncredited)

Production

The film was written in four days and was originally intended to be a vehicle for

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his blended British and American accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he ...

Soundtrack

* "Behave Yourself!" (By Lew Spence and Buddy Ebsen)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Behave Yourself! 1951 films American crime comedy films American black-and-white films 1950s screwball comedy films RKO Pictures films 1950s crime comedy films American screwball comedy films Films scored by Leigh Harline 1951 comedy films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language crime comedy films