''Hotel'' is a 1967 American

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

drama film, an

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

of Arthur Hailey's 1965 novel of the same name. The film stars

Rod Taylor Rodney Sturt Taylor (11 January 1930 – 7 January 2015) was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including ''The Time Machine'' (1960), ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1961), '' The Birds'' (1963), and ''In ...

Catherine Spaak Catherine Spaak (3 April 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a French-born Italian actress and singer who acted in mostly in Italian films with some Hollywood and international productions. She is best known for her roles in the films ''Il Sorpasso'' (1 ...

Karl Malden Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor, who according to Robert Berkvist, "for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun aut ...

Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician, serving as Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Rep ...

Michael Rennie Michael Rennie (born Eric Alexander Rennie; 25 August 1909 – 10 June 1971) was a British film, television and stage actor, who had leading roles in a number of Hollywood films, including his portrayal of the space visitor Klaatu in the s ...

Merle Oberon Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson; 19 February 191123 November 1979) was a British actress who began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933). After her success in ''The Scarle ...

, and

Melvyn Douglas Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg, April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981) was an American actor. Douglas came to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the romantic comedy ''Ninotchka ...

. It is directed by

Richard Quine Richard Quine (November 12, 1920June 10, 1989) was an American director, actor, and singer. He began acting as a child in radio, vaudeville, and stage productions before being signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in his early twenties. When his acting ...

Plot

The story takes place at the fictional St Gregory Hotel in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, owned by Warren Trent. The hotel is in financial trouble. Hotel manager Peter McDermott involves himself in the proposals from three potential buyers of the property. He also takes a romantic interest in Jeanne Rochefort, the beautiful French mistress of one of the bidders, and deals with a wide range of routine problems, including a faulty elevator. Jeanne is the mistress of Curtis O'Keefe, who intends to renovate and "modernize" the hotel, with

conveyor belt A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred to ...

s carrying luggage automatically around the building as if it were some sort of modern airport terminal, and even presenting the customer's bill on a conveyor belt. While this is O'Keefe's vision for a hotel of the future, his immediate plans for the St. Gregory are different: He would remove the fountain in the center of the lobby and replace it with a circular news stand and bookstore; he would remove the comfortable lobby seating, forcing guests to go to a restaurant or lounge and spend money to sit; he would change the mezzanine promenade with rows of little shops; and he would chop up the great suites into smaller guest rooms. Among the guests at the hotel are the Duke and Duchess of Lanbourne, a wealthy couple hiding out after fleeing from an accident in their car. A hotel detective, Dupere, attempts to blackmail the Duke and Duchess. The Duchess responds by asking Dupere to drive the car from the accident to Washington D.C. for $25,000 ($ today), but he gets caught outside of the city. Keycase, a professional thief, is working the hotel using a range of techniques and some female accomplices. In the beginning of the film he picks up a discarded key found in an ashtray at the airport. During the course of the film he sneaks into hotel rooms and steals the guests' money, but now that they can buy things by credit card, he finds that most of the guests carry very little cash. Meanwhile, a black couple, Dr. Elmo Adams and his wife, attempt to rent a room at the St. Gregory, having previously made a reservation. However, Trent tells the assistant manager filling in for McDermott (McDermott having been offered a sexual liaison with Jeanne at his French Quarter apartment) not to allow them accommodation. The Adamses are denied their room, the couple then disappear only to be followed by a man with a camera. When McDermott finds out, he berates Trent for doing something that would jeopardize the preferred bid, from a union that will maintain the style – and jobs – of the St. Gregory. After tracking them down to another hotel, McDermott offers the couple their room back, but when he goes to pick them up, they have already left the hotel. After contacting the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

, they inform McDermott that they had not had anything planned (yet) for the St. Gregory in terms of pushing to allow blacks to check into the hotel. The couple then winds up in a Washington newspaper, damaging both O'Keefe's deal and the alternate deal with the union, leaving only the option of selling the hotel to a buyer who plans to destroy it and build an office tower. O'Keefe makes a final offer on the hotel and asks Trent, who brings McDermott along, to hear it. During the meeting, McDermott gets a call revealing that "Dr." Elmo Adams is not a doctor after all and actually works as an employee for an O'Keefe Hotel in Philadelphia. McDermott also reveals that O'Keefe offered him $20,000 ($ today) to convince Trent to take the deal, and implies that Rochefort slept with him so that he wouldn't be at the hotel to properly handle the arrival of the black guests. Hotel owner Trent decides to reject the unscrupulous O'Keefe's offer and sell the St. Gregory to the man who will demolish it. Keycase's luck changes when he blithely talks himself out of one tough spot in the suite of the Duke and Duchess by grabbing an ordinary-looking attaché case. He gets to a room, calms his pounding heart, and uses one of his key collection to open the case to see what it contains. The case is filled with the cash to pay off Dupere. Counting himself lucky, Keycase heads for the elevator to leave. In the elevator, Keycase is joined by the Duke and other guests. The elevator stops between floors as the control relays and emergency brakes begin to fail. McDermott and his assistant manager take the adjacent elevator to the same level and transfer passengers through the roof. The Duke and Keycase are the last two in the failing car. Keycase refuses to leave his briefcase, which contains the stolen money. The Duke is able to wrestle the case away and help Keycase out of the car, but right then the brakes completely fail, sending the Duke to his death. The Duchess tells police she was responsible for the auto accident, hoping to save her late husband's reputation. She also saves Dupere by confirming his story that he was unaware that the car had been involved in the hit-and-run accident when she hired him to drive it to Washington, D.C. for $300 ($ today). The police detectives, seeing through the ruse, decide not to press charges. Keycase is arrested after he is recognized in the wake of his rescue. McDermott rounds up the remaining guests, including Jeanne, and buys drinks on the house as a final toast to the St. Gregory.

Cast

as Peter McDermott, manager *

as Jeanne Rochefort, O'Keefe's mistress *

as Keycase Milne, thief *

as Warren Trent, owner *

Richard Conte Nicholas Peter Conte (March 24, 1910 – April 15, 1975), known professionally as Richard Conte, was an American actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from the 1940s through 1970s, including '' I'll Cry Tomorrow'', ''Ocean's 11'', and ''Th ...

as crooked house detective Dupere *

as the Duchess Caroline *

as the Duke of Lanbourne *

as Curtis O'Keefe, bidder *

Carmen McRae Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpre ...

as Christine, hotel

chanteuse Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engli ...

Alfred Ryder Alfred Ryder (born Alfred Jacob Corn; January 5, 1916 – April 16, 1995) was an American television, stage, radio, and film actor and director, who appeared in over one hundred television shows. Career Ryder began to act at age eight and later ...

as Capt. Yolles *

Roy Roberts Roy Roberts (born Roy Barnes Jones, March 19, 1906 – May 28, 1975) was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen. Life and career Born in Tampa ...

as Bailey *

Al Checco Al Checco (July 21, 1921 – July 19, 2015) was an American film, television and theatre actor. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was known for playing the role of "Bernard Stein" in the 1968 film ''The Party (1968 film), The Party''. Checco ...

as Herbie Chandler *

Sheila Bromley Sheila Bromley (born Sheila LeGay; October 31, 1911 – July 23, 2003), (The reference work ''Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003'' gave her birth date as October 31, 1907). sometimes billed as Sheila LeGay, Sheila Manners, Sheila Manno ...

as Mrs. Grandin *

Harry Hickox Harry Hickox (October 22, 1910 – June 3, 1994) was an American character actor. Career Hickox began his career as a musician, playing guitar with jazz bands, including that of Jack Teagarden. One of his early theatrical ventures was acting i ...

as Sam *

William Lanteau William Lanteau (born William Lanctot) (November 17, 1922 - November 3, 1993) was an American character actor. Among his best known roles are Charlie the mail carrier in '' On Golden Pond'' and mayor Chester Wanamaker in ''Newhart''. Life and ca ...

as Mason *

Ken Lynch Kenneth E. Lynch (July 15, 1910 – February 13, 1990) was an American radio, film, and television actor with more than 180 credits to his name. He was generally known for portraying law enforcement officers and detectives. He may have been bes ...

as Joe Laswell, union bidder *

Clinton Sundberg Clinton Charles Sundberg (December 7, 1903 (some sources say 1906) – December 14, 1987) was an American character actor in film and stage. Early years Sundberg was born in Appleton, Minnesota. He graduated from Hamline University in St. Pau ...

as Lawrence Morgan *

Tol Avery Taliaferro Ware "Tol" Avery (August 28, 1915 – August 27, 1973) was an American film and television character actor with more than a hundred screen appearances between 1950 and 1974. Biography Early in his career, Avery appeared as "Dennison ...

as Kilbrick *

Davis Roberts Davis Roberts (born Robert A. Davis, March 7, 1917 – July 18, 1993) was an American character actor whose career spanned five decades, from the late 1940s until just before his death in 1993. He started out making films in the 1940s and 1 ...

as Dr. Elmo Adams *

Annazette Chase Annazette Chase (born May 20, 1943) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films ''The Mack'' (1973) and ''Truck Turner'' (1974). She also portrayed Muhammad Ali's wife Belinda in '' The Greatest'' (1977), in which Ali p ...

as Mrs. Adams (Uncredited) *

Napoleon Whiting Napoleon Whiting (September 21, 1910, Mississippi – October 22, 1984, Los Angeles, California), was an American character actor. He played many bit parts, often uncredited, as a menial worker such as the African American butler, a stereoty ...

as Waiter (Uncredited)

Critical reception

''Hotel'' has a 100% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on six reviews. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called the film "a very well made, handsomely produced drama" and said that Spaak "is charming and sexy" in her U.S. film debut.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel 1967 films 1967 drama films American drama films 1960s English-language films Films based on Canadian novels Films directed by Richard Quine Warner Bros. films Films set in hotels Films set in New Orleans Films shot in New Orleans Films with screenplays by Wendell Mayes Films based on works by Arthur Hailey 1960s American films

Plot

Cast

Critical reception

See also

References

External links