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Let's be realistic.

i must have seen a different film!!

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Super cute film good for a few giggles and lots of smiles. Really good casting all the way around. Fun little story surrounding that doggone dog Archie - a Welsh terrier that causes more trouble than one could guess. A bit zany when you have a set of crooks, crazy police, an innocent couple and a dog.Bill decides to buy his wife Kate a gift but the dog ends up in the shop knocking things over and Bill ends up bringing the dog home. When his wife sees the dog she thinks it's her gift. Sound fine but the dog is owned by crooks and is trained to be a messenger between the criminals. Naturally, the crooks go looking for their messenger - and that's when things become a bit crazy.A fun film - great for a Sunday afternoon manatee.7/10

One of the best supporting casts of familiar character players this side of a Frank Capra film is the best thing that Behave Yourself has going for it. When any of them are on the screen they make up for the fact that leads Farley Granger and Shelley Winters have absolutely no chemistry between them.Behave Yourself finds Farley Granger getting adopted by Welsh terrier named Archie who follows him home. The dog has been trained as a courier among groups of gangsters, but he decides he likes Mr. Average Guy Granger instead. When he gets home the wife thinks that the terrier is an anniversary present. But now all kinds of strange and sinister people are contacting Granger about the dog. The police have taken an interest in him as well.Any film that has Francis L. Sullivan, Sheldon Leonard, Hans Conreid, Marvin Kaplan, Lon Chaney, Jr., Elisha Cook, Jr., William Demarest, Margalo Gilmore, etc. is worth a look. But the core of the film, the leads just aren't up to the light touch this comedy needs.

A romantic comedy in which a scruffy dog is a central player. Already I feel a suspicion of nausea uncoiling deep in my innards. A funny movie about a dog.But it's not the dog that keeps the film from being better than it is. It's the writer/director, George Beck, who does his earnest best to turn a feature film into a television situation comedy.Comedy is obviously not Farley Granger's forte. He's fine as an innocent and exploited schlub -- "Strangers on a Train," "Rope," "They Live By Night." Here he overacts, loudly, and the director should have reined him in. Not that he could have saved the script, which has him walking along a crowded sidewalk and talking to himself while everyone stares. I'm not even sure that Spencer Tracy could have handled the role as written.And something could have been done with the narrative. In itself, it has potential. A dog trained to sniff out dope at dropout points escapes and attaches itself to Granger and his wife, Shelley Winters. Rival teams of gangsters try to recover the dog. It's all in your face but with a bit more subtlety in the gags and the acting it could have been much improved.But Beck seems to think it's funnier than it is. I don't know how many minutes are spent on a scene near the beginning. It's the wedding anniversary of Granger and Winters. They want to make love but they can't coax the pestilent Archie out of the bedroom. Granger throws shoes into the hallway, tries to coax him out the door, tugs him along, but there is no getting rid of Archie. It's amusing, not funny, and doesn't deserve the screen time it gets. At that, it's an improvement over the incident in which Archie gets tangled in Granger's feet and Granger has to fall down a flight of stairs. Not even Ricky Ricardo was so humiliated.Some of the better scenes involve small parts played by familiar actors doing their usual shticks. Sheldon Leonard is a hard-boiled Damon Runyan hood, "Shortwave Bert." Elijah Cook, Jr., is the goggle-eyed loser and an unexpected Francis X. Sullivan is a big-time hood, "Fat Freddy."

I have watched this film over and over and every time I watch it I still laugh at the same jokes and Archie 'the dog' is just so funny and cute. I disagree about Farley Granger, I think he is brilliant in his role. Shelley Winters is superb though and does kind-of outshine him. The film is full of good guy is stupid, meets dog, has interfering mother-in-law and doting wife who sticks by him - Shelley is fantastic!!! and in the end the good guys win, all down to Archie being the most clever one. George Beck did a good job directing his own work but perhaps another director with more experience would have given the film a certain 'pizazz'and flair that would have made it known as one of the best comedies ever. Still this film is great and perhaps unjustly unknown. It's never shown on TV and isn't classed as a film masterpiece, perhaps with more exposure it would become one. Anyway here's a quick plot synopsis: Farley Granger and Shelley Winters - Husband and Wife, living with a typical 'film' mother-in-law played by Margalo Gillmore, who does give the part justice - you do learn to hate her. Of course after her son-in-law gets a reward for stopping the gangsters and becomes famous, she changes her tune. All through the film she goes on about how it's 'HER' house and how Bill (FG) doesn't treat it well and that he's no good, whatever he does. When it's Kate's birthday (SW) and Bill goes to buy her a present after forgetting; until she reminds him on the phone. This is where he meets Archie 'the dog' after Archie follows Bill when Bill gives him some chocolate. Bill has to foot 'the bill' after Archie wrecks the store, and subsequently Bill doesn't get a present for his wife. On the way home he tries to concoct a story to tell his wife, talking to himself and getting strange looks from passers-by. When he tries to explain to Kate and her mother about how 'the present got knocked out of my hand, in a crowd and it went down a sewer' when Archie appears and leaps in to Kate's arms. Outside the store Bill had thrown away the card he had wrote to Kate and Archie had picked it up and gave it to Kate on their arrival back at the house. Therefore Bill couldn't deny that Archie wasn't a present for Kate. After he's gotten away with the present idea, his mother-in-law pipes up with "such a little dog" - he can't win. To conclude this is a great little film and Archie acts superbly, along with the other cast of course!