His Girl Friday

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Comedy!
Review: This is a priceless, brilliant comedy from 1940. Although several movies were made based on the hit play The Front Page, a sarcastic comedy about the newspaper business, none was as successful or is as hilarious as His Girl Friday.

Made by expert director Howard Hawks, His Girl Friday is one of the most entertaining and hilarious films ever! The film was the first to use overlapping dialogue, and it is probably the fastest talking film in history! It can be watched again and again, because every time you find new things to laugh about that you missed the last time!

The cast is fantastic as well. Cary Grant, especially, though usually very good, gives one of his best performances in His Girl Friday as the amoral and manipulative newpaper editor Walter Burns. He is spectacular! Every scene he is in is hilarious because of his funny expressions and clever way of saying his lines. He also contributes greatly to the film by several "in jokes", such as the Archie Leach line and the part in which he describes Ralph Bellamy's character as looking like "uhh..that fellow in the movies..you know, Ralph Bellamy."

Rosalind Russell is excellent as well as Hildy Johnson, the star reporter who wants to quit, and she and Cary make a wonderfully spunky pair! Ralph Bellamy does a good job with his role as Hildy's fiancee, the bumbling insurance guy. The rest of the cast is just as good.

Anyhow, this movie is a must have! Make sure to get a good copy of the DVD though - personally, I would recommend the His Girl Friday/Cary Grant on Film version because of its clarity.

Rating:
Summary: That's what Archie Leach said before he cut his throat !
Review: Virtuoso performances by Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell highlight this screwball comedy masterpiece. Studio heads were appalled at the ad-libs they heard in the dailies "He looks like er...that fellow in the movies, Ralph Bellamy." They wondered if there was a madman in charge.

(There was. His name was Howard Hawks)

Adapted from the 1928 play and film "The Front Page", the madman realized that it would be much funnier if Hildy was female and, for good measure, about to leave not only the newspaper but also her dashing but um...slightly unethical ex-husband to marry a dullish Mama's boy (played to perfection by Bellamy) in order to finally lead a 'normal life.'

Of course she's leaving on the 3 o'clock train so there's still time for Walter to concoct some insane scheme to stop Hildy from making a terrible mistake and win her back.

Now if you're wondering how one can leave an EX-husband, or how hanging an innocent man to win an election, kidnapping old ladies, or framing a sweet simpleton for 'mashing' with the help of a blonde bombshell albino could possibly be funny

"She ain't no Albino, she was born right here in this country!"

Or if you simply want to roll on the floor laughing, watch this film.

In an age where film schools tell their students to turn off the sound and only watch the images to judge if the director has done his job (In what? Ignoring the writer?), where words are considered 'barriers', wit a 'defense mechanism' and intelligence in cinema feared as a turn off to the 'demogragraphics' of modern audiences

---Watch this film!

And leave the sound on. You won't want to miss a moment of Cary (born Archie Leach) Grant.

Rating:
Summary: "What did I treat you like? A water buffalo?"
Review: Walter Burns: I still wish you hadn't done that, Hildy.
Hildy Johnson: Done what?
Walter Burns: Divorced me. It makes a man feel he's not wanted.
Hildy Johnson: Oh, now look junior . . . that's what divorces are FOR!

Many films eventually are forgotten as the years go on. Yet, the quality ones like Howard Hawks' "His Girl Friday" not only are still remembered but still hold up remarkably well to this very day. Watching Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant work their magic in this production is proof positive that good films will always remain good films regardless of their age.

Reporter Hildy Johnson (Russell) plans to leave her job as a reporter in order to settle down with insurance salesman Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). However, Hildy's boss and former husband, Walter Burns (Grant), does not want to lose her so he offers her the juicy assignment of covering the upcoming hanging of convict Earl Williams (John Qualen) to get her to stick around. Hildy accepts the job but gets more than she bargains for when she encounters the escaped Williams who takes refuge with her.

"His Girl Friday" is, more than anything else, a showcase for Russell and Grant. Given a wonderful script to work with, the two leads use their natural charisma to vividly bring to life their respective characters. The art of the verbal quip is refined like never before here as Russell and Grant trade one-liners so deftly and so amusingly that you will be constantly smiling at their playful and witty exchanges. "His Girl Friday" is also a reminder of just how rare it is to find a modern film that has the same type of sharp dialogue. When the medium evolved to showcase spectacle over substance, less concern was directed toward the quality of a screenplay and countless films have suffered for it. Thankfully, there still are films from the past like "His Girl Friday" to remind us that there was a time when Hollywood recognized the value of good writing.