His Girl Friday Rating: Release Date: 04 September, 2002 Retail Price: $4.98 OUR Price: $4.98 You SAVE: $0.00! Cast: Cary Grant Rosalind Russell John Howard John West Complete Cast (8 total)

His Girl Friday Reviews

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One Time Just Isn't Enough
This is a movie you'll want to watch over again--a number of times for a number of reasons. For one, you'll want to catch all the laughs that flew by too quick on the first go-round (perhaps the second and third go-round, too, and even beyond). As the legend goes, with the exception of a few brief, well-timed breathers, director Howard Hawks has the actors assailing us with about 240 words for each of this film's sleek 92 minutes, with the jokes sometimes launched from multiple conversations at once.

I agree with the Amazon review: you'll also want to give the movie at least one look devoted exclusively to Cary Grant's performance as master-manipulator news chief Walter Burns. One can only marvel at his hair-trigger, incendiary reactions to each situational development. The big scoop involves the politically-driven gallows sentence of a meek little "anarchist" (John Qualen) alleged to have killed a black cop, and while ferociously tracking the story, Burns chats up and tries to reclaim his ace reporter, Hildy Johnson.

The movie is based on Hecht and MacArthur's long-running Broadway hit The Front Page. An early talk-era version had been produced already for the silver screen, but Hawks decided his inspired idea of switching Hildy's gender to that of a woman justified another remake. He was right: of the various stage and film renditions, His Girl Friday is regarded as the most powerful and effective use of the source material.

Handed this basic premise, scriptwriter Charles Lederer added one last layer of complexity: Hildy Johnson is not just any woman, but Walter Burns's ex-wife. As the action begins, she is bidding the chaotic, cynical, wise-cracking reporter's life farewell, having decided to settle down and marry an insurance man named Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy, perfect as the earnest, slow-witted foil to Grant).

On hearing this, Burns hatches his plot. If he can pull off the entire stunt, he will beat the competition to a story on local corruption. By getting Hildy involved again, and helping her realize the Hawksian principle that "you are what you do," he will also regain a writer of rare talent. These two goals alone would be enough to keep his motivation interesting. But of course the chance to win back his ex-wife brings a sexy tension to the frantic, lunatic action.

The one thing you have to do is reserve a viewing strictly for watching Rosalind Russell as Hildy. In the part that literally no one wanted (Jean Arthur, Claudette Colbert, Irene Dunne and Carole Lombard all turned it down), Russell succeeds in making His Girl Friday her movie. Among her colleagues in the press room (played by a sterling ensemble of character actors), she's got the hard-nosed wit to sound right at home with the boys. At the same time, she stands out--not just in her bold pinstriped outfits, but with her unflagging dedication to the raw, key-punching grind of the professional "news man." When necessary she dashes from telephone to telephone, one raging conversation to the next, yet in the movie's moment of high pathos, she manages to be absoltuely riveting while barely raising her voice above a whisper. Finally, of course, her kinetic scenes with Grant are what earn this movie its reputation as one of the fastest, funniest zingers ever produced.

My sole warning: fork over the dough for Columbia's authorized release. The cheap-o's--and there are several on the market--are pretty shabby in terms of image and sound quality. With so much re-watching in your future, do what it takes to get the best version.

You're a reporter!
Howard Hawks was responsible for a lot of outstanding movies, like "The Big Sleep" and "Bringing Up Baby." But one of his best was wild, witty screwball comedy "His Girl Friday," with Cary Grant as (once more) a divorced man who won't give up so easily. You'll never look at a rolltop desk the same way again.

Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) comes into her ex-husband's newspaper office. Walter (Cary Grant) is ready to give her her old job -- until she announces that she's marrying a nice, dull insurance agent (Ralph Bellamy). Walter insists that Hildy can't just go to Albany and be a housewife, and she insists that that's exactly what she wants.

So the wily ex bribes Hildy to cover a sensational cop-killing case -- the convicted man is scheduled to be executed in the morning -- and takes the opportunity to make life difficult for her fiancee. Now Hildy tries to get the facts behind the cop-shooting, while battling with a corrupt mayor who wants the convicted man dead. Is the sordid world of journalism -- and Walter -- what Hildy really wants? Looks like it.

Sometimes even if people don't get along, they fit so perfectly that trying to get together with someone else is pointless. Personally I've never experienced that (yet), but I've seen couples who do work the way Hildy and Walter do. Howard Hawks captures the feel of such couples perfectly.

In addition to the screwball romance, Hawks mixes in a cop-killing, a prison break, an attempted suicide, a conspiracy for mayoral votes, and a lot of reporters slavering for a hit story. It's a tight, taut little story peppered with humor, like the convict in the roll-top desk, or Bellamy's imperious mother being dragged out of the building.

Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell have electric chemistry in this movie. It's a shame that they apparently didn't collaborate on any other movies, because in terms of comedy skill, they fit like two pieces of a puzzle -- they jabber together, trade fast barbs, and lob insults that don't pierce each other's skin.

Their dialogue is as fast as their wits: "I wish you hadn't done that, Hildy." "Done what?" "Divorced me. It makes a man feel he's not wanted!" And on the sidelines, Bellamy has an amusing role as the rather slow-witted fiancee whom Grant charms and then gets arrested. (Interestingly, Bellamy played the same role in "Awful Truth," another Grant movie about a divorced guy trying to win his ex-wife)

"The Awful Truth" is one of those classic movies that leaves you with a warm glow and a cynical chuckle. Hilarious from start to finish, especially with Grant and Russell.

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