His Girl Friday
Directed by Howard Hawks
Written by Charles Lederer from the play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
1940/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#141 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Hildy Johnson: Walter, you’re wonderful, in a loathsome sort of way.[/box]
Love this one! I only wish I could finally watch it restored and with subtitles to catch every delicious line.
Hard-charging newspaper editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant) will stop at nothing to keep his star reporter and ex-wife Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) from marrying insurance salesman Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). He has an especially potent lure in the story of Earl Williams (John Qualen), a crazed killer who is about to be executed as the climax to the re-election campaigns of the city’s corrupt law-and-order ticket mayor and sheriff. With a host of outstanding character actors as the many other reporters, wise-guys, and patsies.
His Girl Friday unfortunately fell into the public domain and I have only ever seen it in the sub-par cheapo edition available from Netflix or on TV. I am sure I have missed many zingers. Even so, there are so many I did catch that this is a total delight. The leads were born to deliver this rapid-fire material. Rosalind Russell was about the seventh actress offered the part but it is hard to imagine any one else in this role.
Trailer
