Movie Information
Overall Rank: 861
Average Rating: 3/4
# of Ratings: 133
Theatrical Release Date: 01/18/1940
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Romance
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Howard Hawks
Actors: Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Rosalind Russell, Gene Lockhart, Helen Mack, John Qualen
Plot: A skillful newspaper editor is at war with his ex wife as he uses
journalist and media tactics to keep his hot shot reporter of an ex wife
from remarrying.
Quick Movie Reviews
Rating of
2.5/4
Indyfreak - wrote on 12/15/2023
Screwball comedy classic about a reporter trying to win back his ex-wife by any means necessary. The plot (so to speak) is just an excuse for rapid-fire snipping between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. It's snappy and witty. We don't really see that anymore. I can't say the movie is as funny as it thinks it is. And there's weird tonal shifts from comedy to straight-up drama that does not always work.
Rating of
3/4
Gabe - wrote on 07/27/2015
This film is probably best known for its whip-smart dialogue and it's very quick. However, there is more to this film than fast dialogue. It's quite sexist, although, I do think the fact that Cary Grant thinks Rosalind Russell should stay and work for him, (even though she feels she needs to be married) is empowering. I also think the way that Cary Grant seems to always get one over everyone else just isn't right. He's always the smartest man in the room and he never fails. I wonder what the original play, The Front Page was like. It was a one-act set inside the press room and the character of Hildy was a male. Not a female like the movie. A good, but not great film.
Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
"His Girl Friday" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/20/2012
A hard nosed newspaper woman decides to quit to marry and settle down, but when a death row inmate escapes and lands in her lap things get a little more complicated. His Girl Friday features one of the great screwball partnerships of all time as Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell bicker and swap wisecracks faster than a pair of Grouchos on amphetamines. Russell is a wonderfully independent female lead, giving as good as she gets from Grant's hilariously immoral and hustling newspaper editor. Beneath the fast paced laughs there is also plenty of black comedy and social satire to be had, poking fun at the media's attitude to what is "newsworthy", political corruption and a veiled commentary on the validity of the death penalty. Which all may go relatively unnoticed as you'll probably find …
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