2015 Blind Spot Series: His Girl Friday

-


What I knew going in: That this was one of the more famous "screwball comedies."

 Hildy (Rosalind Johnson) was once a star reporter. She walks into her office after a long absence to tell her boss, Walter (Cary Grant) that she quits and is moving to Albany to marry the mild mannered Bruce. (Ralph Bellamy) But Walter is actually Hildy's ex husband, and he spends the rest of the movie trying to convince Hildy to stay and do her job rather than marry.

 This movie was just plain adorable. It didn't really make me laugh, but it certainly made me smile several times. I like how face paced the dialogue was. I feel like that will be the most memorable part of the film for me. The entire cast was great, especially Grant, even though I wanted to dropkick his character several times throughout.

 Recommended: Yes

 Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "From now on I thank you to keep your nose out of my affairs." - Walter (Cary Grant)

Comments

  1. Dan HeatonJanuary 19, 2015 at 11:23 AM

    I love this movie so much. It makes me laugh, but I recognize it's more about the manic tone than any particular jokes. I also think Rosalind Russell is so great. Grant is very good at playing a self-absorbed jerk. Glad you caught up with this one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 20, 2015 at 6:43 AM

      Yeah, me too. It's one I've put off for far too long.

      Delete
  2. UnknownJanuary 19, 2015 at 6:14 PM

    I usually want to dropkick Cary Grant's characters -- they seem so smug. :-) Good stuff, though. I haven't seen this one yet. Based on your description of the strong dialogue, I think I'd like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 20, 2015 at 6:43 AM

      He's pretty smug here too, but at least he's amusing smug!

      Delete
  3. Big Screen Small WordsJanuary 19, 2015 at 8:04 PM

    Glad you enjoyed this one. This was wonderful; the banter between the two characters looked natural. Though I do wished things ended up different. Nonetheless, enjoyable film.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 20, 2015 at 6:42 AM

      The ending I kind of saw coming a mile away, but that's okay. It was just fun.

      Delete
  4. LukeJanuary 20, 2015 at 12:07 AM

    Tarantino showed this film to Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth before they shot the opening diner scene. Not to talk as fast as they could in that movie, but to show that you CAN talk as fast as that in a movie.

    Really enjoy this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 20, 2015 at 6:42 AM

      That's interesting, I never knew that. Thanks for sharing that!

      Delete
  5. Aditya BJanuary 20, 2015 at 6:04 AM

    Oh, I really love this film. A classic comedy for the ages. The banter between all the characters, especially Grant and Roz is absolutely spectacular. Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownJanuary 20, 2015 at 7:40 AM

    Happy you liked it, Brittani - gotta love Cary!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 20, 2015 at 9:40 AM

      Thanks! I'm happy I started off 2015 well with Blind Spots.

      Delete
  7. RuthJanuary 20, 2015 at 12:22 PM

    Believe it or not but I'm not into Cary Grant that much. That said, this one sounds pretty good, might put this on my next year's Blind Spot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 20, 2015 at 12:57 PM

      I think if it had been slower paced, I wouldn't have liked it as much. That helps tremendously here.

      Delete
  8. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2015 at 8:25 AM

    Adorable is right! I really loved this, and the sparing between the leads is just exceptional. Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wendell OttleyJanuary 27, 2015 at 7:52 PM

    Sounds like I'm the only one left that hasn't seen this.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2015 at 8:13 PM

    Sounds like I'm the other one who hasn't seen this... yeah, along with Wendell :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 28, 2015 at 6:42 AM

      lol. No worries, It took me forever to see it too.

      Delete
  11. John HitchcockJanuary 27, 2015 at 8:20 PM

    I've watched it for some of my classes, and it is a lot of fun.I always liked the amusing self-reflexive bit where Cary Grant sends someone after Rosalind Johnson's fiancee and when asked what he looks like says "Oh, he looks like that guy from the movies... Ralph Bellamy".

    I remember the first time I saw His Girl Friday, I was a little concerned about the film's representation of gender, but after seeing it again I was amazed with how remarkably progressive it was in how it treated the protagonist. The obvious concern was the whole thing about how Hildy Johnson was supposedly trying to become a "proper" woman, essentially giving up the rights she probably had to work hard to obtain.

    On the other hand, the fact that she is not only the newspaper's best journalist but is also treated as an equal by the (almost entirely male) staff who barely seem to notice that she is a woman (to the point where they even make bets on how long it will take before she wants to get back into journalism) was pretty radical for 1940 (Howard Hawks actually had a trademark of putting strong female characters into his films, many of which were remarkably progressive a guy who made the bulk of his films during the Studio Era). Even better is the fact that she actually stays in the journalism business instead of "settling down", though on the condition of remarrying her former husband.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 28, 2015 at 6:41 AM

      I can definitely see where that fear might be there at first. I'm glad they never went there and instead showed how successful Hildy was.

      Delete
  12. JoshFebruary 2, 2015 at 1:29 PM

    Haha, this movie is so much fun, and Grant and Russell have great chemistry. So glad you enjoyed it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamFebruary 2, 2015 at 3:57 PM

      Thanks, so am I. I'm off to a good start with my 2015 Blind Spots. I've watched three and enjoyed them all.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more