The Front Page (1974)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Ben Hecht (play) and
Charles MacArthur (play) ...

Release Date:

17 December 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

It's the hottest story since the Chicago Fire... And they're sitting on it.

Plot:

Hildy Johnson is the top reporter on a Chicago newspaper during the 1920s. Tired of the whole game he's determined to quit his job to get married...

Plot Keywords:

Reference To The Madonna | Journalism | What Happened To Epilogue | Reference To Ben Hecht | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Jack Lemmon	...	Hildy Johnson
Walter Matthau	...	Walter Burns
Susan Sarandon	...	Peggy Grant
Vincent Gardenia	...	Sheriff
David Wayne	...	Bensinger
Allen Garfield	...	Kruger
Austin Pendleton	...	Earl Williams
Charles Durning	...	Murphy
Herb Edelman	...	Schwartz (as Herbert Edelman)
Martin Gabel	...	Dr. Eggelhofer
Harold Gould	...	The Mayor
Cliff Osmond	...	Jacobi
Dick O'Neill	...	McHugh
Jon Korkes	...	Rudy Keppler
Lou Frizzell	...	Endicott

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Carol Burnett was extremely unhappy with her performance in this film (as were a lot of critics). The comedienne likes to tell the story of how she was a passenger on an airline that had The Front Page (1974) as its in-flight movie. At the film's conclusion, Burnett stood up and apologized to the passengers for what they'd just witnessed.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Earl Williams is scheduled to be executed by hanging in June of 1929. Electrocution replaced hanging as the method of capital punishment in Illinois in 1928.

Quotes:

'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County: [walks into the press room to see the reporters drinking liquor] Ah, what's the idea, fellas? You know better than that. This is a government building!
Kruger: Uh, hi, sheriff.
Endicott: What'll ya have?
'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County: I got a good mind to have you all locked up!
Hildebrand 'Hildy' Johnson: The state's atterney wouldn't like it, because I bought that stuff from his brother.

Movie Connections:

References Some Like It Hot (1959)

Soundtrack:

Congratulate Me

Criminally underrated

MILD SPOILERS

The Front Page is one of my favourite Billy Wilder films, and by definition, this would mean also one of my favourite comedies of all time. I definitely agree with the view held by some that this magnificent work deserves much wider recognition than it has received. And here's the news: I HAVE seen His Girl Friday, and I STILL consider Wilder's take to be superior, even if the master himself dismissed it as a botch. Sorry to disagree, Mr. Wilder, but I believe that in few films you got a chance as good as this one to demonstrate your spectacular sense of rhythm and comic timing, and get performances as astounding from everyone involved; the Lemmon-Matthau unbeatable duo works like a perfectly greased machine at full blast and I definitely prefer their vicious bickering to the flirty, romantically-intentioned banter of Grant and Russell; and all the rest of the cast I think is perfect too, for example Sarandon, who with just one look can convey her frustration and her resigned acceptance at her husband-to-be's inability to change... I'm sorry, but I just can't find the slightest defect. To me, this is a perfect ten.