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IMDbPro

The Front Page

  • 19741974
  • PGPG
  • 1h 45m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
14K
YOUR RATING
Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in The Front Page (1974)
ComedyDramaRomance
A ruthless editor tries to get his top reporter to cover one more crime story before retirement.A ruthless editor tries to get his top reporter to cover one more crime story before retirement.A ruthless editor tries to get his top reporter to cover one more crime story before retirement.
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
14K
YOUR RATING
    • Billy Wilder
  • Writers
    • Ben Hecht(play)
    • Charles MacArthur(play)
    • Billy Wilder(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Jack Lemmon
    • Walter Matthau
    • Susan Sarandon
    • Billy Wilder
  • Writers
    • Ben Hecht(play)
    • Charles MacArthur(play)
    • Billy Wilder(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Jack Lemmon
    • Walter Matthau
    • Susan Sarandon
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 66User reviews
    • 59Critic reviews
    • 62Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Photos156

    "Front Page, The" Walter Matthau 1974 UI
    "Front Page, The Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau 1974 UI
    "Front Page, The" Walter Matthau 1974 UI
    "Front Page, The" Walter Matthau 1974 U-I
    "Front Page, The" Jack Lemmon 1974 U-I
    "Front Page, The" Susan Sarandon 1974 U-I
    "Front Page, The" Susan Sarandon 1974 U-I
    "Front Page, The" Jack Lemmon 1974 UI
    "Front Page, The" Walter Matthau 1974 UI
    "Front Page, The" Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon 1974 UI
    "Front Page, The" Walter Matthau and Susan Sarandon 1974 UI
    "Front Page, The" Walter Matthau 1974 UI

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jack Lemmon
    Jack Lemmon
    • Hildy Johnson
    Walter Matthau
    Walter Matthau
    • Walter Burns
    Susan Sarandon
    Susan Sarandon
    • Peggy Grant
    Vincent Gardenia
    Vincent Gardenia
    • Sheriff
    David Wayne
    David Wayne
    • Bensinger
    Allen Garfield
    Allen Garfield
    • Kruger
    Austin Pendleton
    Austin Pendleton
    • Earl Williams
    Charles Durning
    Charles Durning
    • Murphy
    Herb Edelman
    Herb Edelman
    • Schwartz
    • (as Herbert Edelman)
    Martin Gabel
    Martin Gabel
    • Dr. Eggelhofer
    Harold Gould
    Harold Gould
    • The Mayor
    Cliff Osmond
    Cliff Osmond
    • Jacobi
    Dick O'Neill
    Dick O'Neill
    • McHugh
    Jon Korkes
    Jon Korkes
    • Rudy Keppler
    Lou Frizzell
    Lou Frizzell
    • Endicott
    Paul Benedict
    Paul Benedict
    • Plunkett
    Doro Merande
    Doro Merande
    • Jennie
    Noam Pitlik
    Noam Pitlik
    • Wilson
      • Billy Wilder
    • Writers
      • Ben Hecht(play)
      • Charles MacArthur(play)
      • Billy Wilder(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This version of "The Front Page" was the first to mention the city by name and use actual Chicago newspapers. Billy Wilder felt that Chicago was the most exciting newspaper town in the country.
    • Goofs
      Hildy reminds Jenny, the cleaning woman, that he got her husband on The Amateur Hour. Major Bowes' Amateur Hour premiered as a local show in New York in 1934, and on the NBC Network in 1935, six years after this movie was set.
    • Quotes

      [last lines]

      Walter Burns: That train that just left, what's the first stop?

      Telegrapher: Gary, Indiana.

      Walter Burns: All right. Send a message to the police chief at Gary, Indiana. Tell him to meet the midnight train to Philadelphia and arrest one Hildy Johnson.

      Telegrapher: Hildy Johnson?

      Walter Burns: Yeah. Son of a bitch stole my watch.

    • Crazy credits
      The closing credits sequence began by scrolling up photos of the major characters, flanked by printed info on what happened to each character. The acting and music credits followed.
    • Connections
      Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Billy Wilder (1986)
    • Soundtracks
      Button Up Your Overcoat
      By Buddy G. DeSylva (as B.G. DeSylva), Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson

      © 1928 by B.G. DeSylva, Brown & Henderson Inc.

      © Renewed Assigned to Chappel & Co., Inc.

      Published in U.S.A. by Chappel & Co., Inc. and Anne-Rachel Music Corp.

      Performed by Susan Sarandon

    User reviews66

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    7/10
    Great cast gives powerful performances as Matthau as scheming managing editor and Lemmon as convincing star journalist
    Rip-roaring third remake of the classic newspaper comedy ¨The Front Page¨ makes some memorable exchanges and sensational acting from everyone . Cynical editor newspaper (Walter Matthau) wants to get a big scoop on a death row which involves convincing star reporter (Jack Lemmon) to come back to work and put off her marriage to handsome pianist woman (Susan Sarandon) . Lemmon can't resist covering some good news , even when it mean helping a condemned man (Austin Pendleton) getaway the law . And the escaped convicted murderer offers the journalist an exclusive interview . Other reporters (Dick O'Neill, Charles Durning, Allen Garfield , David Wayne , Cliff Osmond) also give hilarious acting in this breathless pursuit of an exclusive with the escaped death row inmate .

    A splendid remake of the Ben Hecht , Charles MacArthur play about a scheming managing publisher of a 1920s Chicago newspaper and his incautious reporter. Very good performance from Jack Lemmon as ace journalist who wants to quit the business and get married and exceptional Walter Matthau as editor who finds out his main reporter wants to leave him and gets in the way . Phenomenal playing from everyone , including a top-notch secondary cast as Carol Burnett , Vincent Gardenia , Harold Gould and magnificent direction render this frequent-told story more funny than usual . One of Wilder's most inventive and furious screen combats in which Lemmon and Matthau are given equal footing with staccato dialog and marvelous interpretations . I.A.L. Diamond's brilliantly tart screenplay overlaps dialogue and scenes to carry the black farce along the roller-coasted speed . Certainly the kind of movie that Billy Wilder only can make , though achieved moderated success in 1974 . Meanwhile , do't miss this stunning adaptation.

    Other versions about this classic story are the following : 1931 ¨The Front Page¨ by Lewis Milestone with Adolph Menjou , Edward Everett Horton , Mae Clark and Pat O'Brien in his film debut ; ¨His Girl Friday ¨ 1940 by Howard Hawks with Gary Grant , Ralph Bellamy and Rosalind Russell with the pivotal character assigned to a woman instead a man ; ¨Switching channels¨ 1988 by Ted Kotcheff with Kathleen Turner , Christopher Reeve , Ned Beatty and Burt Reynolds in which an attractive TV anchorwoman want to marry tycoon but his mean ex-husband impedes it .
    helpful•13
    2
    • ma-cortes
    • Jan 16, 2012

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 20, 1974 (Canada)
      • United States
      • Official site
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Universal Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 45 minutes
      • Color

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