Front Page (The)
- Director: Billy Wilder
- Writer: Ben Hecht; Charles MacArthur
- Producer: Jennings Lang; Paul Monash
CGiii Comment
A noisy, overwrought theatrical piece of nonsense.
Wilder had peaked years before he made this re-make of a stage play that did not deserve to be filmed.
As a satire - c'mon, Enid Blyton was more satirical.
There are camp characters and more camp performances but, it all boils down to one thing - nothing that an aspirin wouldn't cure.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
When Hildy Johnson, the top reporter of a Chicago newspaper announces that he is quitting to get married, his editor, Walter Burns desperately tries to change his mind. When denial, cursing, and luring don't work, Walter resorts to tricks. It's the day before a supposed communist is to be hanged, and all Chicago waits with baited breath. Meanwhile, each of the papers has a man on the story trying to get a scoop or angle for themselves. With a train to catch at midnight to join his fiancé, Hildy is at first not interested, but events and his own habits work against him as the day unfolds, and he can't help but get roped in, especially when the man to be executed escapes and then almost literally falls into his lap.
Cast & Characters
Jack Lemmon as Hildy Johnson;
Walter Matthau as Walter Burns;
Susan Sarandon as Peggy Grant;
Vincent Gardenia as Sheriff;
David Wayne as Bensinger;
Allen Garfield as Kruger;
Austin Pendleton as Earl Williams;
Charles Durning as Murphy;
Herb Edelman as Schwartz;
Martin Gabel as Dr. Eggelhofer;
Harold Gould as The Mayor;
Cliff Osmond as Jacobi;
Dick O'Neill as McHugh;
Jon Korkes as Rudy Keppler;
Lou Frizzell as Endicott