The Front Page (1974)
In the third adaptation of the play The Front Page, you’ll see famed onscreen duo Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau together in their third pairing (out of ten total films). If you love their chemistry and opposite screen personas, you might like this movie. However, I’ve seen all three versions, and I haven’t enjoyed any of them.
This is a fast-talking newspaper comedy that grates on my nerves. Everyone shouts, talks over each other, and rattles off glib one-liners that don’t flow naturally in real life. I didn’t like it in the early talkie 1931, I couldn’t stand the screwball Rosalind Russell version, and I still was left cold by Jack and Walter. As usual, Walter played someone gruff and unfeeling. As usual, Jack played someone nervous and emotional. Jack plays Walter’s top reporter who wants to quit and marry Susan Sarandon, but Walter wants him to keep working.
I couldn’t understand why Billy Wilder kept the film as a period piece. Each of the other movies had something new to offer the audience, but this one didn’t. Why not update it for a modern audience? Perhaps because a 1974 audience wouldn’t be charmed by a screwball comedy, and the entire screenplay and style would have to have been changed. If you do rent it, you’ll see Carol Burnett, Vincent Gardenia, Harold Gould, David Wayne, Austin Pendleton, Charles Durning, and even Allen Jenkins in his final role (he was in the 1928 Broadway production!).
More Susan Sarandon movies here!
This is a fast-talking newspaper comedy that grates on my nerves. Everyone shouts, talks over each other, and rattles off glib one-liners that don’t flow naturally in real life. I didn’t like it in the early talkie 1931, I couldn’t stand the screwball Rosalind Russell version, and I still was left cold by Jack and Walter. As usual, Walter played someone gruff and unfeeling. As usual, Jack played someone nervous and emotional. Jack plays Walter’s top reporter who wants to quit and marry Susan Sarandon, but Walter wants him to keep working.
I couldn’t understand why Billy Wilder kept the film as a period piece. Each of the other movies had something new to offer the audience, but this one didn’t. Why not update it for a modern audience? Perhaps because a 1974 audience wouldn’t be charmed by a screwball comedy, and the entire screenplay and style would have to have been changed. If you do rent it, you’ll see Carol Burnett, Vincent Gardenia, Harold Gould, David Wayne, Austin Pendleton, Charles Durning, and even Allen Jenkins in his final role (he was in the 1928 Broadway production!).
More Susan Sarandon movies here!