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

Also Known As:

Spéciale première (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
A Primeira Página (Brazil) [pt]
Etusivu uusiks' (Finland) [fi]
Extrablatt (West Germany) [de]
I proti selida (Greece) [el]
Koteret Rashit (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Prima pagina (Romania) [ro]
Prima pagina (Italy) [it]
Primera plana (Spain) [es]
Ryd forsiden (Denmark) [da]
Stoppa pressarna! (Sweden) [sv]
Szenzáció! (Hungary) [hu]

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:

According to Austin Pendleton, Lemmon, Matthau, and Billy Wilder did not get along during filming and promised never to work with other again. The three would work together again on Buddy Buddy (1981).

Goofs:

Continuity: When the blinds are pulled they are inside the window, after Earl crashes through the window the blinds are on the outside of the window.

Quotes:

Peggy Grant: You don't mind waiting, do you?
Cab Driver: What's there to mind? The night is young, the orchids are smelling, the meter is running.
[click]
Cab Driver: Just made another nickel.

Movie Connections:

References Some Like It Hot (1959)

Soundtrack:

Button Up Your Overcoat

The big carnival as a comedy.

In 1950,Billy Wilder told the story of a reporter (Kirk Douglas ) who "exploited the "human interest story" for his own benefit "(Maltin).It turned into a tragedy.In 1974,he comes back to the dark side of the medias ,no matter if it's a comedy:you've got to pay attention to all the serious things the director is telling us.In 1950,people were having a wild time around a man buried in a hole(hence the first title "ace in the hole"!);in 1974,people are playing cards and drinking whiskey in front of the gallows :nothing really changes. You would have to search for a long time to find clever comedies like this one in the contemporary cinema;and if people are disappointed,too bad for them:Billy Wilder was one of the greatest American directors of all time,even when he was a bit sub-par,he was better than the rest.

There are numerous funny moments:Lemmon turned into a exhibitionist by his boss,the desk in which the two reporters hide the condemned person -which might be a spoof on Hitchcock's "the rope",the "stolen" watch...

What is sad is Wilder's end of career:after the overlooked "Fedora" (1976)which he made with European money and which was unfairly deemed "a poor man's "sunset blvd"",and the remake of the French movie "l'emmerdeur" ("buddy buddy"),he was never given a chance to direct another movie.How unfair!