The Front Page
Director: Billy Wilder Cast: Jack Lemmon , Walter Matthau , Susan Sarandon , Vincent Gardenia , David Wayne
DVD
$12.99
- Release Date: 05/31/2005
- UPC: 0025192732928
- Original Release: 1974
- Rating: PG
- Source: Universal Studios
- Region Code: 1
- Presentation: [Wide Screen]
- Language: English
- Runtime: 6300
- Sales rank: 25,206
Scenes
Languages
Spoken Language
English
Français
Captioned for the Hearing Impaired
English
Subtitles
Español
Français
Subtitles: None
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This third film version of the 1928 Ben Hecht/Charlie MacArthur Broadway hit +The Front Page was the first one permitted to utilize all the salty profanities in the original play. Director Billy Wilder cast his two favorite leading men, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, as ace reporter Hildy Johnson and ruthless newspaper editor Walter Burns, respectively. The plot of the Hecht/MacArthur play remains intact: Burns pulls every underhanded game in the book to prevent Johnson from leaving his Chicago paper to get married, and in so doing the two journalists uncover a cesspool of political corruption, centered around the planned execution of anarchist Earl Williams (Austin Pendleton). Carol Burnett has an extended cameo as Williams' tart girlfriend, Mollie Malloy. The Front Page was remade for a fourth time in 1988 as Switching Channels.
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- The Front Page
- Director: Jack Lemmon
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By 1974, cinematic standards regarding profanity had relaxed enough that a dialogue-faithful version of the famous play The Front Page could finally hit the screen. Legendary director Billy Wilder, with his quick wit, impeccable sense of timing, and masterful blend of cynicism and romance, seemed the natural choice for the assignment of bringing this classic to the screen, and he certainly made wise casting decisions for most of the roles. But what seemed like a perfect picture on paper somehow ended up somewhat disappointing. The end result is a good and entertaining picture, but not the one-of-a-kind experience it should have been. Wilder deserves most of the blame, for the picture rarely achieves the consistent comic madness it calls out for. Jack Lemmon's performance is also somewhat problematic; he's good, but a trifle too restrained, especially in comparison with Walter Matthau's dead-on, memorably over-the-top interpretation. Matthau is better matched by Austin Pendleton's excellent revolutionary with a fondness for putting "Free Sacco and Vanzetti" messages inside of fortune cookies. Vincent Gardenia and Martin Gabel are also very entertaining, but Carol Burnett is badly miscast as a two-dollar whore with the reliable heart of gold. Although not up to the efforts of Wilder's peak period, The Front Page still has moments of the director's magic touch.