On F List of Movie Reviews
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The Front Page (1974)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
7/04, 4/21
4/21:
Out of the four versions (the others being The Front Page,
His Girl Friday, and
Switching Channels), Billy Wilder's is the best.
The purpose of a remake is to correct the flaws of the original and further improve on the rest. It's
exactly what happened for the second stab at The Front Page. With the
exception of Carol Burnett who overacts, the cast is perfect, and the pairing of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau
for the respective roles of Hildy Johnson and Walter Burns is genius. Their comedic timing is unbelievable.
My problems with the original are the leaden dialogue, lack of star power, and a long, boring middle.
His Girl Friday is so fast paced that it's difficult to keep up with the
overlapping dialogue. Cary Grant's, not Rosalind Russell's, star power is what helped the picture the most, but
he's conspicuously missing for a long stretch of time.
The 1974 version of The Front Page fixes just about everything while
solving the problem of the middle. As a result, it's a funny movie which has the right pace. Billy Wilder was
smart enough to end the film by having Walter Matthau say, "The son of a bitch stole my watch." The dialogue
is clear and never overwhelming to my relief.
All in all, I don't know why Billy Wilder regretted remaking
The Front Page, but it's the best version I've seen.