Cute movie -- but way overrated + revealing of secret American psychosis

You're supposed to like Walter Burns BECAUSE he's so improbably amoral (and because he's played by Cary Grant). Burns isn't supposed to be a heroic figure by any stretch of the word, he's a liar, a snake and a thief -- that's what's great about his character.

To each their own, I guess. Unfortunate that you didn't like the movie -- it's one of my favorites.

His Girl Friday is a decent movie ... its entertaining. But lets be candid here: the dialogue trick of overlapping lines is used WAY too much, the banter between them is really the stuff of sitcoms.

First you say the characters are underdeveloped, and then you complain about the things that make them interesting! Make up your mind. There's nothing funny or interesting about someone who's "good" all the time. Look, no one is saying it's the greatest film ever. It happens to be one of the greatest screwball comedies of all time though, up there with Some Like It Hot.

Anyway, any belittling of Howard Hawks is erased by the fact that he was a major inspiration for Godard.

There's a bigger problem with your argument, aside from the fact that "good" isn't funny. You seem to think that to be a hero, one should be good. A hero, in the literary sense, isn't heroic because he's good. A hero is merely excessive. You named some obvious greek examples, but almost every hero myth follows this pattern. It's part of the basis of western civilization. Cuchulainn singlehandedly kills thousands in his quest to protect Ulster. Thor binds Loki to a rock with the guts of Loki's own son. Samson pulls down the temple. Even Jesus, whose face appears in the dictionary under "good", performed miracles. The hero is capable of more than an ordinary man, and THAT's what makes him heroic. There are plenty of "good" people, but heroes are far rarer, more fascinating and tell us more about who we are as human beings.

As a civilization we certainly find these people interesting. Doesn't mean they're good role models. Instead they're often the stuff of tragedy: most hero myths end with the violent death of the hero. Is Oedipus not culturally relevant enough for you, or do you wish he was "good"?

You call this an "american psychosis". It's far from uniquely american, and far from a psychosis. Why, you may ask, are these myths deeply ingrained in western civilization, but barely appear at all in, for instance, ancient Chinese literature? The ancient chinese had a wealth of literature, but few of what we would call heroes. Ancient Chinese heroes tend to be positive archetypal figure of chinese culture. For example, sons who went to great lengths to prove their filial piety, or especially talented and loyal ministers or generals. No tragic heroes of the western variety appear until relatively recently. Why? One answer that's been proposed is that Chinese culture fromt he very beginning was founded on community and group identity. China has always been very fertile, and life was easier than in the west. Archaeological excavations have found evidence of stone age earthworks and irrigation made of packed earth that would have required mass cooperation. Likewise, early chinese bronzes are massive pots that would have been forged in pieces as a group effort. The west, on the other hand, is much poorer and has always had a far lower population than china. Survival was more difficult, and death more of a mystery. The Chinese were not terribly concerned with death. After all, the ancestors were always present. In the west, without an ancestor worship cult, death was a mystery to be feared, and our cultural icons were the superhuman heroes who defied it.

It's not the greatest theory out there, but it helps to illustrate the importance of the hero myth to the western conception of the individual. A psychosis? Nonsense.

Well, I began writing a couple lines about how your complaints about His Girl Friday are muddle-headed, and it turned into an essay. But I hope it put a little depth into the idea of the hero. They're not always good, nor should we want them to be.

Anyway, it's a comedy, not sunday school. Good isn't funny.

[deleted]

"America roots for cads and scumballs based on our Greek / European heritage -- the myth of Ulysses (Odysseus) as told in The Oddessy."

Oh, give me a break. If there is a culture on earth that lacks trickster stories, I don't know of it.

In Africa, there's Anansi; in China, there's Monkey; in early America there's Coyote -- even in the Bible we've got stories for example with Jacob as both hero and scoundrel.

Rooting for a charming rogue isn't some Caucasian thing. It's a human thing. Maybe you don't like it, and that's fine. It obviously wasn't made for you.

I saw His girl Friday for the first time last night, and this morning I'm still laughing.

Gosh, if you don't want to root for a character that doesn't follow any classically good values or virtues, you might as well forget about Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers, Bugs Bunny, Bob Hope (who usually played cowards in films) or any number of other truly great actors/characters in film history. Walter's manipulation is in a grand comic tradition. It's one of the ways audiences know he's a smart, savvy person, and they tend to admire him for it.

If you think the film exists at a sitcom level, you weren't paying much attention to the social and political commentary running throughout the film. It's an indictment of cynical, opportunistic politicians, rabble rousers, social malcontents, and the media; especially the media, as pretty much every newspaperman in the room EXCEPT Walter is willing to throw Earl under the bus in order to get a scoop. They don't care about the man or his execution except to the extent that it will provide good copy.

As far as Walter's manipulation of Hildy, it's partly to get what he wants. I won't argue with that. But on another level, he's doing it because he knows that what Hildy is pursuing with Bruce is not what she really wants, nor is it what's best for her. Hildy's eyes light up when she's on the trail of a good story, and it gets her adrenaline flowing more than Bruce ever could. In that respect, Walter really is a knight in shining armor rescuing Hildy from a dire fate. Just because he benefits is no reason to despise him. I seem to remember Prince Charming being included in the Happily Ever After, too.

" " ~ Harpo Marx

Aton Ra 1999
(if that IS your real name...)

What piece of masterful prose have YOU written lately that you can be so dismissive of this extraordinarily clever and witty script?

It never fails to amaze me when some gen-x-er decides to combine their anger with their parents with a dash of "101" wisdom, resulting in silly comments like yours.

Go away. Or grow up.

Absolutely brilliant reworking of "The Front Page" that doesn't talk down to its audience. The dialogue sparkles with wit and intelligence, and the cast plays it to the hilt. It doesn't matter if we like Walter or not for the script to work. Of course Walter and Hildy get together - they were never really apart.




"Wake me when we get to Purgatory."