The Front Page

Director: Billy Wilder Billy Wilder

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/31/2005
UPC:	0025192732928
Original Release:	1974
Rating:	PG
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:45:00
Sales rank:	24,318

Special Features

Closed Caption; [None specified]

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Lemmon	Hildy Johnson
Walter Matthau	Walter Burns
Susan Sarandon	Peggy Grant
Vincent Gardenia	Sceriffo
David Wayne	Bensinger
Allen Garfield	Kruger
Austin Pendleton	Earl Williams
Charles Durning	Murphy
Herb Edelman	Schwartz
Martin Gabel	Dr. Eggelhofer
Harold Gould	Il sindaco
Cliff Osmond	Jacobi
Dick O'Neill	McHugh
Jon Korkes	Rudy Keppler
Lou Frizzell	Endicott
Paul Benedict	Plunkett
Doro Merande	Jennie
Noam Pitlik	Wilson
Joshua Shelley	Cab Driver
Allen Jenkins	Telegrapher
John Furlong	Duffy
Biff Elliot	Police Dispatcher
Barbara Davis	Myrtle
Leonard Bremen	Butch
Carol Burnett	Mollie Malloy
Bob Harks	Policeman
Barbara Peterson Davis	Myrtle
Billy May	Composer

Technical Credits

Billy Wilder

I.A.L. Diamond

Ben Hecht

Charles MacArthur

Billy Wilder	Director,Screenwriter
I.A.L. Diamond	Screenwriter
Jennings Lang	Executive Producer,Producer
Paul Monash	Producer
Ben Hecht	Screenwriter
Charles MacArthur	Screenwriter
Max Balchowsky	Stunts
Ronald Pierce	Sound Effects
Jesse Wayne	Stunts
Robert Martin	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

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.