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His Girl Friday (1940)

tomatometer

97

Average Rating: 8.7/10
Reviews Counted: 38
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 1

Anchored by stellar performances from Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, His Girl Friday is a classic screwball romantic comedy.

No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 0

Anchored by stellar performances from Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, His Girl Friday is a classic screwball romantic comedy.

audience

89

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 21,809

My Rating

Movie Info

The second screen version of the Ben Hecht/Charles MacArthur play The Front Page, His Girl Friday changed hard-driving newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson from a man to a woman, transforming the story into a scintillating battle of the sexes. Rosalind Russell plays Hildy, about to foresake journalism for marriage to cloddish Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). Cary Grant plays Walter Burns, Hildy's editor and ex-husband, who feigns happiness about her impending marriage as a ploy to win her back. The

Unrated, 1 hr. 32 min.

Drama, Classics, Comedy

Charles Lederer

Dec 28, 2004

Columbia Pictures

Cast

All Critics (39) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (1) | DVD (20)

The movie bears reviewing because there's always something new in the confetti of one-liners, while its depiction of the Fourth Estate remains relevant.

December 15, 2009 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Cary Grant's performance is truly virtuoso -- stunning technique applied to the most challenging material.

April 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Casting is excellent, with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in the top roles.

April 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It takes you by the scruff of the neck in the first reel and it shakes you madly, bellowing hoarsely the. while, for the remaining six or seven. Before it's over you don't know whether you have been laughing or having your ears boxed.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Sassy, screwball classic with a feminist twist.

December 18, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Have the movies ever talked this quickly, before or since?

October 13, 2010 Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm | Comment
LarsenOnFilm

One is tempted to throw away any semblance of persuasion and simply demand that you go see this movie.

December 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Time Out New York | Comment
Time Out New York

The ultimate lesson of His Girl Friday--that it's tougher to manage a marriage than a newspaper--looks in 2008 like pure nostalgia.

September 1, 2009 Full Review Source: minnpost.com | Comment
minnpost.com

A delirious joy.

April 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

It's exactly the type of craziness that good newspapers thrive on. Stop the presses.

April 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | Comment
Austin Chronicle

One of the best screwball comedies, a remake that improves on the source material due to Hawks brilliant idea of changing the protag's gender thus turning it into a romantic "newspaper" film; Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, and Ralph Bellamy at their best

January 29, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

O ritmo frenético com que os excelentes diálogos são trocados (algo inovador para a época) e o timing cômico impecável de Grant e Russell garantem a permanência deste filme na lista de clássicos inquestionáveis.

May 11, 2006 Comment
Cinema em Cena

A double espresso is needed to keep up with the rapid-fire exchanges of Hawks' no-holds-barred muckraking comedy.

February 17, 2006 Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | Comment
Film-Forward.com

I've tried to love His Girl Friday, really I have.

February 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Decent Films Guide | Comments (8)
Decent Films Guide

Perhaps the funniest, certainly the fastest talkie comedy ever made.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for His Girl Friday

Fast-paced screwball of a romantic comedy (and widely considered the first ever) elicits more laughs than many comedies today. The best part about HIS GIRL FRIDAY is that not only does it try for humor, it succeeds at almost every try. Look back at today's romantic comedies: it's more often than not that one of them

December 18, 2011
spielberg00
Alexander Diminiano

Super Reviewer

Snappy dialogue and a quick-witted script highlight this film from 1940. Based on a play called "The Front Page", director Howard Hawks' "His Girl Friday" takes a comedically serious look at the sleezy world of yellow journalism. Star reporter Hildy (Rosalind Russell) is quitting the newspaper business to go lead a

August 16, 2011
Mr Awesome
First Last

Super Reviewer

    1. Walter Burns: Take Hitler and stick him on the funny page.
    – Submitted by Ben O (3 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Sein Mädchen für besondere Fälle (DE)
  • His Girl Friday (1940) (CA)
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