Dec. 08, 2002 - 2:35 pm
one of Frank Capra's biggest successes, number 111 today on the IMDb's top 250 list, and one of only 3 films to win "the big 5" at the Academy Awards. i watched this one a few years back, but i had forgotten much of the excellent dialogue from the film and decided i needed to see it again. i think my favorite part is where Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert are pretending to be a fighting married couple in front of the detectives that are looking for her. she starts wailing in the most horrible way and he starts stoping his foot yelling "QUIT BALLIN'!" and they just do it over and over again. hilarious stuff.
the film is about a rich girl who is not being allowed to marry the man she loves. when her father threatens to get her marriage annulled, she literally jumps ship and goes into hiding. she begins travelling to New York and quickly bumps into Clark Gable's character who is a newspaper reporter. her story is all over the papers, but no one knows where she is. the two of them go through a series of episodes hitchhiking, riding buses, and staying in hotels together. and of course eventually they get together. the plot is not something amazingly original, but the acting, direction, and writing are nearly flawless. if you watch this movie, you'll really enjoy it i promise.
apparently many of the Looney Tunes characters were based on things that happened in this movie. especially Bugs Bunny. be sure to note the Shapely character who talks a lot like Bugs, and then Clark Gable as he talks very quickly and eats a lot of carrots.
it's also weird to see yet another film in which the male protagonist tries to look cool by spitting and ends up spitting on himself. that always seems to happen in Frank Capra films. why? who knows. i guess it's nice to have a gimmick though.
(stomps foot) "QUIT BALLIN'" (stomps foot) "QUIT BALLIN'!"