Line #15 Film/TheFrontPage


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7	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/front_page_ver3_666.jpg]]
8	[[caption-width-right:310:''[[Series/TheOddCouple1970 "Can two divorced men work in a newspaper office without driving each other crazy?"]]'']]
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10	''The Front Page'' is a 1974 American comedy film directed by Creator/BillyWilder, starring Creator/JackLemmon and Creator/WalterMatthau.
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12	In [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]] UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}, Walter Burns (Matthau), editor of the ''Chicago Examiner'', wants his IntrepidReporter Hildebrand "Hildy" Johnson (Lemmon) to cover the execution of convicted murderer Earl Williams – but Hildy announces that he's quitting the newspaper business, getting married, and moving to Philadelphia. Burns promptly sets out to lure Hildy back, mainly by sabotaging his engagement to the [[DisposableFiance sweet but bland]] Peggy. Then, when Hildy goes to the courthouse to say goodbye to the other reporters, Williams escapes, causing Hildy to [[GoingForTheBigScoop get drawn back into the game]] as he senses a hot lead and begins to uncover the political machinations behind Williams's arrest and pending execution.
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14	One of [[ThoseTwoActors the ten films]] Lemmon and Matthau appeared in together. The supporting EnsembleCast includes Creator/SusanSarandon (as Peggy), Creator/AustinPendleton (as Williams), Creator/VincentGardenia, Creator/AllenGarfield, Creator/DavidWayne, Creator/CharlesDurning, Creator/CarolBurnett, and Creator/HaroldGould.
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16	This film is one of four cinematic adaptations of Ben Hecht and Charles [=MacArthur=]'s popular 1928 stage play ''The Front Page''. In 1931 it was made into a hit movie [[Film/TheFrontPage1931 of the same name]]. In 1940 it was remade as ''Film/HisGirlFriday'', which did a GenderFlip by featuring a female Hildy Johnson (Creator/RosalindRussell) and making Walter (Creator/CaryGrant) her ex-husband as well as her old boss. It was remade yet again in 1988 as ''Film/SwitchingChannels'', which updated the story from newspapers to TV and starred Creator/BurtReynolds and Creator/KathleenTurner.
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19	!! This movie contains examples of:
20	* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: Dr. Eggelhofer propounds a patently absurd UsefulNotes/OedipusComplex theory to explain Williams's crime. Justified; the movie's set in 1929.
21	* BatmanGambit: Burns assigns an inept cub reporter to replace Hildy, knowing that Hildy won't be able to stand by and let the kid mess up.
22	* BlatantLies: The reporters phoning their editors about Williams's capture – ''an event that they are currently watching'' – describing it as a blood-filled firefight.
23	* BringMyBrownPants: The new ''Examiner'' reporter "did a bad thing in [his] pants" when the guards start shooting during Williams' breakout. This spoils a key photograph of Earl Williams due to wet film.
24	%% * CampGay: Bensinger, the prissy ''Tribune'' reporter.
25	%% * ChekhovsGun: Bensinger's desk, and the governor's reprieve for Williams.
26	%% * DaEditor: Burns.
27	%% * DirtyCop: Sheriff Hartman.
28	* DisposableFiance: Peggy, as revealed at the end of the 1974 film. In the 1931 film Hildy does dump her, but feels bad about it, and they get back together at the end, although Walter is clearly going to keep meddling.
29	* FollowTheBouncingBall: Peggy plays and sings as an entertainer in movie theaters. She is introduced playing piano and singing a song, while the lyrics are projected on the movie screen complete with bouncing ball.
30	* GroinAttack: When Dr. Eggelhofer gets Williams to re-enact the shooting, Williams winds up shooting him in the groin. After operating on himself at the hospital (he doesn't trust American doctors), Dr. Eggelhofer publishes ''[[TheJoyOfX The Joy of Impotence]].''
31	%% * HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Mollie Malloy.
32	* IdiotBall: Sheriff Hartman and the psychiatrist electing to give Earl Williams a ''loaded gun'' to "re-enact" his crime.
33	* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: Walter poses as probation officer Otto Fishbein in an attempt to dissuade Peggy from marrying Hildy. Using a silver star taken from a movie poster as his badge, he tries to convince Peggy that Hildy is a serial flasher, most recently arrested for exposing himself to a group of school girls at an art museum.
34	%% * InsanityDefense: Williams tries for this, but it doesn't work.
35	%% * IntrepidReporter: Hildy; Burns, once he gets back into the field.
36	* LastMinuteReprieve: A messenger arrives with a reprieve for Earl Williams hours before he's scheduled to be executed (but after he escapes). The Mayor explains he can't accept a reprieve for someone not in their custody and offers the messenger a night at a brothel on his dime. The Sheriff then raids that same brothel ("for the family vote") and the reprieve winds up in the cell next to Walter and Hildy, who are more than happy to see it used.
37	* ManipulativeBastard: There is nothing Walter Burns will not stoop to in order to get Hildy back on the ''Examiner'' and covering the Williams hanging, from lying to Hildy's fiancee, lying to Hildy, hiring a reporter solely to get possession of his desk (and sacking him as soon as he turns in his copy), lying to the authorities, and finally [[spoiler: having Hildy arrested for "stealing" a watch supposedly given as a wedding present.]]
38	%% * MarriedToTheJob: The core conflict is largely about this, for Hildy anyway, as Walter isn't at all conflicted about being married to the job.
39	* OrMyNameIsnt: After failing to convince Peggy that Hildy is a serial flasher, Walter warns her off of marrying a newspaper man. He has this to say on his way out: "I wish you both all the luck in the world. [[BlatantLies And I mean it]], or my name isn't Otto Fishbein."
40	* SelfSurgery: As he's being wheeled away, Dr. Eggelhofer demands a scalpel and a mirror to operate on his wound.
41	* SleazyPolitician: The Mayor and Sheriff "Honest Pete" Hartman, who are generally suspected to be using the execution as a political gesture, bribe a messenger with a night at a brothel, and dispensing patronage to large numbers of "special deputies."
42	* TrainStationGoodbye: Walter sends off Hildy and Peggy at the station, giving Hildy his watch as a wedding gift. Then he wires ahead to have Hildy arrested for stealing it.
43	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: This is how we learn that Hildy left Peggy and ended up as Managing Editor of the ''Examiner''.
44	* YouGotMurder: During his interview with Dr. Eggelhofer, it comes out that Earl Williams once sent a mail bomb to a famous industrialist but it was returned due to insufficient postage and blew the roof off his boarding house, leading to his arrest for illegal possession of explosives.
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Context Film / TheFrontPage