History YMMV / HisGirlFriday

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: A reporter tries to pull back his divorced wife by repeatedly landing her fiance in jail, hiring a thug to give him counterfeit money, and kidnapping his mother. The divorcee, unaware of this, pulls an ExactWords ploy so she can tear up an interview he requested her to write because he made her late, even though she's aware loss of that interview could cost a man his life. They both work to expose a coverup by the mayor and the sheriff to kill a legally insane man so they can get reelected. All of the other reporters that appear on-screen are a bunch of sleaze-mongers just as relentlessly rotten. And of the four truly innocent people that appear, two are the film's {{Butt Monkey}}s, one is kidnapped as one of Walter's ploys to keep Hildy around and one [[DrivenToSuicide apparently kills herself]] after becoming collateral damage of said relentlessly rotten reporting. Not many good guys here.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: A reporter tries to pull back his divorced wife by repeatedly landing her fiance in jail, hiring a thug to give him counterfeit money, and kidnapping his mother. The divorcee, unaware of this, pulls an ExactWords ploy so she can tear up an interview he requested her to write because he made her late, even though she's aware loss of that interview could cost a man his life. They both work to expose a coverup by the mayor and the sheriff to kill a legally insane man so they can get reelected. All of the other reporters that appear on-screen are a bunch of sleaze-mongers just as relentlessly rotten. And of the three truly innocent people that appear, two are the film's {{Butt Monkey}}s and one [[DrivenToSuicide apparently kills herself]] after becoming collateral damage of said relentlessly rotten reporting. Not many good guys here.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: A reporter tries to pull back his divorced wife by repeatedly landing her fiance in jail, hiring a thug to give him counterfeit money, and kidnapping his mother. The divorcee, unaware of this, pulls an ExactWords ploy so she can tear up an interview he requested her to write because he made her late, even though she's aware loss of that interview could cost a man his life. They both work to expose a coverup by the mayor and the sheriff to kill a legally insane man so they can get reelected. And all other reporters that appear on-screen are a bunch of sleaze-mongers just as relentlessly rotten. Not many good guys here.

** That's not to mention moments like Walter calling Louie "that dumb immigrant".

* MemeticMutation: Burns' GetOut moment is used on some internet forums when someone expresses a controversial and/or unpopular opinion.

* AwardSnub: The film failed to receive any traction at the Oscars.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A reporter tries to pull back his divorced wife by repeatedly landing her fiance in jail, hiring a thug to give him counterfeit money, and kidnapping his mother. The divorcee, unaware of this, pulls an ExactWords ploy so she can tear up an interview he requested her to write because he made her late, even though she's aware loss of that interview could cost a man his life. They both work to expose a coverup by the mayor and the sheriff to kill a legally insane man so they can get reelected. And all other reporters that appear on-screen are a bunch of sleaze-mongers just as relentlessly rotten. Not many good guys here.

* ValuesResonance: The story deals with corrupt city officials who exploit issues like crime, race and [[DirtyCommunists the Red Menace]] to get elected.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A reporter tries to pull back his divorced wife by repeatedly landing her fiance in jail, hiring a thug to give him counterfeit money, and kidnapping his mother. The divorcee, unaware of this, pulls an ExactWords ploy so she can tear up an interview he requested her to write because he made her late, even though she's aware loss of that interview could cost a man his life. They both work to expose a coverup by the mayor and the sheriff to kill a legally insane man so they can get reelected. Not many good guys here.

** ValuesResonance: The story deals with corrupt city officials who exploit issues like crime, race and [[DirtyCommunists the Red Menace]] to get elected.

* MagnificentBastard: Walter Burns, as played by Creator/CaryGrant.

* FairForItsDay: The film can be somewhat troubling today with Hildy's talk of wanting to "become a woman" by getting married. On the other hand, Hildy is a strong-willed, intelligent, and hardly submissive woman (some of the men even start making bets on how much time it will take before she will want to come back to the paper) and is respected by her male colleagues as an equal, as well as being acknowledged as one of their best reporters. This is all quite impressive for a movie released in 1940, but even better, [[spoiler:she ends up overcoming her previous aspirations and sticking to her work in the newspaper, albeit on the condition of remarrying her boss and getting a proper honeymoon this time]].

* ValuesDissonance: Most of the reporters' casual racism from the play has been [[{{Bowdlerize}} cleaned up]] for the movie, but today's audiences can wince at words like "pickaninny" or Hildy talking about the importance of the "colored vote."

** ValuesResonance: The story deals with corrupt city officials who exploit issues like crime, race and [[RedMenace the Red Menace]] to get elected.

* MagnificentBastard: Walter Burns, as played by Creator/CaryGrant.

* AwardSnub: The film to receive any traction at the Oscars.

* MagnificentBastard: Walter Burns, as played by Cary Grant.

* UnfortunateImplications: We are told that the reason that Earl Williams is certain to be condemned is that he shot a "colored" policeman.
** Sounds more like ValuesDissonance. He's certain to be condemned because he shot a cop. Today, there'd be no need to mention the cop's race.
*** Actually the cop's race was important, just in the opposite way that you'd expect for the time. Coming down hard on the guy who recently killed a black policeman (even ordering temporary reprieves to push the timing closer to election day) was all part of the mayor's plan to secure the black vote in the upcoming election.

*** Actually the cop's race was important, just in the opposite way that you'd expect for the time. Coming down hard on the guy who recently killed a black policeman (even ordering temporary reprieves to push the timing closer to election day) was all part of his plan to secure the black vote.

** Sure they try to make it sound romantic, but Hildy basically spends most of the movie complaining about the fact that her male colleagues ''treat her as an equal'' (this was at a time when women were only just starting to get into the workplace, I might point out).

** Sure they try to make it sound romantic, but Hildy basically spends most of the movie saying she wants men to stop treating her like an equal- and considering how women were often looked at when this was made...

** Sounds more like ValuesDissonance. He's certain to be condemned because he shot a cop. Today, there'd be no need to mention the cop's race.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A reporter tries to pull back his divorced wife by repeatedly landing her fiance in jail, hiring a thug to give him counterfeit money, and kidnapping his mother. The divorcee, unaware of this, pulls an ExactWords ploy so she can tear up an interview he requested her to write because he made her late. They both work to expose a coverup by the mayor and the sheriff to kill a legally insane man so they can get reelected. Not many good guys here.

* UnfortunateImplications: We are told that the reason that Earl Williams is certain to be condemned is that he shot a "colored" policeman.