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The Moxie

I should be congratulated for my restraint; seven entries have passed without an appearance by Cary Grant. I hope you’ve been primed with anticipation, because for my “Best Scene Ever,” there was no way it was going to come from anything other than my all-time favorite film, His Girl Friday. It’s the opening scene, it’s got snap, crackle, and pop right alongside hurt feelings and romantic yearnings, and as many people have said, it’s probably got the fastest dialogue ever.

A startling amount of exposition goes down like a spoonful of sugar, as it sets up the entire plot we’re about to become embroiled in as well as giving the entire history of their relationship. We know what has happened between them because they tell us, but we know what they are to each other by watching the sizzling emotional connection, the adversaries evenly matched, and the clear respect each has for the capacity of the other to return every shot and volley. Walter is one of my favorite of all the characters Grant ever played; he’s an absolute bastard, devious and cutthroat, arrogant and rude. But what he’s not, actually, is sexist. Hildy is the best reporter he’s ever had, and he wouldn’t insult her by just treating her like a woman. Doors slam in her face, and her cigarettes all have to be lit by her alone, but he’s paying her his highest compliment in the process.

Clearly, Hildy doesn’t see it that way. Or, at least, at some point months ago she got fed-up with it and headed to Reno. She got some silly notion in her head that she wanted a gentleman for a husband, and babies instead of a byline. We don’t know if that’s going to be the end of that; is she going to ride off into the sunset with Bruce and be happy as a clam about it? We can doubt that, but what we don’t doubt is that Walter is on the case. He won’t be letting her go without a fight, and it’s a toss-up whether this is more about his ace reporter getting away than keeping hold of the only woman he could ever love. But then, they’re probably not mutually exclusive. You be the judge:

 

I mean really, what the hell was she doing with that guy? He’ll never be able to keep up.

For His Girl Friday, Cary Grant was at the first peak of super-stardom, having scratched and clawed his way there over the previous five years. The year was 1940, and it was the point he was cemented in his place at the top of billing, never to be unseated until he walked away of his own accord in 1966. Rosalind Russell was still a bit of a comer, though she’d made a huge smash in the previous year’s gem The Women. The two of them were perfectly cast and at the top of their game. Director Howard Hawks was arguably the best at the most, and this is only one of the three Screwball Comedies he made that are listed as the epitome of the genre. It’s a classic, it’s a masterpiece, and it’s a rollicking good time. It’s just simply the best.

Hmm… Lara’s love for whatever show she’s talking about today is probably far less rabid… but then most love is.

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