Born Yesterday (1950)
Born Yesterday has been languishing on my Tivo for ages. I recorded it during one of TCM’s month of Oscars, so I think it’s been there over two years. When I finally watched it, I was pleased that I had kept it around.
A junk tycoon, Harry Brock, decides his girlfriend, Billie (Judy Holliday) needs to improve her manners. He hires a reporter, played by William Holden, to tutor her. Holliday is a delight as Billie, and the movie is worth seeing for her performance alone. She’s so good she even upstages Holden.
Holliday won the best actress Oscar that year, over Bette Davis in All About Eve, and Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. Some griped that Holliday had an unfair advantage; she’d played the role of Billie on stage for four years. And in spite of that, she was far from the first pick for the role!
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Love this movie, esp. Judy. Hard to believe anyone thought it was a good idea to remake this movie with Melanie Griffith and (ack) Don Johnson. (Although John Goodman was probably fine in it — he usually is.)
Why remake perfectly good movies?
Why?
WHY??
April 30th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I never made the connection. I can see the current actors superficially fitting the roles, but I’m not surprised that the only nomination it got was a razzie for Melanie Griffith as worst actress.
The original is a gem, and I enjoyed it all the more because it’s not one of those popular well-known old movies.