His Girl Friday

A classic Hawksian comedy, His Girl Friday follows newspaper editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant) in his efforts to stop his ex-wife and former star reporter Hildegaard ‘Hildy’ Johnson (Rosalind Russell) from marrying another man.  There are hi jinks aplenty as an amazing news scoop gets Hildy back in the reporting game and questioning her decision to lead a nice quiet home life. But what stands out in the film is Hildy’s success in a world  dominated by men.

Watching Hildy try and choose the best life for herself is entertaining but also really brings to light the reality of what it means to be a woman.  Her soon to be new husband is not OK with her working and wants her to be in the home.  At the same time he seems to really care about her.  And while Walter Burns may be all for Hildy pursuing her career dreams, he clearly puts her second to his own work.  The complicated story not only makes for good comedy but for a pretty fair example of how complicated love and career ambition really are.

And at the end of the day, the film is actually quite daring in its assessment that women can be happier out of the home, that they can be happier pursing their dreams instead of their husband’s dinner.  And it is so refreshing to see such a strong, smart woman filling the silver screen.  Hildy is a true hero and example of how movie magic is truly possible when complex female characters are allowed to be presented in films.

Watch this film to see how it pushed the envelope and then takepart with the National Organization for Women to support equal pay in the workplace.

His Girl Friday was not nominated for and did not win an Academy Award®