Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Front Page (1974)
Director: Billy Wilder
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Third and least of the movie versions of Hecht and MacArthur's classic stage comedy about a manic editor's attempts to win back his star reporter - on the eve of the latter's marriage - by means of working up a hysterical storm about the forthcoming execution of an insane killer. Quite simply vulgar in comparison to its predecessors (especially Hawks' brilliant His Girl Friday), it relies too much on foul language, inappropriate slapstick, and superficial cynicism. That said, the cast - particularly the Gentlemen of the Press, acting as a profane Greek chorus to the battle between Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson (Matthau and Lemmon in usual form) - is impressive.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Billy Wilder
Producer: Paul Monash
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Carol Burnett, Allen Garfield, David Wayne, Vincent Gardenia, Herbert Edelman, Charles Durning, Susan Sarandon, Austin Pendleton, Martin Gabel full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 105 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now