Thanks to the wonder of Netflix, last night we watched Ball of Fire, a 1941 Howard Hawks movie I'd always heard about, but never seen. A young Gary Cooper, looking suave and luscious, and Barbara Stanwyck with her fabulous gams uncovered pretty much the entire running time. The plot is some gibberish about a professor studying slang. Hey bopa ree bop! Slide, jackson and make a mook with the cardpass! Don't be a log, put the clutch in!
Some of that was actually in the movie, some I just made up, all of it sounds like most of the dialogue, painfully delivered by a roster of MGM character actors who deserved better trying to sound hep and coming up pretty short. Like George Bush discussing the interwebs. It was amazing, though, to see Babs rise above the material and prove there was no movie she couldn't survive. This is just one more reason R Man is so suspicous of letting me loose on the Netflix queue.
It's also why he's suspicious of letting us get together. I watched this a couple of months ago.
ReplyDeleteDRUM BOOGIE!
ReplyDeleteNothing like a flick w/ Gene Krupa making a drum cameo!
I've loved this cute little movie forever. When I worked @ Paramount in the early '90's there was talk of a remake w/ Eddie Murphy & Madonna. Unfortunately, Ed jumped ship & made The Nutty Professor instead. I've been a "Coop" fan ever since I saw "The Fountainhead" @ age 7 (had older folks, Papa P worshipped GC). Don'tcha love Richard Haydn? Ball of Fire was his first movie. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Emma P.
Love that movie! Love me some Babs!!!
ReplyDeleteeneeo ronda and em, I might have known the two of you would be hep to this.
ReplyDeleteI was struck that this is just the kind of movie Barbara Hutton would normally have plowed through and how different it is with Stanwyck.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this one, but it sounds right up my alley!
ReplyDeleteMetaphorically speaking.
O my dear, yes. Lottsa snappy dialogue.
ReplyDeleteI love this movie and the naughty snow white and the seven dwarves thing going on with Barbara Stanwyck and the professors. Now Make like a nice little salad and chill...
ReplyDelete