The Front Page
The Front Page is a 1974 American black comedy-drama film directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's 1928 play of the same name, which inspired several other films and televised movies and series episodes.
Plot
Chicago Examiner reporter Hildebrand "Hildy" Johnson (Jack Lemmon) has just quit his job in order to marry Peggy Grant (Susan Sarandon) and start a new career, when convict Earl Williams (Austin Pendleton) escapes from death row just prior to his execution. Earl is an impoverished, bumbling leftist whose offense was stuffing fortune cookies with messages demanding the release from death row of the equally overblown murder convictees Sacco and Vanzetti. The Yellow press has painted Earl as another Communist threat from Moscow, meaning that Chicago citizens are anxious to see him also put to death.
More details
| author | Ben Hecht Billy Wilder Charles MacArthur I. A. L. Diamond |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Chicago |
| director | Billy Wilder |
| editor | Ralph E. Winters |
| events | capital punishment |
| genre | comedy-drama |
| keywords | arrest bumble chicago examiner chicago\'s american death row division street egomania fortune cookie fortune cookies impoverish left-wing politics leftist lose managing editor married moscow new car prostitution railway station reprieve sacco and vanzetti scoop whore yellow press |
| musicBy | Billy May |
| producer | Paul Monash |
| productionCompany | Universal Pictures |
| publisher | Universal Pictures |
| theme | black comedy romantic comedy screwball comedy |