Starring: Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, William Holden, Howard St. John, Frank Otto Directed By: George Cukor Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: Unrated Binding: DVD Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC Label: Sony Pictures Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: February 15, 2000 Running Time: 140 minutes Theatrical Release Date: December 26, 1950
Amazon.com: Judy Holliday's Oscar-winning performance is just one of the reasons to watch this terrific 1950 comedy, which is equally acclaimed for its deliciously witty screenplay (based on Garson Kanin's long-running Broadway hit) and George Cukor's silky-smooth direction. Holliday plays Billie Dawn, the floozie fiancée of a junk-dealer millionaire (Broderick Crawford), who is trying to make a good impression among the Washington, D.C., politicos he's hoping to influence. To ensure that Billie gets properly "culturefied," the corrupt Crawford hires a D.C. journalist (William Holden) to give the seemingly dim-witted blonde a crash course in politics, history, literature, and--you guessed it--true love. Billie's not nearly as dumb as she seems, of course, and before long she's graduated from pawn to sassy queen on her husband's political chessboard.
Watching Born Yesterday is a crash course in itself--an object lesson in how low American screen comedy has fallen from these delirious heights. The movie's funny even when there's a pause in the golden dialogue, such as when Holliday tests Crawford's patience in a sublimely comedic round of gin rummy. There's not a single scene in which Holliday (reprising her Broadway role) isn't simply perfect, the cogs turning smoothly behind her dim expressions and coarsely high-pitched squeal. Suave as ever, Holden is her match made in heaven, and Crawford is a brute who's too stupid to be genuinely malevolent. Put 'em all together and you've got a timeless classic, so flawless that a 1993 remake was instantly doomed to pale comparisons. --Jeff Shannon
Absolutely Wonderful!! Hollywood magic, they just don't make em like this anymore. Born Yesterday made an overnight star of Judy Holliday, when 3 days before the Broadway opening, Jean Arthur dropped out due to illness, and Holliday, on a diet of coffee and cigarettes, learned and opened in the role to rapturous reviews. The rest is history, Katherine Hepburn brought her out to Hollywood to appear in Adam's Rib, and she was a star. She did win the Oscar for re-creating her Born Yesterday role on film. And an Oscar winning role it sure is, every gesture, nuance and expression, are dead on. Holliday was brilliant at playing the dumb blonde when in reality she was anything but...she was actually extremely educated and I've heard rumors that she was a member of Mensa. True or not, she was an amazingly gifted performer! Sadly she passed away from cancer in 1965, ending an all too brief stage and film career.
"He's right! I'm stupid and I like it!" From your first impression of Judy Holliday in this movie you expect her to be refined and sophisticated...well, until she opens her mouth! She's a perfect mix of Eliza Doolittle and Lina Lamont. It's no wonder Judy Holliday won an Academy Award for her amazing performance as Billie Dawn, a "dumb broad" who's "stupid, but likes it because she's happy and she gets everything she wants." (They had to have gotten some of the idea of Lina Lamont in "Singin' In the Rain" Singin' in the Rain (Two-Disc Special Edition) from this movie!) Billie's crooked boyfriend, Harry "King Junk" (Broderick Crawford)wants to get her out of the way while he is doing some business in Washington D.C. so he hires Paul (William Holden) a political writer, who agrees to teach her the ropes and smooth off her rough edges. Billie is soon cramming her blonde head full of books, music, art and all the sights of Washington D.C., and as she does, she realizes just how crooked her boyfriend really is and refuses to go along with it.
This is a hilarious movie with an incredible performance by Judy Holliday!
A Smart Precursor to Women's Lib SPOILERS: At first, I thought this was a silly, updated Pygmalion, but it turned out in the second half to be a smart precursor to the women's liberation movement coming a decade down the line. Judy Holiday plays a kept woman who is blissfully ignorant, often drunk, and wrapped in furs. Her thug tycoon boyfriend is embarrassed of her faux pas during a meeting with a Congressman and his wife and so hires Bill Holden to put some smarts in her. He starts her on Enlightenment thinkers and she comes to realize she is living in a gilded cage. By the end, the thug becomes threatened by her knowledge and new-found independence and tries to rein her in, but she outsmarts him and leaves. The two things that weigh this movie down are the "Gee, ain't America swell" tone of Holden's teaching -- it seemed parochial and out of place with his character -- and the tacked-on ending where Holiday and Holden get pulled over by a motorcycle cop having just gotten married. By the third act of the movie, she was ready to leave and explore the world on her own terms. This last five minutes seemed installed to satisfy the studio and the viewing public not yet ready for that much feminine independence.
When a not-so-dumb-blonde gets even smarter..... A tycoon who made his money in the junk metal business arrives in Washington with the intention of some political and financial double-dealing, he'll need a classy broad on his arm to make him look good. The problem is, his favored bit of eye-candy is a chorus girl with a funny voice. So, he hires a journalist to give the broad some smarts. The problem is, she learns -- more than they ever expected -- keeping the tycoon and the journalist on their toes!
Judy Holliday is an absolute wonder as Billie, and her chemistry with William Holden is delightful to behold. Broderick Crawford is perfectly cast as the self-made junk tycoon!
Born Yesterday is considered one of the classic comedies of all time, with good reason. It really belongs in your DVD collection.
A sucessful play that transfered so well to the screen that Judy Holliday won an Oscar. She's Billie, the dumb, beautiful, girl-friend of Harry, (Crawford) a crooked, junk dealer on the make. They are in D.C. to "buy" Harry a Senator. Harry is a bully & wealthy. He virtually owns Billie giving her everything, except of course, what she wants most, affection. But he's too busy & she's merely his arm ornament. She's also a problem. She's ill-educated, coarse & basically an embarassmentt to Harry who's trying to impress & influence people. He hires Paul, (Holden) an unemployed journalist to refine Billie, educate her, & soften her rough edges. He does his job very well. We find that Billie is not so dumb at all. She also falls in love with Paul. With her new found knowledge she gets wise to Harry's illegal actvities. It bothers her & she feels guilty about her own situation, basically a bird in a guilded cage. With Paul's help she realizes that she does have options & it's a big world "out there". Excellent acting all around.
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