It Should Happen to You (1954)

Years ago, while going through Dean Martin’s filmography (I went through a phase of being obsessed with his work), I stumbled upon Bells Are Ringing. I saw it for Dean, and while I liked him in it, I was bowled over by his co-star, Judy Holliday. Why hadn’t I even heard of her before? Why hadn’t anyone told me about her? How come she isn’t better-known?

Since then, whenever I’ve heard of a Judy Holliday film, I’ve hurried off to see if it’s available online. This is the latest: a delightful rom-com, starring Judy Holliday opposite Jack Lemmon in his first big role, about a young woman who wants to make a name for herself. Literally.

The story begins in New York’s Central Park, where Gladys Glover (Judy Holliday) is wandering around, in her stockinged feet, tossing peanuts to pigeons. She sits down next to some random man and because he’s irritable and passes snide remarks about her feeding the pigeons, walking barefoot, etc, Gladys snaps back at him, giving as good as she gets.

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The Odd Couple (1968)

RIP, Neil Simon.

I read about the death of Neil Simon, playwright and scriptwriter (among other roles—including producer and director) on August 26th, admittedly with some level of blankness. The name sounded familiar (or was I simply mixing him up with Neil Diamond?) but I couldn’t, without help, associate Neil Simon with any film.

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Some Like it Hot (1959)

The American Film Institute, in its list of America’s 100 funniest films, put Some Like it Hot right at the top, at Number 1. Humour, like beauty, is subjective, so I’m not sure how many would agree with that decision. What matters is that this film, total farce from beginning to end and a great entertainer, is definitely one of the funniest I’ve seen.

Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot

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