Search - The Front Page on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Not For Children, Profanity Movie Release: 1974 DVD Release: 06/17/1998 Format: DVD - Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 46 mins Studio: Universal Studios Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Comedy, Workplace Comedy, Media Satire, Odd Couple Film See Also: The Front Page

This third film version of the 1928 Ben Hecht/Charlie MacArthur Broadway hit The Front Page was the first one permitted to utilize all the salty profanities in the original play. Director Billy Wilder cast his two favorite leading men, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, as ace reporter Hildy Johnson and ruthless newspaper editor Walter Burns, respectively. The plot of the Hecht/MacArthur play remains intact: Burns pulls every underhanded game in the book to prevent Johnson from leaving his Chicago paper to get married, and in so doing the two journalists uncover a cesspool of political corruption, centered around the planned execution of anarchist Earl Williams (Austin Pendleton). Carol Burnett has an extended cameo as Williams' tart girlfriend, Mollie Malloy. The Front Page was remade for a fourth time in 1988 as Switching Channels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Lemmon - Hildy Johnson
Walter Matthau - Walter Burns
Carol Burnett - Mollie Malloy
Susan Sarandon - Peggy Grant
Vincent Gardenia - Sheriff