Howard Hawks was a director of many tastes. This is the fourth film I've seen of his and they've all been drastically different. Scarface was the quintessential gangster film back in the day. The Big Sleep helped put the hard boiled detective on the map. Rio Bravo is considered an all time great western. So it was much to my surprise when watching this whimsical musical comedy to see "directed by Howard Hawks" in the credits. That being said, these films are so different from each other, I could never guess they were made by the same guy. I don't really know much about Howard Hawks or his style but is there a common theme to his works? Signature shots? Types of characters he likes to use? Wikipedia is pretty vague in this matter only mentioning a couple of his quotes. What makes a good movie? "Three great scenes, no bad ones." Also a good director is "someone who doesn't annoy you." I could definitely agree with that sentiment.
So anyways, there isn't really much to say about Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It is a decent enough musical and occasionally quite funny comedy. The real reason to watch this movie is of course for Marilyn Monroe who basically ruins it for all blondes, ensuring that they will never be taken seriously again. It is the classic ditzy blonde bimbo, and a gold, or should I say diamond, digger to boot. Monroe's star power was almost like a black hole. No matter where she is on screen or what she is doing, your eyes just gravitate towards her, often times at the expense of the people on screen. (Sorry Jane Russell!) Here she has a bubbly charm that is impossible to ignore. She has a few gags throughout which mostly plays on her dumbness and gold digging, but what I liked about her character is that by the end she isn't nearly as dumb as she would seem nor the cold hearted gold digger you assume her to be.
This movie gets extra bonus points for Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, an iconic song by an iconic woman. Nicole Kidman sings it in Moulin Rogue, a personal favorite movie of mine, though I did not know where the original song came from. Now I know! It is one of the highlights of the film.
It's hard to really say anything about this movie. I can't even say for certain if I liked it. It sort of just breezes by, telling some jokes and singing a couple of songs along the way. It isn't a heavy hitting film; it is light and easy, so there isn't that much to dig into. It isn't particularly memorable, though there isn't really anything bad about it either. It looks good in Technicolor. The Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend number looks particularly good. The dialogue is pretty snappy and witty. And of course there is Marilyn Monroe.
Grade: B-
P.S. This is one of the first posts I can say with certainty that I half-assed. Can't bring the heat every day, nah mean?
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