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starring: Judy Holliday, William Holden, Broderick Crawford, Howard St. John, Frank Ottodirected by: George Cukor
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302725544
Format: Black & White, NTSC
ISBN: 6302725542
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: June 23, 1994
Running Time: 103 minutes
Sales Rank: 1552
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: December 26, 1950
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Editorial Review:
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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - 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 ... Read More
Rating: - "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 ... Read More
Rating:  - 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 ... Read More
Rating: - 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, ... Read More
Rating: - 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) ... Read More
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