People are voting emotionally.

Must See Movie...

A Major Disappointment

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Mae West is another one of those actresses that played the same role time after time. She played Mae West. What distinguishes the movies are the lines and she was a masterful created of double entendre with a big load of sex. She would surround herself with the actors of the day, like Gilbert Roland and Wallace Beery. The one that benefited the most here was Cary Grant. It's hard to realize that he goes back so far. I have to admit that for mot of my life I found West's thing to be off handed and tiresome. But now I know that she had great timing and and interesting stage presence. She could deliver a "dirty" line like no other. This gave us the famous like, "Come up and see me sometime."

In 1890s New York, saloon singer Lady Lou (Mae West) is attracted to a reformer (Cary Grant) while dealing with many suitors and a psychotic escaped convict (a memorably creepy Owen Moore). This is often called Mae West's best movie. It's a vanity project full of people complimenting her. If there was even the slightest hint West was poking fun at herself I would like this much more. As it is, it's a watchable but pedestrian comedy. Mae spouts one-liners and oozes what I think is supposed to be sex appeal. If you find her attractive, more power to you. Some of her lines are amusing. Mae sings a few songs but they're terrible. Her voice, or lack thereof, is the pits. Obviously she has a lot of fans so this will hold more appeal for them than it did for me. One of Cary Grant's earliest big roles. Also a very weird performance from Owen Moore. Worth seeing to check off your list if you're a film buff.

Readers might wonder what I'm referring to - the movie or Mae West. "She Done Him Wrong" is a Mae West product from start to finish, as she has all the best lines and steals every scene she's in. Plus, she's here recreating her Broadway stage success and even gets a writing credit on the picture. As everyone has noted, this was the movie that made Cary Grant a star, and the scenes where the two are on screen together are the best in the picture. On hand are several familiar old faces, including Noah Beery, Sr. and David Landau. The picture won an AA nomination for Best Picture, remarkable in itself as this is an audacious movie for its time.I thought that some of the acting was forced and unnatural, whether by accident or on purpose. The most egregious overactor was Owen Moore, who plays Mae's old flame who has 'taken the rap' for her and wants her to wait for him to be released. But Mae is the whole show and does some scenery-chewing herself. Her act is dated and exaggerated but is fascinating to watch.

This film was a title featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it was one that I remembered well, but I didn't know anything about the plot, but the two leading stars were appealing and the critics were generous about it, so I was intrigued. Basically , set in New York in the 1890's, in the Bowery bar room saloon works bawdy singer Lady Lou (Mae West), besides her boss and benefactor Gus Jordan (Noah Beery) who showers her diamonds, she has many men friends, she does not realise Gus prostitutes women, is in a counterfeiting ring, and gets women in San Francisco to pickpocket, and he has been working alongside Russian Rita (Rafaela Ottiano) and her lover Sergei Stanieff (Gilbert Roland). Dan Flynn (David Landau) spends a lot of his time hinting that Gus is up to no good, she meanwhile has been leading the boss on and only hints at possibly returning to him, but he loses his patience and says he'd rather see her put in jail if she doesn't submit to him, and meanwhile next door a thinly disguised city mission, looking like a Salvation Army, sees young director Captain Cummings (Cary Grant), an undercover Federal agent trying to expose the crime of Guy. Lou is warned that her former vicious criminal boyfriend Chick Clark (Owen Moore) thinks that she has been disloyal to him since he was imprisoned, he threatens her that if she has double-crossed or two-timed her he will kill her, but she insists that she has not done anything, but he later escapes the prison and goes to the bar to strangle, but cannot come to harm her, and she promises to leave him later in the evening. A fight breaks out between Lou and Rita, which ends up with the criminal woman being killed by her, the body is supposedly disposed, and after a series of events during a song the police expose themselves to shut down the criminal activities, Cummings comes to the rescue of Lou during the gunfire and fighting, and although she has done some wrong herself she is not taken in a police vehicle, but in a horse and carriage, he tells she doesn't belong in jail, when he says "You bad girl", she replies "You'll find out". Also starring Gilbert Roland as Serge Stanieff and Dewey Robinson as Spider Kane. West is in the modern world perhaps considered a camp icon, but with roles like she plays in this, being "no angel" with some elegance and perhaps misguided sex appeal, young Grant proves himself capable of playing second fiddle to her, and this certainly boosted his career much more and led to the many more well known collaborations and titles. I will admit that I found some of the film plot and story hard to follow, and it did seem a bit of an odd length, just over one hour long, but most of what I can remember was amusing enough, and with the likable leading stars and their characters it is certainly a watchable comedy film. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Picture. "Why don't you come up sometime and see me?" was number 26 on 100 Years, 100 Quotes, and Mae West was number 15 on 100 Years, 100 Stars - Women, and it was number 75 on 100 Years, 100 Laughs. Good!