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I love Cary Grant. I’d never known much about him. He was just a name from old movies to me. Then I actually saw him. First Notorious. Then Charade and North by Northwest. I was blown away. Only Houseboat repelled me. I couldn’t deal with those annoying kids. People talk about the old days when a leading man was someone that men wanted to be and women wanted to be with, but it never made any sense to me. There was no one like that when I was a kid. The leading men of my childhood were just a bunch of schmucks who ran around yelling between explosions. Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger? They have nothing on Cary Grant. Maybe Harrison Ford or Tom Cruise had some personality, but they were never as smooth as Grant. At once comical, clever and virile, regardless of the role or setting, he’s everything the modern male star aspires to, but rarely approaches. According to imdb, Grant turned down the role of James Bond way back when. I was really surprised until I thought about it. Each Bond has only ever tried to be Cary Grant: the confidence, the wisecracks have all been an attempt at the only personality Cary Grant ever projected.

I really enjoyed The Philadelphia Story. Katherine Hepburn was great, I’d never seen any of her films before. She and Grant and Jimmy Stewart made a great combination. It was a typical classic comedy with all the twists and turns one would expect. All the standard characters are there, too. Hepburn plays the sassy rich shrew and Stewart plays the skeptical journalist weary of his tabloid day-job and disgusted with working the high society scene. Also on display are the precocious kid, the old philanderer, and the sardonic assistant (or photographer in this case). Cary Grant, as usual, was Cary Grant.