She Done Him Wrong

Mae West purrs to Cary Grant one of the most often quoted (and misquoted) lines in movie history: "Why don't you go up some time and see me. I'm home every evening." In another exchange she tells Gilbert Roland: "Come up again. Anytime."/ "I shall. And I hope you will be alone."/"So do I-warm, dark and handsome." Practically every piece of dialogue in this film from Prohibition America is a sexual bomb. Luckily, the Mae West vehicle slipped through the door before the Production Code became firmly entrenched in Hollywood; after its implementation, the unflappable lady had her wings pinned. West's other films retained her wise-acre spirit but less of her bawdy humor. She Done Him Wrong is a true Mae West showpiece. The pretty men who vie for her attention are mere ornamentation-no more than a diamond brooch. Even the usually irresistible Cary Grant is accessorized: he had not developed his thick Euro-suave persona, and he leaves the spotlight to his more flamboyant co-star.-Nguyen Khoa

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