Best movie of this year hands down!

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This pre-Code box office success pairs Clark Gable with Jean Harlow. Gable plays Eddie, a purveyor of the short con who, after taking advantage of his mark (or his women) quickly moves on. Harlow is Ruby, a platinum blond with common tastes who gets around and knows how to handle herself. She's the wiser of the two and she knows the odds are stacked against Eddie due to his criminal myopia.After Eddie does a stint in jail, their relationship changes, but the consequences of past crimes derail the couple. Some reviewers have said that the film changes tone at this point and suffers from the change in focus. But this is when the viewer realizes this is Ruby's story. Eddie is the one who goes through the greatest transformation, but the tale is told from Ruby's point of view and we follow her ordeals.Fortunately, Ms. Harlow is up to the challenge, delivering a touching performance that is multi-dimensional and deeply touching.

Okay, "Hold Your Man" is corny, clichéd and predictable. But somehow Clark Gable and Jean Harlow pull it off and the result is thoroughly entertaining. He's a small time con artist, a crook who'll do anything for a fast buck. She's a sassy siren who's been around the block more than a few times. When he escapes the cops by bursting into her apartment, there's a lot going on below the surface of their verbal sparring. But just as their affair is heating up, he's on the lam and she's in prison. With almost any other pairing, this would have been a ho-hummer. But Gable's breezy charm and Harlow's remarkable acting ability ability make their future -- if they have any -- worth caring about.

In a role which seems to have been inspired by Mae West, Jean Harlow is a good time gal down on her luck, hard on the men who pass through her doors, but ultimately searching for love to guide her. When con-man Clark Gable bursts through her doors (finding her in the tub!) after a scheme that has him in danger of being caught, she immediately falls underneath his spell, although denying it from the start. She does everything she can to suppress her real feelings, even giving rival Dorothy Burgess a response to a slap across the face (two in fact!) that Burgess will never forget and will have you in stitches. The first half of the film is a comic delight, filled with many great lines, such as one where Harlow snarls at Burgess, "You know you wouldn't be a bad looking dame if it wasn't for your face", but turns dramatic as Harlow faces time in a reformatory while carrying Gable's child.A gem of a supporting cast includes Stuart Erwin, Elizabeth Patterson, Vera Lewis, and Louise Beavers in a bit role. There's a sensitive storyline involving a black inmate and her preacher father which treats them with dignity and absolutely no stereotype, an important plot point in the last reel. Harlow gets to wear some outrageous outfits, including one that looks like an orchid on steroids.

This movie down-shifts from 4th into 1st without bothering with 3rd or 2nd, grinding gears all the way to the sappy, b-movie finish-line. The con at the beginning is easily the best and cleverest part of the movie. That is worth seeing. The scene with Harlow in the bathtub occurs so fast, you may miss it. Definitely not worth all the ballyhoo provided by Robert Osborne in his TCM intro to this bad-to-mediocre confusion. There is no real conflict, and all of the characters in this supposed fringe society turn out to be saints - especially the unbelievable character, Al. I wonder if he's got a job for me in Cincinnati?