It Should Happen to You (1954)

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Lemmon was excellent as the chimp at the zoo. He jumped on the fencing like a total idiot, and I feel that this is one of those good acting assignments that a director would ask: "Be a chimp at the zoo. Be a robot in a laboratory. Be an alien from outer space." You get the picture. Lemmon even asked the crowd to throw peanuts at him, but alas, they got carried away. But I digress . . .Lawford smarmy. I liked his character better in "Good News". The car in this movie was fabulous. Gladys should have known she would be taken for a ride, and not in the innocent sense. Lemmon was right that Lawford was a masher, and Gladys was too naive to see it.Judy the greatest. She also had a great dramatic part in "Adam's Rib", being questioned on the witness stand by Katharine Hepburn. In "It Should Happen", Judy is that wide-eyed bumpkin with a naive notion of NYC fame. Today, in stereotypical parlance, she wouldn't be walking in the park alone, and talking with strangers. Her bare feet would be running into used "medical" needles and other such trash. She might certainly be hit up by panhandlers and other such bums.In this movie, Judy meets up early with an idiot who only wants to fight with her in the park. Later, she meets him again at the water fountain. Maybe today, he would catch a disease at the fountain. Good thing I never saw him again in the movie.Gladys certainly had faith in herself. Even if no one else did, all of a sudden when she showed the cash she was almost taken seriously. Too bad Lawford was such a schmuck to want to do her out of her famous 15 minutes.I liked the singing parts between Judy and Lemmon. Did they do their own singing? They are all gone now. Judy, Lemmon and Lawford. I do like to look back at their old movies.12/10

IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU! is perhaps the most ironic film title ever in cinema, since the film examines the downside of being famous. I suppose it makes a good marketing ploy, directly addressing the audience, but it's so false that the only way it could ever work is either 1. as a satire or 2. referring to having the amazing Jack Lemmon (in his film debut) as a boyfriend.IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU! follows down-and-out model Gladys Glover who wants to be "somebody" at whatever cost, so she splurges her savings to rent a billboard just to put her name on it. After some entanglements over who gets the space, she becomes a celebrity over ludicrous circumstances. Her sweet documentary-filmmaker boyfriend Pete just wants her anonymous, wonderful self, and is understandably hurt when Gladys turns down dates in order to advance her "career." It is at the peak of her fame that she realizes that her celebrity is everything she's never wanted.This is a film that could've fallen apart with so many other directors, but George Cukor was a master at that light comedic touch that keeps the movie sparkling, and also shows an early promise of the sharp look at celebrity that would be even more piercing with A STAR IS BORN only a year later. This was his third collaboration with Judy Holliday, and they seem to be among that elite group of a successful bonding between actor/director. The role of Gladys could so easily come off as unlikable (and she is at times in a naive way) during her determined rise to fame. The reason why the character is so endearing is because of Holliday's childishly wondrous performance, which captivates and enlightens. Her scenes with Jack Lemmon are magical, especially in that scene where they're both at the piano, he's talking, she's singing. It's marvelous and even exciting to see two actors with such an easy cadence interacting together, and those two had a very effortless chemistry. One of the main characters that I'd doubt will stir up much is attention is the provincial village of New York City itself, which is so beautifully photographed by Charles Lang it's as though you've walked into a postcard. From the opening romantic scene in Central Park to even the second-unit shots of Columbus Circle, this is a great example of a city becoming so integrated with a film it's impossible to imagine one without the other.Andy Warhol once predicted that "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU! deconstructs the mystique of celebrity and also accurately confirms Warhol's statement, which continues to be true with every new season of "American Idol." While many other films may have been sharper and harsher in their aim, few were this funny and warm-hearted with their characters.

Jack Lemmon's feature film debut came in this sprightly comedy about getting 15 minutes of fame before Andy Warhol ever coined the phrase. With writing by Garson Kanin and direction by George Cukor, It Should Happen To You takes on the quality of a can't miss proposition.Cukor and Kanin are reunited with Judy Holliday and that trio gave us Born Yesterday four years earlier. Unlike in Born Yesterday, Judy's not a kept woman, in fact she wishes she was. She's just lost her modeling job and she commiserates with Jack Lemmon during a chance meeting in Central Park. Things would sure be a lot different if she was a celebrity, her name big as life on that billboard at Columbus Circle. The eternal light bulb goes off in her head. Judy takes all the money she has in the world and rents that billboard, splashing her character name, Gladys Glover, big as life all over Columbus Circle. Because that board is desired by advertising executive Peter Lawford, a peculiar combination of circumstances give Judy the celebrity she so craves. But is it really what she wants?Garson Kanin had some really brilliant things to say here about the difference between lasting fame and celebrity. Although the smooth talking Peter Lawford and the roughhewn Broderick Crawford from Born Yesterday are about as opposite in personality as you can get, both are really the same kind of ruthless people in getting who and what they want.Lemmon is third billed in the film behind Holliday and Lawford. But he functions in the same way, as Holliday's conscience and teacher. In the other film Holden teaches her about how bad Crawford is, in It Should Happen to You, he makes Judy see how her own values are so wrong.Best scene in the film is when Judy is on a panel show with real life celebrities Constance Bennett, Ilka Chase, and Wendy Barrie all playing themselves with Melville Cooper as a pompous doctor. Judy's blank expressions are priceless as the celebrities gossip, even better than the inane dialog she's given. There's also a nice performance by Michael O'Shea as a sleazy talk show host.Though It Should Happen To You covers a lot of the same ground as Born Yesterday, the lessons certainly bear repeating. I'd definitely try to catch this one and the on scene filming in Fifties New York definitely aid the story.It's the difference between Madame Marie Curie and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Sometimes i heard the name of Judy Holliday. But i had never seen her work. Suddenly, a lovely comedy appeared."It should happen to you" tell us about the real dreams, and the false dreams. Gladys Glover, is a name difficult to forget. Our charming character wants to be somebody, and she try to make reality that dream. But she makes it in the mistaken way. Because, maybe is more important the real love of a man than a fake illusion. The illusion of be famous.Since the naked feet in the park, "It should happen to you" is a great comedy. A comedy about the love, the dreams and ... of course ... big billboards with names.Recommended for any occasion. Especially, if you want to see a real comedy.*sorry, if there any mistake there