{"id":2989,"date":"2025-08-01T01:31:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=2989"},"modified":"2025-11-29T14:59:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T19:59:53","slug":"gentlemen-prefer-blondes-1953","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=2989","title":{"rendered":"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes-1953"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes-1953<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Director Howard Hawks<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Starring Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Top 250 Films #164<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Scott&#8217;s Review #384<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/60004540.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2990\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2990\" src=\"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/60004540-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"60004540\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/60004540-210x300.jpg 210w, https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/60004540.jpg 284w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Reviewed March 13, 2016<\/p>\n<p><strong>Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the iconic and legendary stars, Marilyn Monroe&#8217;s better-known offerings from her brief career are Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), a fun musical romantic comedy.<\/p>\n<p>To create this wonderful gem, she stars alongside Jane Russell, another popular Hollywood star from a golden era.<\/p>\n<p>Together, they have great chemistry and an easy yin-yang relationship, which makes the film light and cheerful but not meaningless or too fluffy.<\/p>\n<p>It is just a genre that it is.<\/p>\n<p>As mentioned, Roma has evolved in modern cinema, and Gentlemen embodies the innocence that has since been lost. The 1950s were a perfect time for this genre of film.<\/p>\n<p>Lorelei Lee (Monroe) and Dorothy Shaw (Russell) are American showgirls and best friends who perform a stage show together. Lorelei loves diamonds and rich men- she is dating Gus Esmond, an awkward yet lovable young man who is wealthy but controlled by his father.<\/p>\n<p>Dorothy is less interested in being showered with wealth but prefers handsome, adventure-filled adventures. These begin when the girls board a cruise ship to Paris. A private investigator (Malone) hired by Gus&#8217;s father observes and follows Lorelei while the Olympic swim team pursues Dorothy.<\/p>\n<p>The film is entertaining and a must-see for all Monroe fans, as it was at the time when she was at her best- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Some Like it Hot are my personal favorites, and she was in the prime of her tragically short film career- sure, she plays the &#8220;dumb blonde&#8221; character with gusto. Still, there is something innocent and fun about her portrayal of Lorelei, and we immediately fall in love with her.<\/p>\n<p>Dorothy is the leader\u2014the smart one\u2014and complements Lorelei&#8217;s naivety. More worldly and sophisticated, she watches out for her counterpart.<\/p>\n<p>The chemistry between Monroe and Russell makes the film work so well. The audience buys them as best friends, and the two actresses (who reportedly got along famously).<\/p>\n<p>Monroe shines during the legendary number, Girls&#8217; Nights Are the Best Friend,&#8221; a performance that famously inspired the 1984 Madonna video, &#8221; Girls Night Out,&#8221; which will forever live on in music history.<\/p>\n<p>My favorite scene is on the ship when Lorelei gets into trouble. She sneaks into the private investigator&#8217;s cabin to obtain incriminating evidence and gets stuck in the tight cabin window.<\/p>\n<p>The shot of Monroe sticking halfway out the window is funny. She then hilariously enlists a young child to help her avoid recognition and a subpar man with subpar vision.<\/p>\n<p>Vision also comes into play when Dorothy disguises herself as Lorelei in a silly fashion (looking more like a drag queen) in a courtroom scene over hi-jinks involving a stolen tiara.<\/p>\n<p>Interesting is the scene in wsurroundedrothy is surrounded by dancing, which is as provocative for 1953 as it is today.<\/p>\n<p>Undoubtedly unable to show any form of nudity whatsoever, the dancers are clad in nude-colored shorts, which indeed suggests elements of sexuality, an illusion of nudity, and fits the scene perfectly as Dorothy is in testosterone heaven.\u00a0 It is like a big, giant fantasy for her.<\/p>\n<p>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) is a triumphant offering from another cinematic era\u2014a sorely missed time. Cute but not trivial, the film is a witty portrayal of the iconic Marilyn Monroe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes-1953 Director Howard Hawks Starring Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe Top 250 Films #164 Scott&#8217;s Review #384 Reviewed March 13, 2016 Grade: B+ One of the iconic and legendary stars, Marilyn Monroe&#8217;s better-known offerings from her brief career are Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), a fun musical romantic comedy. To create this wonderful gem, she &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=2989\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Gentlemen Prefer Blondes-1953<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7812,11,4456,49,5295,583,584,4447,545,8603,47,8602,45,7464],"tags":[7813,52,4457,252,5299,586,585,4449,546,8605,250,8604,95,7460],"class_list":["post-2989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-164-favorite-film","category-1953-films","category-charles-coburn","category-comedies","category-george-chakiris","category-howard-hawks","category-jane-russell","category-julie-newmar","category-marilyn-monroe","category-marni-nixon","category-musicals","category-norma-varden","category-romcoms","category-top-250-films","tag-164-favorite-film","tag-1953-movie-reviews","tag-charles-coburn","tag-comedies","tag-george-chakiris","tag-howard-hawks","tag-jane-russell","tag-julie-newmar","tag-marilyn-monroe","tag-marni-nixon","tag-musicals","tag-norma-varden","tag-romantic-comedies","tag-top-250-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2989"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21875,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989\/revisions\/21875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}