It Happened One Night

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

 

Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934) is the prototype for “screwball comedies.” It was the first motion picture to win Oscars in all the major categories, including picture, lead actor and actress, and directing. 

     

The story starts on a yacht in the waters near Miami, Fl., which immediately shows we are dealing with a rich person. Alexander Andrews (Walter Connolly) is the owner of the boat, and he wears a uniform, because that what wealthy people did back then, appearing as if they were official men of the Navy when they just bought their way into looking like military officers. His daughter is Ellie (Claudette Colbert) who is on a hunger strike because her father doesn’t approve of her recent marriage and wants to annul it. The patriarchy is in full bloom here as daddy bullies his daughter, even suggesting force-feeding her, and then indulges in a full meal in front of her just to torture Ellie for her refusal to eat. He even calls her an “idiot,” but she shoots back that it is an inherited characteristic. He says that she does just the opposite of what he advises, but she accuses him of always trying to run her life. Despite his daughter being “over twenty-one,” Andrews tries to feed her like a little girl, and Ellie displays the rebelliousness of a young child against parental authority as she throws a temper tantrum, tossing the food platters. Since she is treated like a child, she acts like one. Ellie jumps overboard and swims away. Andrews orders a private detective agency to search for Ellie because she has run away “again.” What we have here, as was noted in Cool Hand Luke, is failure to communicate.

 Ellie may act like a child, but she is a clever one. Even though there are men staked out at the bus station to catch her, (they doubt the rich girl would travel by such ordinary means), she gets an elderly woman to buy a ticket to New York while she hides. Meanwhile, drunk reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable) trades insults with his newspaper boss, Joe Gordon (Charles C. Wilson), who fired him (“peter” is a slang term for the penis, and there will be other sexually suggestive references in the film). We get the feeling that Gordon isn’t too sophisticated since he says Peter’s writing is “Greek” to him (he is not aware of the Shakespearean reference). Peter obviously feels superior to his boss, since he says a story he wrote was in “free verse,” equating his writing to poetry. Gordon hangs up, but to protect his pride, which will be on display later, Peter acts as if he is still on the line and pretends that Gordon wants him back. For show, Peter scorns the man’s make-believe apology. His fellow reporters, listening to Peter’s side of the phone call, label him “the King,” which is an inside reference to Gable’s nickname in Hollywood. 

 

On the bus, Peter throws stacks of newspapers out the window so he can sit down on the last seats available. The image is sort of a metaphor for his being jobless, and reveals his contempt for the profession that doesn’t recognize his talents. His rebellious action echoes Ellie’s tantrum and hints that they may be made for each other. Even though drunk, Peter is witty. When confronted with his action, he says that he doesn’t like sitting on newspapers because he did it once and the print came off allowing people to read his pants. His remark about the words imprinted on his bottom shows more distaste for the state of journalism and the people that follow it. 

 While Peter has the verbal confrontation with the bus driver for tossing the newspapers, Ellie takes his seat. He says to her, “that which you sit on is mine,” which sounds like her ass is his. She realizes the suggestiveness of the line by saying, “I beg your pardon.” Their first exchange is a sexual one, pointing to the chemistry that will develop between them. He squeezes in next to her and when she tries to put her bag up on the rack, the bus pulls out, causing her to fall into his lap. He smiles while she scowls, and so the romantic games have begun. 

 

At a rest stop, Peter sees a thief sneak away with Ellie’s bag. He chases after the guy but doesn’t catch him. She didn’t even notice it was gone and acts rudely toward him when he talks to her when he returns. After he tells her what happened, she doesn’t want to report the crime and will not divulge her name. After she shows no gratitude for his efforts and tells him to leave her alone, his conclusion is that she’s “a spoiled brat,” which seems to be how the public views her. When she gets back on the bus, she refuses to sit next to Peter. Instead she takes a seat next to a large, snoring man who rolls over onto her shoulder. When she attempts to return to her original spot, a supposedly sleeping Peter has taken it over as the two jockey for positional advantage. The awake Peter puts his open hand on the vacant chair, another suggestive gesture, but, of course, she moves his arm. He opens his eyes and wins a staring contest with her, then smiles when she turns away. The games continue.

 When they arrive at a breakfast stop, he is awake, but she has her head on his shoulder and her arm holds onto his jacket. It looks as if she subconsciously sees them as a couple. He lent her his scarf, which adds to the connection. When she wakes up, she is embarrassed, and giggles like a girl, apologizing for her intimate sleeping position. He says he didn’t want to wake her and then complements her by saying she looks “pretty” when she sleeps. She says she has to go to a hotel. She acts privileged when she tells the bus driver to wait for her until she returns. Her current behavior, along with the way she acted before, puzzles Peter, and he, being a reporter, probably is becoming curious about Ellie’s situation.

 

When she returns the bus has left and there will not be another one for twelve hours. Peter is there, too, and she warns him that he shouldn’t make presumptions about anything happening between them. She says she can take care of herself, but he hands her her ticket which she left on the bus seat, which undercuts her claim. He calls her “Miss Andrews,” because he discovered in the newspapers that she is on the run. He says she’ll never be able to escape from her powerful father. Peter also thinks that the man she married, King Westley (Jameson Thomas), an aviator, is a “phony.” (Peter was called “King” by his pals, so we have two monarchs vying for a princess). It is interesting that Ellie married a flyer which suggests a childhood fantasy to want to soar away from reality. Ellie is worried that Peter will give her up to get a reward from her father. She says she will pay him to keep his knowledge of her to himself, and will get him the cash when she arrives in New York. He tells her she thinks she can buy everything, and wouldn’t even think of connecting on a human level by just asking nicely for some help because that would mean she would have to get off her “high horse” and show some “humility.” He then walks off. But his higher ethical stance is a charade. He sends a telegram to Gordon and tells him he has the “scoop” on a big story. 

 

The two get on the next bus but Ellie avoids Peter and instead sits next to Oscar Shapeley (Roscoe Karns), who is quite talkative. He says he likes women that fit his name. Not a subtle person. He smokes a large cigar. Phallic symbols anyone? He comes onto Ellie, of course. Peter approaches the two and says he would like to sit with his wife, causing Shapeley to reel in his suggestive lines and become apologetic. He also finds he dropped his cigar, which could imply a metaphoric castration. Ellie is grateful for another rescue by Peter, who plays it tough by saying he didn’t try to help her, but instead just couldn’t stand hearing Shapeley’s voice. She is all wet from the deluge of rain and he gives her his scarf to keep warm, calls her “Brat,” and notes how she can’t take care of herself. She wants to buy candy, but he says no, and since she only has less than two dollars on her he is putting her on a budget. He is placing restrictions on her that her rich, indulgent father failed to impose. 

 

The bus stops due to flooding ahead so Peter and Ellie share a cabin at a nearby spot. She thinks he has worked the situation to take advantage of her sexually. He strongly denies any romantic intent. He is honest with her about being a reporter and offers to help her get to her husband for the rights to her story. He needs the news article for financial purposes, which is also why they could only afford one dwelling. Therefore, he registered them as husband and wife. If she refuses he tells her he will inform her father of Ellie’s whereabouts. She’s caught between two unappealing choices, and Peter’s is the lesser evil. (Because of his scheming, she notes that he has a brain behind “that face.” Her remark suggests that she finds his looks attractive). 

 

Peter hangs a blanket between their two beds, famously calling it their “walls of Jericho,” although he concedes they are not as strong as their biblical namesake. She is sarcastic by asking if that makes everything proper. He reverses the vulnerability perspective, and says he’s erecting the flimsy barrier for his purposes because he wants his privacy. After giving her a set of his pajamas, she doesn’t immediately go along with the plan by staying on his side of the divider. So, he starts to undress, delivering a humorous discourse on the various ways men take off their clothes, with no two doing it the same. He mentions how one man kept on his hat until last, because he wore a toupee, presumably the actual last piece to remove. She finally goes to her corner of the ring when he is ready to remove his pants. When she undresses she hangs her clothes on the blanket. It’s a sort of obscured striptease. He tells her to remove the clothing, an acknowledgment of his getting aroused. He teases her by singing, “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf,” since the name of the animal was a metaphor for a sexual predator. She asks his name which she hasn’t learned after all this time. When he tells her, she says she doesn’t like it. As a rebuttal, he says “Goodnight, Mrs. Warne.”

 

Today we have “helicopter” parents. In this story, Andrews is an airplane father as he seeks information as to Ellie’s location while on a flight to New York in his personal aircraft. There is a nice segue to Ellie waking up as we hear an airplane soaring above. Peter is already up, dressed, and had Ellie’s clothes pressed. He is that stern paternal presence, telling her if she doesn’t get out of bed, he’ll drag her out. He softens that attitude by complimenting her hair. Her rich girl upbringing hasn’t prepared her for traveling on the cheap, and she is taken aback when Peter tells her she has to go to the communal showers at the site. She doesn’t realize she has to wait in line to get washed. After surprising a woman soaking up, Ellie exchanges tongue-sticking-out behavior with a girl in line, which stresses Ellie’s lack of maturity. 

 Peter prepared a frugal breakfast for them. She does not complain, and is even grateful. She tells Peter that he thinks she is spoiled but she says that would mean that she always got what she wanted. On the contrary, she argues, because she was always told what to do, where to go, and how to be. Her actions were always monitored by nannies, guards, and detectives, who she tried to outwit, like a game. Her lack of privacy suggests that she’s never been given the chance to develop as an individual. He criticizes her for having all that money and not knowing how to dunk a donut. Her response is that she would trade places any day with a plumber’s daughter. This exchange reflects American praise for the lower-class worker and disdain for the snobby elite.

 

Her father’s detectives show up at the cabin and Peter takes her reference to plumbers and uses it as the two improvise an elaborate scenario as an arguing, disheveled rural couple. They get the detectives to leave, and Peter and Ellie have a good laugh as they compliment each other on their acting skills. He says they could travel and call themselves, “The Great Deception,” a critique on the harsh economic times they live in. She offers an alternative title, “Cinderella or a real hot love story,” which reverses the rags-to-riches plot she finds herself in, but also reveals some growing passion between the two. 

 

Neither Gordon’s reporters nor Andrews’s detectives are having any luck finding Ellie. So, Andrews offers a $10,000 reward and has Ellie’s picture placed in newspapers. Shapeley recognizes Ellie from her photo while a traveling band sings “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” on the bus. The song talks about the acrobat stealing the singer’s love interest. Could this song refer to the flashy pilot, Ellie’s husband, King Westley, and how he is Peter’s rival? As she sings along, Ellie is having fun as she travels with regular folks instead of being insulated by her father’s wealth. 

 The bus driver gets carried away joining in on the song and drives the vehicle into the mud. A little boy is crying as his mother passed out as she hasn’t had anything to eat because they spent their money to get to a job in New York. Ellie gives what money they have left to the boy, which at first surprises and upsets Peter, but which leads to admiration for Ellie’s generosity and compassion. While the bus is stuck, Shapeley approaches Peter with a proposition, now that he has read the newspaper story and knows Ellie is not Peter’s wife. He offers to split the reward with him if Peter helps to deliver Ellie to her father. Otherwise, he’ll inform Andrews about what he knows concerning his daughter. Peter pretends to be a gangster seeking a million dollars in ransom for Ellie’s return and tries to recruit Shapeley to help with any gunfire exchanged with the police. When Shapeley backs off out of fear, Peter threatens him and his family if he says anything about Ellie. Shapeley runs off and falls in the mud, mirroring his dirty scheming.

 Peter takes the objecting Ellie away from the bus in case Shapeley does decide to expose them. Peter suggests that Ellie may want to call her dad and have him wire her some money to buy food. But, she vows to continue her quest even if she has to starve, which reflects her resolve to be independent from her father’s domineering power. Peter carries her across a river, and Ellie says she hasn’t ridden piggyback since her father carried her when she was a child. Peter points out that her father didn’t know “beans” about piggybacking, calls her father a “stuffed shirt,” and says, “I never knew a rich man yet who could piggyback ride.” He is voicing more of the movie’s anti-upper-class attitude. When she insists that her father was a great piggybacker, he spanks her on the behind, something we would consider reprehensible today. Given the context of the film and its time, he is administering neglected discipline to a spoiled child. 

 

They continue their journey through the woods until late in the day and Peter pulls down some stacked hay to make beds for them. (Could this act imply that the two would really like a “roll in the hay”?). Ellie complains about being scared and hungry. He reprimands her for her whining. While she lies down she comments how disagreeable he has become and says that he could leave and she would be fine. She is really talking to himself because he left to get some carrots for her to eat. When she realizes he is not there, she undermines her prior courageous words by hysterically calling out for him, afraid he truly has run off. When he returns, Peter tries to comfort her by covering her with his coat, tucking her in like a father would a child. But as he gets closer he is ready to kiss her like a lover and she seems willing. (Surprisingly, the two never kiss in the movie). He pulls back, most likely worried that he may fall for her and she is a married woman.

 

The next day they find a road and Peter says that they will be hitchhiking. As they stop on the side of the roadway he uses a pen knife to cut up some of the carrots he gathered. She says she can’t abide the vegetable, especially for breakfast. She says she wished he could have found something else for her to eat. He will not beg for money or food for her, and writes off her carrot-shunning as another example of her snobby background. (IMDb notes that the film may have influenced the creation of the Bugs Bunny cartoons. In this scene, Peter talks while eating carrots. Earlier, in his conversation with Shapeley, Peter said he worked for a gangster named Bugs Dooley, and some of the other characters may have been the bases for Yosemite Sam and Pepe Le Pew). 

 Peter brags about knowing so much, and says he could write books on men undressing and hitchhiking. What follows is the famous hitchhiking duel between them. He says it’s all in the thumb. A steady one means you really are not needy, a wiggling one with a smile means you have a farmer’s daughter story to share, and then there is the one with a pitiful look and a sweeping arm movement. Ellie’s complimentary commentary, like saying his gestures are “amazing,” is a sarcastic take on how conceited Peter is. His attempts at his various techniques are failures and Ellie comically says on the number of tries, “When you get to a hundred, wake me up.” Peter becomes exasperated and angrily points the thumb in the opposite direction to show his scorn. He abandons his three types of ploys and starts to wave his hat instead as cars speed by. He finally gives up and hilariously flips the drivers the bird. When she says she’ll give it a try, he laughs at her. She ridicules him for thinking he knows “it all,” and says she’ll stop a car and doesn’t have to use her thumb. She goes to the edge of the road and hikes her dress up to the top of her thigh. The approaching male driver jams on his brakes and stops his car. Peter jumps up surprised and stares. Even though by our present-day standards the scene objectifies women, it remains one of the funniest and sexiest shots in movie history.

 

While riding in the car the sharp humor of the film is on display. Ellie says that she proved that, “the limb is mightier than the thumb.” Peter says if she would have taken off all of her clothes she could have “stopped forty cars.” Her quick retort is, “Well. ooo, I’ll remember that when we need forty cars.” The man who gives them the ride (Ernie Adams) stops for something to eat and Ellie wants to get him to buy some food for her. Pater is feeling impotent (double meaning intended) that he couldn’t secure the ride and doesn’t want the driver to be the one to help Ellie. He acts irritated because he isn’t the knight saving the damsel in distress anymore. He does hold her hand and apologizes for being grumpy after they step out of the car. The driver is a thief and drives off with Peter’s suitcase. Peter runs after him and returns driving the man’s car. He has facial bruises and says he gave the guy a black eye and tied him to a tree. In his mind, he has restored his manly standing as her protector. 

 As they drive she cleans the wound on his face to show her gratitude. She is now the nurse, so there are obviously older, stereotypical roles assigned to men and women in the movie. She said she hated carrots but now acquiesces and chews on one, demonstrating her thanks for his getting food for her (given some of the suggestive subtext in the film, the carrot could be considered a phallic symbol and she is now open to him sexually. Or, maybe a carrot is just a carrot). 

 

Andrews meets with the husband, King Westley, and tells him flat out he doesn’t like him, most likely assuming he is just interested in the family fortune. Westley will not agree to an annulment, however. At this point Andrews is only concerned about getting his daughter back safely and says he will not interfere in the marriage if Westley will get the word out to the reporters that she can return to her husband without her father trying to stop her. Ellie reads the news article about the agreement. But she is not in a rush to get back because she is falling in love with Peter. So she insists on stopping for the night. The story he will be writing doesn’t seem to excite him that much now either because he probably will miss her. Peter sets up the “walls of Jericho” again. She wants to know if she will see him in New York, but he says he doesn’t get involved with married women. She asks him about being in love and says that he could make someone “happy.” He admits to having romantic hopes, but with a woman who is vital and exciting. When he talks about wanting to take a woman to an island in the Pacific and how he and this woman would feel part of the cosmos, Ellie stares off, as if joining him in this fantasy. She then goes around the blanket and confesses her love for him, saying she wants to go with him to that island and admitting she couldn’t “live without him.” She sobs and they embrace but he says, “go back to your bed.” He reconsiders and quietly asks if she would really go with him, but she has fallen asleep.

 

Peter decides to leave during the night and trades his belongings to get to New York. He pitches the story to Gordon about Ellie and says the marriage will be annulled and he is going to marry her. He wants a thousand dollars so he has some money, and is not just out to acquire some of hers, before asking her to marry him. Gordon accepts the deal. The motel managers realize Peter is gone and they throw Ellie out. She thinks Peter has abandoned her and she calls her father to come and get her. The father and Westley arrive with a police escort which Peter sees. He is angry with Ellie for giving up on him. He chases after the departing cars, but his own vehicle is breaking down. There is a shot of air going out of a tire which reflects the deflated feeling that Peter is experiencing.

 The newspapers show that Ellie is glad to be home and there is a photo of her holding Westley’s hand. Peter returns the thousand dollars to Gordon, who is sympathetic about Peter’s lost love. Ellie’s marriage to Westley has been planned. There is a warmer side of Andrews now on display as he sees that his daughter is not happy. She begins to cry, and he insightfully realizes that she is in love with another man. Her father wants to get in touch with the man, but she believes she hates her for her spoiled upbringing. When she mentions his name, Andrews reaches for a letter since the name is familiar. He received a communication from Peter about a financial matter involving his daughter. She is now cynical since she thinks his only interest in her was to collect the $10,000 reward. 

 

Andrews calls Peter in for a visit in his study. He probably wants to size up the man who his daughter has fallen in love with. All Peter wants is $39.60 to reimburse him for the expenses he incurred while he was with Ellie. He says it’s a matter of principle because he feels he was used. Andrews sees that Peter isn’t in it for the money and now knows that the two are in love and there was that “failure to communicate” again between them. Andrews keeps asking if Peter loves his daughter. Peter at first says someone would “have to have his head examined” to fall in love with Ellie, but he finally admits he fits the bill, so he must be “screwy.” Peter sees Ellie all dressed up and enjoying a drink as he exits the study, which just angers him more. She snidely asks if he got his money and he says he did, but she doesn’t know it’s a paltry sum. He leaves by saying he doesn’t have the “stomach” to hang around. Andrews is about to tell his daughter what transpired, but she doesn't want to hear it.

 The lavish wedding takes place on the ample grounds of Andrews’s estate. As he marches with her toward the nuptials, Ellie’s father finally is able to tell her how Peter didn’t want any reward, just payment for the expenses, and that Peter felt cheated. Andrews thinks Peter is an okay guy and tells her that Peter said he loved Ellie. Dad says it would make him happy if she was with the man she loves. The opulence of the ceremony contrasts with Peter’s pedestrian life and the journey they were on where she learned more about life and herself than what she knew in her wealthy cocoon. Ellie pulls a runaway bride (no Julia Roberts in sight) as the vows are read and drives off.

 

Andrews pays Westley $100,000 to not contest the marriage annulment. There is a message from Peter that says those “walls of Jericho” are toppling. The couple were married and are in a cabin like before. Interestingly, we don’t see them together. To the movie’s credit there is no sentimental ending. There are only the proprietors saying Peter and Ellie wanted a trumpet and a rope to hang a blanket. There is then the sound of the trumpet that heralds the walls of Jericho falling, and there is the image of the blanket coming down. The wall separating these two from different socio-economic worlds dissolves. The film seems to be saying that love can unite us.

The next film is Reservoir Dogs.