Howard Hawks’ eye-catching comedy sees the actor at the height of her talents in a tale with more depth and intellect than even its director knewLast year’s Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde broke up its parade of visceral suffering heaped upon the woman born Norma Jeane Mortenson with an acknowledgement of one injustice not of the physically invasive persuasion.We learn that while working on Howard Hawks’ superlative Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (which turns 70 years old this weekend), she received a paltry rate of $500 a week, while her comparatively better-known co-45star Jane Russell raked in a sum-total fee in the amount of $200,000.
On this point, director Andrew Dominik clearly conveys his thesis that the industry used and abused a woman ill-equipped to advocate for herself, and for once, he does it without joining in on that which he purports to critique by lavishing punishments upon star Ana de Armas.
Read full article