I watched the rest of Universal's Pre-Code Hollywood set, an excellent package of fun early-1930s flicks, and I'm still impressed by one in particular: "Hot Saturday," featuring a young Cary Grant as an apparent cad.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
I say "apparent" because while the movie strains initially to put him over as a first-class heel, he sure seems like a swell guy. OK, so he likes the ladies. And maybe he discards them rather quickly and even crudely--if you consider writing a big, fat "get lost" check a crude brush-off. But after his initial scene, in which we see him leaving one gal in the car outside so he can go into the bank and "make time" with another, well, he is pretty decent.
Turns out that, despite his reputation, he's a nice gent, and female lead Nancy Carroll is not uninterested, though she has a suitor or two already. And how could she not be interested? He's Cary Grant!
There's not much to do on a hot Saturday in this small town, so when Grant invites the gang to his big place for a party, everyone eagerly accepts, including Carroll. So maybe Cary wanted to see her and chat with her a bit. Well, what's the harm in that? The important thing is that everyone has a great time helping themselves to the swank estate and its surroundings, plus oodles of free booze--all thanks to the so-called cad.
Long story short, the party goes on, and while nothing happens between Cary and Nancy, this being a small town, circumstantial evidence and gossiping minds (plus the real jerk of the story, the idiot who thought he was Carroll's beau but got a hearty rebuff when he got fresh with her) create a scenario that something DID--he DOES have that reputation, after all--and the whole place is abuzz with talk.
Meanwhile, Randolph Scott comes back to town and rekindles his old chaste but meaningful relationship with Carroll. He's a nice guy, loved by her parents and devoted to her, but when he hears this gossip, he drops her like a bad habit, as the late Gorilla Monsoon would say.
Things are cleared up eventually, and you expect Scott to apologize, Carroll to forgive him, and the two of them to get married and live happily ever after. But that's not what happens. Scott does eat some crow, but Carroll has already gone back to Grant's place. As tells Scott, that thing that everybody thought she did? Well, she did! And she enjoyed it. Nyah, nyah, nyah, and pbbt!
So while Scott is chastened and humble, Carroll runs off with Grant! Yes, he reconsiders his aversion to commitment and drives her off so they can get married. Scott is left holding...well, he doesn't have a bag, but I think he's probably holding Carroll's parents' dishes; he's a decent sort who is glad to help out.
It's not the ending I expected at all, but it is a great one. Scott gets no reward for his nasty yet albeit souring on his childhood sweetheart. Carroll gets no real punishment for getting it on with Cary; on the contrary, she gets a guy to take care of her emotional AND physical needs. The two of them driving off is the ultimate kiss-off to the idiots in the gossipy small town. "Hot Saturday" is telling the hypocrites who shunned Nancy to stuff it. I think THIS is the kind of thing that makes Pre-Code Hollywood so enjoyable. It's a happy ending in which the characters are happy without having to give up what makes them happy, and the finger-waggers are the ones who get the comeuppance.
Meanwhile, Randolph Scott comes back to town and rekindles his old chaste but meaningful relationship with Carroll. He's a nice guy, loved by her parents and devoted to her, but when he hears this gossip, he drops her like a bad habit, as the late Gorilla Monsoon would say.
Things are cleared up eventually, and you expect Scott to apologize, Carroll to forgive him, and the two of them to get married and live happily ever after. But that's not what happens. Scott does eat some crow, but Carroll has already gone back to Grant's place. As tells Scott, that thing that everybody thought she did? Well, she did! And she enjoyed it. Nyah, nyah, nyah, and pbbt!
So while Scott is chastened and humble, Carroll runs off with Grant! Yes, he reconsiders his aversion to commitment and drives her off so they can get married. Scott is left holding...well, he doesn't have a bag, but I think he's probably holding Carroll's parents' dishes; he's a decent sort who is glad to help out.
It's not the ending I expected at all, but it is a great one. Scott gets no reward for his nasty yet albeit souring on his childhood sweetheart. Carroll gets no real punishment for getting it on with Cary; on the contrary, she gets a guy to take care of her emotional AND physical needs. The two of them driving off is the ultimate kiss-off to the idiots in the gossipy small town. "Hot Saturday" is telling the hypocrites who shunned Nancy to stuff it. I think THIS is the kind of thing that makes Pre-Code Hollywood so enjoyable. It's a happy ending in which the characters are happy without having to give up what makes them happy, and the finger-waggers are the ones who get the comeuppance.
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