Designing Woman (1957)

This is a very funny movie starring Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall in a film with a set-up similar to the Hepburn-Tracy classic Woman of the Year (1942)). It deservedly won George Wells his only Oscar (on his only nomination) for Best Writing Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen and was directed by Vincente Minnelli.

Peck is a New York sportswriter who’s on the West Coast on assignment doing a story about a horse race. He wakes up from a drinking binge during which he had met New York fashion designer Bacall though he doesn’t recall it. While he struggles to recover from his hangover she relates the events of the previous evening which included filling his latest story. He notices how beautiful she is and they begin a brief torrid affair which leads to a hasty marriage. Of course each is a "fish out of water" in the other’s world which they begin to discover when they return to New York. Since his apartment is a typically small messy male abode they decide to live in her fancy pastel colored place. This leads to some amusing scenes when he holds his regular card game with his beer drinking & cigar smoking buddies in their new home especially those which involve a punchy ex-boxer Maxie Stultz (Mickey Shaughnessy).

Before his West Coast trip apparently Peck was dating a leggy actress (Dolores Gray) who’s a bit surprised and none to happy to find out that he’s gotten himself married. Bacall knows nothing about this though she does find pieces of a torn up picture the actress’s legs while cleaning out his old apartment. Bacall’s then hired to work on a film whose star is of course the ex-girlfriend. Though the three of them dine together Peck pretends not to know Gray. One of the film’s most hilarious scenes occurs when Bacall’s theatrical crowd attempts to do their creative work (including "dancing" by Tom Helmore) for the film at the same time that Peck’s macho friends are having their regular card game at the apartment.

Besides failing to reveal his relationship with the actress to his new wife Peck’s character has also kept secret the fact that his life is in danger because he has been writing a series of expose columns about a gangster (Chuck Connors) who’s been corrupting sport. When his editor (Sam Levene) decides that Peck should "disappear"for a while in order to finish the series Bacall finally makes the connection between the legs in the torn photograph and those of her film’s leading lady and assumes the worst.

Without revealing too much more I wanted to make sure to mention the funny scenes which involve Shaughnessy’s character who accompanies Peck for protection when he goes undercover. Though the two never leave New York Peck is able to convince his punchy bodyguard that they’re in a new city every time they change hotels. And when he hears a bell ring the ex-boxer thinks he’s just been called to begin another round in a fight. Lastly Jesse White plays the character that helps gangster Connors locate Peck who will learn to respect Helmore’s dancing ability.

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