It Happened One Night

            In "It Happened One Night" the female lead, Elie, was trying to get away from her father.  She wanted to be independent and marry the man she wanted to.  When The lead male, Peter Warne, came along she did not want to be bossed around by him either.  We talked in class about how in screwball comedy there is a "war of the sexes."  This was very clear with Elie and Peter.  They argued about who was right and what was the right thing to do in a certain citation.  This competition was very clear when they grew tired of walking and attempted to hitchhike.  Peter had an entire system on how to stop a car and it was based on your facial expression and your hand gesture.  After Elie sarcastically put her faith in him, she showed him how to really do it.  She pulled up her skirt and the first car that passed screeched to a halt.
            The first "Bugs Bunny" cartoon was aired in 1940, six years after "It Happened One Night" came out.  Despite the fact Bugs Bunny was created six years after It Happened One Night, nobody had forgotten Clark Gable's performance in the hitchhiking scene.  It would have been very evident in 1940, as it is still today, that Bugs Bunny was imitating Clark.  Chuck Jone, the creator of Bugs Bunny, explained that the demeanor of the rabbit was based off of Clark Gable.  In the scene Clark Gable casually leans against a fence post and talks quickly while eating a carrot and doesn't stop to politely swallow.  Those who had seen Clark Gable in It Happened One Night, and the Bugs Bunny character, know that there is a clear relation between the two arrogant men. 
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/406400.html
            "It Happened One Night" is a perfect example of screwball comedy.  Peter and Elie struggle for power.  Peter tends to use physicality and Elie uses her wits and sarcasm.  The two argue and banter back and forth for most of the movie.  I enjoyed watching the movie and thought that Gable and Colbert's character portrayal was very funny.  Clark Gable was one of the cockiest characters I have seen in a movie.  I think that men and women can both love this movie because men want to be the confident man that Gable is, and women want to be the confident independent women that  Claudette Colbert is.  It is no surprise that the movie did so well in 1934 and still today.  Scenes of hitchhiking and wedding crashing due to love are now used today in film.  Nowadays women tend to show a little more skin to stop a car though.  In the award winning film "The Graduate" Dustan Hoffman crashes his loves wedding and they run of together and live happily also.  Frank Capra contributed a classic screwball comedy that can last for years and years.  Having swept the Oscars in 1934, that is proof that the is a great movie and everyone in it had an amazing performance.