150 Word Review: 'Born Yesterday' (1950)
"Superb"
Two forces besides love power the post-war romantic-comedy Born Yesterday: a misty-eyed belief in the core principles of American democracy and Broderick Crawford's Harry Brock, a loud, rude, dimwitted millionaire who arrives in Washington to buy a corrupt congressman. He is a timely villain, an uncouth thug who only cares about himself.
Brock drags along his mistress, a former showgirl, a blonde-haired ditz named Billie, played by Judy Holliday, who gives a fantastic comedic performance as a dame who is easy to underestimate. Billie is feisty, a streetwise wiseass too rough around the edges for DC's high society. Enter William Holden's Paul Verrall, a brainy do-gooder journalist who interviews Brock only to be hired by him to educate his moll.
Oh, he educates her. First, books. Second, questions. Then, a few stolen kisses. Billie wasn't born... you know. There are fireworks between Holden and Holliday, like the Fourth of July.