What it’s about
Researching modern slang for an encyclopedia he’s editing with seven elderly eggheads, professor of English Bertram Potts (Cooper) drops into a nightclub where show-stopping conga dancer Sugarpuss O’Shea (Stanwyck) is performing, and tries to recruit her for his work. She declines, but reconsiders when her boyfriend, mobster Joe Lilac (Andrews), asks her to hide out from the D.A., who wants her on his witness stand.
Why we love it
A farcical twist on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Ball of Fire” is in a witty, delightful class all its own. And what a lineup: Cooper, Stanwyck, Dana “the Mask” Andrews, Dan Duryea, and assorted others, directed by Hawks, working from a snappy script penned by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett! Hawks has fun with the central premise, but also brings a romantic poignancy to the picture, but Hawks brings a romantic poignancy to this picture, too, which earned three Oscar nominations. Cooper is fun to watch as the handsome but repressed grammarian, while Stanwyck shines as the foxy showgirl pretending (or is she?) to love him. And check out Gene Krupa on matchsticks!
Dana Andrews, Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper Howard Hawks
Gary Cooper Barbara Stanwyck Dana Andrews Howard Hawks