The Hucksters

When he was first offered the film version of the best-selling Frederick Wakeman novel The Hucksters, Clark Gable turned it down, characterizing the book as "filthy and not entertainment." He finally agreed to star in the film after screenwriter Luther Davis' extensive laundering job. Gable plays ...more

Although The Hucksters softens the Frederick Wakeman novel that is its source, it's still a fairly cynical look at the dog-eat-dog world of advertising, especially for the time in which it was created. The softening does do some damage, especially at the end; but paradoxically, the ending confrontation between Clark Gable and Sydney Greenstreet is so dramatically powerful that it works. Hucksters blends it drama and its comedy very well, and the darkness of its humor is surprising. Jack Conway ...more