Rather thin drama, written by Garson Kanin from his play, stars Tony Curtis as a horn player from Milwaukee who arrives in New York City by bus, taking over the boarding room usually held by Debbie Reynolds, a down-on-her-luck taxi-dancer. The two meet and, seeing as there are two beds in the place, he proposes they share the room and help each other out. As the naïve musician, Curtis is convincing while fumbling about nervously with his horn cases, but the crucial moment when he realizes his roommate is really a cute little number doesn't arrive. Instead, the leads bicker-and-bond--and, we before we know it, he's writing her love letters. Reynolds has a good girl's version of tough down pat, though when boss Don Rickles calls her a "Goldilocks" he's not far off; this young woman is strictly a one dime-a-dance girl who would never sacrifice virtue for rent money. Kanin's script spends a lot of time on extraneous circumstances, particularly when Rickles makes Debbie strip in his office (nothing comes of this, not even a tart exit line). Curtis gets an audition which turns out to be a fake, yet the sequence seems designed only to plug a little music into the scenario, and it's a nowhere moment that doesn't pay off. Throughout, Elmer Bernstein's music seems heavy-handed, as does the writing for the supporting characters. Curtis and Reynolds are seen as a couple of struggling nice kids--not above stepping into the gutter, though not without total remorse. It's all a façade, an 'unglossy' glossy star-vehicle. **1/2 from ****
Review of The Rat Race
