What it’s about
Rock Hunter (Randall) is a Madison Avenue jingle writer about to be pink-slipped unless he comes up with a new ad campaign for client Stay-Put Lipstick. Va-va-voom starlet Rita Marlowe (Mansfield) is hiding out in Manhattan after a break up with her cheating boyfriend, Bobo (Hargitay). Rita agrees to be the new “kissable lips” of the Stay-Put brand, but only if Rock plays along with an absurd publicity stunt to make Bobo jealous.
Why we love it
In this highly entertaining, colorful satire from comic director Tashlin, the pulchritudinous Mansfield scores in the role she originated on the stage, playing off her image as Hollywood’s “dumb blonde” bombshell. In an ingenious opening credits sequence, Randall breaks the fourth wall to take potshots at the TV viewing habits and vacuous commercials of the period. Blondell gets perhaps the best lines as Rita’s wise-cracking assistant, reminding us of her own place in the pantheon of 1930s’ sex symbols. And that quick surprise cameo from Groucho Marx is worth the price of admission.