{"id":17501,"date":"2011-05-27T13:47:14","date_gmt":"2011-05-27T20:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=17501"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:12:06","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T20:12:06","slug":"girl-can%e2%80%99t-help-it-the-1956","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=17501","title":{"rendered":"Girl Can\u2019t Help It, The (1956)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I&#8217;m telling you I stink, stink, stink!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Poster-183x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"183\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-17502\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Poster-183x300.jpg 183w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Poster-78x128.jpg 78w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 183px) 100vw, 183px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAn ex-gangster (Edmond O&#8217;Brien) orders a musical agent (Tom Ewell) to turn his voluptuous girlfriend (Jayne Mansfield) into a singing phenomenon &#8212; but complications arise when Ewell discovers that Jerri (Mansfield) can&#8217;t carry a tune, and he starts to feel romantically attracted to her.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Aspiring Stars<\/li>\n<li>Dumb Blondes<\/li>\n<li>Edmond O&#8217;Brien Films<\/li>\n<li>Frank Tashlin Films<\/li>\n<li>Jayne Mansfield Films<\/li>\n<li>Rock \u2018n Roll<\/li>\n<li>Satires and Spoofs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nFrank Tashlin&#8217;s &#8220;rock-music version of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=38111\"><em>Born Yesterday<\/em><\/a>&#8221; is, as Peary notes, &#8220;a highly inventive picture, briskly paced and extremely colorful&#8221;, and likely &#8220;the nearest he ever came to a masterpiece&#8221;. It&#8217;s chock-a-block full of &#8220;off-color jokes, double entendres, and sexual innuendos&#8221; &#8212; all &#8220;staples of Tashlin&#8217;s humor&#8221; which &#8220;will cause you either to smile or to walk up the aisle cursing about adolescent humor&#8221; (and he bets &#8220;you&#8217;ll stay seated&#8221;). Peary spends the bulk of his review analyzing Mansfield in what was likely her best (and certainly her most iconic) role. He notes that, given Mansfield&#8217;s truly outlandish bodily proportions, it&#8217;s &#8220;not surprising that breast-obsessed Tashlin would use her body as a major source of the film&#8217;s humor&#8221;, and argues that, &#8220;like it or not, when Mansfield&#8217;s on-screen, your eyes gravitate towards her bosom&#8221; &#8212; thanks in part to Tashlin&#8217;s helpful visual gags, such as the &#8220;film&#8217;s most famous moment&#8221; in which she holds &#8220;a milk bottle over each breast&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Milk3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Milk3-1024x525.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"328\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-56781\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Milk3-1024x525.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Milk3-300x154.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Milk3-128x66.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Milk3-768x393.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Milk3-1536x787.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Milk3-527x270.png 527w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Milk3.png 1829w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>then later leans &#8220;over with her half-exposed breasts close to Ewell&#8217;s eyes and ask[s] if he thinks she&#8217;s &#8216;equipped&#8217; to be a mother&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Tashlin &#8212; a former animator &#8212; &#8220;uses&#8221; Mansfield&#8217;s body so strategically (she&#8217;s &#8220;barely able to walk&#8221; in her &#8220;tight sweaters and tight skirts&#8221;) that &#8220;she looks more like a caricature of the &#8216;fantasy blonde bosom-beauty of the fifties&#8217; than a real woman&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-Bosom.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-Bosom-1024x522.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"326\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-56782\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-Bosom-1024x522.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-Bosom-300x153.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-Bosom-128x65.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-Bosom-768x392.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-Bosom-1536x784.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-Bosom-529x270.png 529w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-Bosom.png 1813w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, as Peary notes, &#8220;Mansfield is so spirited, lively, and funny that she emerges unscathed&#8221;, and somehow manages to &#8220;blunt the sexist humor and make it harmless, [so] we don&#8217;t feel guilt&#8221;. Mansfield and her bosoms aren&#8217;t the only fetish exploited and explored by Tashlin, however: as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s2061jayn.html\">DVD Savant has hinted<\/a>, the entire film could be viewed as an extended satirical deconstruction of the fifties, given Mansfield&#8217;s not-so-secret desire to simply be a housewife rather than pursuing a career (&#8220;I&#8217;m a domestic&#8221;, she guiltily admits), and the strategic inclusion of rock-n-roll throughout the entire narrative. To that end, Peary points out that the &#8220;picture has a strong cult today because of the many great rock acts who appear, including Little Richard at his peak&#8221; (singing the title song), &#8220;Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, and Eddie Cochran&#8221;, among others. (My favorite musical act, however, is that given by the apparition of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Julie_London\">Julie London<\/a>, in which she sings the haunting &#8220;Cry Me a River&#8221; in various locations of Ewell&#8217;s apartment while he tries in vain to get her out of his mind; it&#8217;s a classic, cleverly conceived comedic sequence.)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London-1-1024x526.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"329\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-56780\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London-1-1024x526.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London-1-300x154.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London-1-128x66.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London-1-768x394.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London-1-1536x789.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London-1-526x270.png 526w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London-1.png 1809w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jayne Mansfield as Jerri<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-2-1024x521.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"326\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-56784\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-2-1024x521.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-2-300x153.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-2-128x65.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-2-768x391.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-2-1536x781.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-2-531x270.png 531w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Mansfield-2.png 1827w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The inspired &#8220;Julie London&#8221; sequence<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London2-1024x513.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"321\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-56783\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London2-1024x513.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London2-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London2-128x64.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London2-768x385.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London2-1536x770.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London2-539x270.png 539w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-London2.png 1817w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Several classic rock acts<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Ritchie-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Ritchie-1-1024x526.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"329\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-56785\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Ritchie-1-1024x526.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Ritchie-1-300x154.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Ritchie-1-128x66.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Ritchie-1-768x394.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Ritchie-1-1536x789.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Ritchie-1-526x270.png 526w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Ritchie-1.png 1833w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Fats-Domino.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Fats-Domino-1024x526.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"329\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-56791\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Fats-Domino-1024x526.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Fats-Domino-300x154.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Fats-Domino-128x66.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Fats-Domino-768x395.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Fats-Domino-1536x790.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Fats-Domino-525x270.png 525w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Girl-Cant-Help-It-Fats-Domino.png 1803w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as one of Tashlin&#8217;s acknowledged classics &#8212; and to see Mansfield in her best role.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0049263\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1957\/02\/09\/archives\/screen-onetrack-film-girl-cant-help-it-has-a-mansfield-mania.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s2061jayn.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmvault.com\/filmvault\/austin\/g\/girlcanthelpitthe1.html\">Austin Chronicle Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.tvguide.com\/girl-help\/review\/124440\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.avclub.com\/articles\/jayne-mansfield-collection,8213\/\">Onion A.V. Club Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.slantmagazine.com\/film\/the-girl-cant-help-it\/\">Slant Magazine Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=1126&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/70209\/the_girl_cant_help_it.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m telling you I stink, stink, stink!&#8221; Synopsis: An ex-gangster (Edmond O&#8217;Brien) orders a musical agent (Tom Ewell) to turn his voluptuous girlfriend (Jayne Mansfield) into a singing phenomenon &#8212; but complications arise when Ewell discovers that Jerri (Mansfield) can&#8217;t carry a tune, and he starts to feel romantically attracted to her. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Aspiring Stars Dumb Blondes Edmond O&#8217;Brien Films Frank Tashlin Films Jayne Mansfield Films Rock \u2018n Roll Satires and Spoofs Response to Peary\u2019s Review:&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=17501\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17501"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56792,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17501\/revisions\/56792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}