Designing Woman
By Kit Macdonald
Vincente Minnelli - father of Liza - wove a delightful tapestry of humour, romance and social satire with Designing Woman, which follows the unlikely whirlwind romance and marriage of sportswriter Mike Hagen (Gregory Peck) and fashion designer Marilla Brown (Lauren Bacall). The couple get together in California and then return to their vastly different lives, and consequent comedic relationship challenges, in New York.
Bacall's era-defining grace and elegance makes for a perfect counterpoint to the hyper-masculine, unrefined world of Hagen and his sportswriter colleagues and friends. Peck's stock in trade was always serious roles but he showed his skills as a comic actor in this film, which won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay at the 1958 Oscars.