Gary Cooper is usually portraying a hero of some kind. He's either a noble cowboy in a Western or the romantic lead in a more traditional drama. His tall frame and matinee idol good looks don't exactly lend themselves to playing an introverted bookworm, but that's what he did in Ball of Fire. Cooper plays a grammarian tasked with compiling a dictionary with a group of seven other equally socially inept academics. Along the way, they decide to do a study on slang, which throws Cooper into the path of a singer named Sugarpuss O'Shea, who begins to have an effect on everyone around her, especially Cooper. The use of "hip", current slang in the dialogue is laughably dated, but if you can look past that, you'll find a quirky, unconventional romantic comedy. Cooper and his co-star Barbara Stanwyck are in rare form, and their troupe of merry academics are caring but delightfully clueless. Some people argue that Gary was miscast in this role, but it's an interesting take to have an awkward little intellectual who legitimately doesn't seem to realize that he looks like Gary Cooper, and could probably take advantage of that fact if he weren't so utterly oblivious.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
