jhkp The Hucksters is about sponsors and advertising agencies in network radio, in New York and Hollywood, circa 1945-47. It's a time when radio is king (just before TV came in). Double-breasted suits and men's hats are in style. People wear tuxedos to go out to fancy nightclubs, and take elegant trains to cross the country, if they can afford it. And ad man Vic Norman (Clark Gable), just back from the war, is determined to make the kind of money that will give him such a comfortable lifestyle. He thinks he has it all figured out.Vic goes to work for the Kimberly (Adolph Menjou) agency, which handles the Beautee Soap account. The big man who manufactures the soap is Even L. Evans (Sydney Greenstreet) a bully who has the ad men cowering because his account is worth several million dollars.The Hucksters is about how Vic loses himself in this crazy ad game, and finds himself again before all his self-respect is gone. It's about his relationships with two women (Deborah Kerr, Ava Gardner), a kindly Hollywood agent (Edward Arnold), and a sub-par comedian, Buddy Hare (Keenan Wynn), for whom Vic must create a radio program on orders from tyrannical nut case Evans.It's an entertaining picture, even if the satire is not quite pointed enough, and the serious side of the film - it's philosophical side, if you will - plays out as somewhat blunted. I think this may have to do with the fact that Hollywood satirizing the ethics and values of Madison Avenue is like the pot calling the kettle black. It just doesn't seem legit. On the plus side, the acting is uniformly good. It's hard to picture anyone other than Gable in the lead. In fact, he makes the film seem a little better than it is. He's possibly 10 years too old for the role, and he shows the beginnings of the tremor that was sometimes too distracting in his later films. But he's still Gable, which is damn good! You don't question for a minute that the younger women in the film would find him attractive. Quite a man. The Hucksters has outstanding cinematography, the score, by Lennie Hayton, is jazzy, yet elegant. Jack Conway's direction is fairly sure-footed. It's all a bit too glossy, and not really as smart as it wants to be. But The Hucksters is a good piece of entertainment, all told.By the way, The Hucksters was sold using the famous phrase, "Gable's New Star Is Deborah Kerr (it rhymes with star)!" Menjou's ad agency couldn't have come up with a better line.

merc6983 Gable is one of my most favorite actors. Deborah Kerr one of the most beautiful actresses of the day. And Ava Gardner, at least in this film, showed a lack of talent. Greenstreet and Wynn were greatly miss cast. The movie is phony, the story line is unbelievable. How can such talent be so miss directed and their characters so contrived. On a normal day I watch three or four movies on cable. You might say I am addicted. This picture, well I can't recall one with such poor acting. I would go out of my way to watch Gable, and Kerr, she is the ultimate at her craft, (they teach them real good in England). And Sidney Greenstreet,(Where is Peter Lorre?), his main shtick is to play an evildoer, like in (The Maltese Falcon). Who cares about Wynn, he is just a overbearing loud mouth. But this film is just plain terrible, I wasted two hours of my time watching it plus this rant on IMDb.

Robert J. Maxwell Near the beginning of this movie Evan Llewellyn Evans, Sidney Greenstreet, owner of Beautee Soap and the most powerful client of Adolph Menjou's Madison Avenue advertising agency, hawks up a big ginder from the back of his throat and lobs it onto the boardroom table, much to the shock of his sycophants. "Gentlemen," he announces, "I have just performed a disgusting act." It's the most telling moment in the film. Evan Llewellyn Evans may be genetically incapable of Welshing on a deal but he's capable of some pretty disgusting acts. The second most telling moment in the film is saved for the climax, when the successful new employee, Clark Gable, finds that the phoniness and throat-cutting of the advertising business is not for him, and tells Greenstreet and Menjou what they can do with the jumbo-sized salary they've just offered him, and then stalks out of the board room to melt away his old self and discover his new, more principled, bite-sized, transfat-free new self in the arms of Deborah Kerr.The plot isn't stupid. The intrigues, betrayals, and misunderstandings aren't openly spelled out as in a child's storybook. Most of the character development takes place in Gable's character, just returned from the war. He's pretty honest about himself and a little blunt with others but he keeps his cool throughout. He has what sociologists call "role distance." Role distance is Erving Goffman's term for "actions which effectively convey some disdainful detachment of the (real life) performer from a role he is performing". He knows when he's being good at his job and he knows when he's being a cad. His chief mistake is in thinking that money is the most important goal and that it's achieved by sometimes unethical means. His performance throughout is quite good.Deborah Kerr as the aristocratic war widow is excellent. Her beauty is of an ethereal sort. She's delicate, frangible. She's "in touch with her feelings" and can be firm enough but her demeanor suggests she might collapse with fear or an excess of desire at any moment. (I kind of like that in a woman.) I don't know where she got the reputation of being some kind of ice queen in the movies. As an actress, she had good range -- comedic in "Casino Royale" and homespun and earthy in "The Sundowners." I don't think Ava Gardner ever looked more attractive or gave a better performance. But then all the acting is good and earns the film some extra bonus points. All the acting except for Sidney Greenstreet, that is, who is miscast as a rude blowhard redneck with some kind of terrible COWBOY hat and a blustering insistence on an in-your-face commercial style: His ideal jingle does nothing but repeat "BEAUTEE SOAP" without syncopation. This is Ed Begley's role, not Sidney Greenstreet's.The movie was a bellwether in its own way. In 1947, the economy was just getting back onto a peacetime footing. People were beginning to make money again, and in the 1950s there would be an explosion of stories (eg., "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit", "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?") about the Madison Avenue ad agencies that would guide consumers into one or another channel to spend it all and go into debt doing it. Logically, in the 60s, there should have been a succession of dramas about credit card companies but it didn't happen.

dlevy1201 Very underrated. Not well known. Not shown often. Actually, this is the first time I came across this gem. Loved it, loved Clark Gable, loved Deborah Kerr. Clark was just adorable when he was talking to the women he was attracted to. The twinkle in his eye and kiss on his lips as he spoke on the phone to the previous night's paramour in his first scene was priceless. I fell in love with him AGAIN! I never realized the vastness of his facial expressions before. He looked serious and business-like when he was dealing with his advertising cronies and looked charming, fun loving and caring when he was "off he clock". There was no one more elegant, classy and sexy as Deborah Kerr. Nominated for 6 Best Actress in a Leading Role Academy Awards but never winning, remarkable. Ava Gardner always a sultry beauty, her quick, sharp dialog showed the high level of good script writing. The film showed the falseness, conniving and corrupt side of advertising vs. personal integrity, ethical behavior and morality. Good life lesson film of the time rings true today, for me at least. This has become a NEW personal favorite.