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Key to the City

Play trailer Poster for Key to the City Released Aug 25, 1950 1h 39m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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Steve Fisk (Clark Gable) is a longshoreman turned mayor of a small California city. Clarissa Standish (Loretta Young) is an upper-class, college-educated woman and mayor of a little town in Maine. While attending a mayors' convention in San Francisco, the two opposites meet and eventually fall in love. But romantic misunderstandings during the convention, and political dealings with Fisk's rival, crooked politician Les Taggart (Raymond Burr), threaten to put a stop to their romance.

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Key to the City

Critics Reviews

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Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews The laughs are hard to come by. Rated: D Jan 6, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Steve D Not a whole lot to it but it is really cute. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/22/23 Full Review ashley h Key to the City is a pretty good film. It is about ex-longshoreman Steve Fisk meets Clarissa Standish from New England at a mayors convention in San Francisco. Clark Gable and Loretta Young give decent performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. George Sidney did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the humor and romance. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member a silly comedy movie i enjoyed this movie worth a watch. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Ordinary comedy of note more for its cast than any special quality the film itself possesses. Gable and Loretta Young are reunited for the only time after their torrid affair on the set of Call of the Wild resulted in a secret child who was one of Hollywood's most notorious open secrets. This was also Frank Morgan's final completed film, he started work on the disastrous Judy Garland version of Annie Get Your Gun but suffered a heart attack and passed away before the film was restarted with Betty Hutton. As for this picture's story its a bunch of silly nonsense of misunderstandings but the cast give it a game reading. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member clark u can unlock my door anytime Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Key to the City (1950) This isn't exactly a laugh riot, but it's not a bad little Clark Gable and Loretta Young romantic comedy either. The movie starts out with upright New England Mayor Clarissa Standish (Young) arriving at a San Francisco hotel for a mayors convention. She meets up with rough neck longshoreman and Puget City Mayor, Steve Fisk (Gable) and the sparks fly. Although Clarissa isn't exactly a prude, she might be a little more conscientious about her straight-laced constituents back home, where Steve wants to have some fun too. Despite the best of intentions, they seem to get themselves sent to jail a few times to the frustration of Police Sergeant Hogan (James Gleason), who tries to hide the mayors from the pesky newspaper reporters. Although both mayors are falling in love with each other, they're very much dedicated to their people back home. Steve is worried about a political adversary left up in Puget City who he has tossed into the city fountain on past occasions. The adversary's henchman, and fellow longshoreman, Les Taggert (Raymond Burr, the only guy in Hollywood who can look down at Gable) comes down to try to slip a much needed home-building project through, but with some graft tucked away inside. This film has got a lot of familiar faces from MGM's stable of character actors, including Frank Morgan who plays Fire Chief Duggan, Steve's trusty side-kick, and Lewis Stone, who plays Judge Silas Standish, Clarissa's loving Uncle. This is a very good movie to enjoy. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Key to the City

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Movie Info

Synopsis Steve Fisk (Clark Gable) is a longshoreman turned mayor of a small California city. Clarissa Standish (Loretta Young) is an upper-class, college-educated woman and mayor of a little town in Maine. While attending a mayors' convention in San Francisco, the two opposites meet and eventually fall in love. But romantic misunderstandings during the convention, and political dealings with Fisk's rival, crooked politician Les Taggart (Raymond Burr), threaten to put a stop to their romance.
Director
George Sidney
Producer
Z. Wayne Griffin
Screenwriter
Albert Beich, Robert Riley Crutcher
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 25, 1950, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 6, 2016
Runtime
1h 39m
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