The Girl Can't Help It



"Tom: "Our story is about music, not the music of long ago, but the music that expresses the culture, the refinement and the polite grace of the present day.""

Tom Miller is a down on his luck music agent called in to help former gangster Marty "Fats" Murdock's girlfriend Jerri make it big in the music business. Of course things get complicated when those two in love, and it turns out Jerri doesn't even want to be a singer. Can they get Murdock to understand the latter and not find out about the former?

This Jayne Mansfield film is also notable for its embracing of rock and roll. It has many actual recording stars of the time perform their hits, almost like a Musical. The film also inspired John Lennon and Paul McCartney to get into music, so this film is one of the causes of The British Invasion.

"Tom: Rome wasn't built in a day. Murdock: She ain't Rome. What we're talking about is already built."
 * Distracted by the Sexy: Jerri causes several accidents by walking down the street.
 * Double Entendre: A lot of the jokes about Jerri's... equipment, including this famous line:
 * Double Entendre: A lot of the jokes about Jerri's... equipment, including this famous line:


 * Drowning My Sorrows: Tom started a while back and he didn't stop.
 * The Fifties
 * Foot Focus: After walking around the clubs in heels, there is a shot of Jerri in bare feet when she gets home.
 * Several of the audience dancers in the finale are barefoot, with quite a few closeups to show it.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: The lines about Jerri's assets, a bottle of milk bursts open when a guy sees Jerri strutting by.
 * Glory Days: Tom and Murdock had them.
 * Hello, Nurse!: Jerri.
 * Have a Gay Old Time: A newsreel mentions Murdock "making whoopie" with a bunch of bunch of girls on the French Riviera. The thing is it just meant him partying with them.
 * Hideous Hangover Cure: Averts the "Hideous" part.
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf: Jerri
 * I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy
 * Informed Ability: One might find that about Murdock's song at the end.
 * Lady in Red: Jerri's dress when Tom takes her out to the clubs to get noticed.
 * Abbey London wears a red dress when performing her number.
 * Male Gaze: Invoked by Tom when he takes Jerri to the clubs.
 * Meaningful Name: Tom and Jerri, although the latter is just a stage name, and her actual name is Georgiana.
 * Missing Mom: Subverted. Just watch the scene.
 * Pimped-Out Dress: Quite a few, with Julie wearing as many in her scene as Jerri does in the whole movie.
 * Pretty in Mink: Several furs, and Tom even uses one of Jerri's fox wraps as part of showing her off. She wears it coming into the club, and when the owner is around, he has her take it off and walk by, so the owner can see her full figure.
 * Sexy Walk
 * Something Else Also Rises: A scene has three of these, including a bottle of milk bursting open at the top.
 * Supreme Chef: Tom thinks this about Jerri's cooking.
 * The One That Got Away: In the film, Tom was Real Life singer Julie London's agent, and he fell in love with her. But he let her get away, and that drove him to start drinking and sent his career spiraling.
 * Widescreen Shot: When Tom introduces the film, he notices the Aspect Ratio is wrong, and then has the camera spread to widescreen.
 * Wolf Whistle: The paperboy does it after seeing Jerri.
 * Woman in White: Perhaps unintentional, but Jerri's white dress in her fist scene indicates she is more innocent than she seems.