THE RAT RACE **

"The Rat Race" began life as a Garson Kanin play and Kanin himself did the screenplay with direction duties going to an up-and-coming Robert Mulligan. It's a rom-com with a hard nose and a tough edge about a naive young saxophone player from Milwaukee, (Tony Curtis, very good), who comes to New York and finds himself sharing a room with an honest, hard-boiled taxi dancer played by Debbie Reynolds. The obvious happens but the writing, direction and acting, (Jack Oakie, Kay Medford and Don Rickles are in the supporting cast), are good enough for that not to be a problem. This movie is something of a charmer and Reynolds is the real surprise. It was probably the first time she had a good, meaty role and she's excellent making you wish she had been given more serious parts during her career. There's also some nice jazz on the soundtrack.