SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Antonius Block William Powell is delightful, Jean Harlow is warm and vulnerable, Rosalind Russell is charming, and even Franchot Tone, who plays a millionaire playboy who jilts Russell for Harlow without truly knowing his own mind, is witty. The dialog, particularly in the first half of the movie, is light and amusing, and there are a couple of nice musical numbers. It gets a little fast paced and soap operatic towards the end, but it's always entertaining. This is the film that got Powell and Harlow together personally for the last two years of her life, and their chemistry shows. The early scene with them lounging together and him proposing in his own way as she drowses off is fantastic, and Powell's scenes with the old granny are also priceless. It's also fun to see a young Mickey Rooney in a couple of scenes. Not perfect but watch this one for the cast and their performances.

st-shot Jean Harlow shows she can neither dance or sing well in Reckless, A Selznick driven production cynically attempting to cash in on the "Platinum Blonde's" tabloid fresh brief marriage to producer Paul Bern. The role is tailored made for the better voiced, trained dancer Crawford but MGM and director Victor Fleming instead opt for evasive action shooting Jean's double in long shot from the side and hiding her behind the gaudy costumes of the chorus to make up for her hoofer inefficiencies. When she sings (or is dubbed) the Kern, Hammerstein tune Reckless it comes across as bad Mae West. Ned Riley (William Powell) manages the blossoming Broadway career of Mona Leslie. He wants to marry her but vacillates and loses her to spoiled playboy Bob Harrison (Franchot Tone) who on a whim buys out an entire show to watch her perform alone. They rush into marriage, Bob dumping intended "Jo" ( Roz Russell ) much to the discomfort of the upper crust society that Leslie feels out of place in. When Jo quickly rebounds and marries Bob predictably acts out and things snowball from there to tragedy.In its early scenes Reckless is buoyantly screwball, eventually becoming deadly serious before sealing its fate with an insipid redemption. Harlow underwhelms in every way. Somewhat detached to both lovers she provides little spark in her scenes with either though Powell and Tone acquit themselves well in their respective roles. Shot from the waist up smiling as she plows through her dance numbers Fleming goes as far as dissolving a trained professionals steps and gams to Harlow's upper torso in one shot to pull off the ruse. By throwing caution to the wind and playing against Harlow's weaknesses Selznick's actions regarding this picture are succinctly summed up in the title.

tavm This being Black History Month, I checked this movie out from the library because IMDb mentioned this among the films that had Nina Mae McKinney in it, specifically the "Reckless" number. Well, she's in it all right, at the end of the song when, after the Jean Harlow character gets murdered near the number's end, Ms. McKinney sings the final verses. Trouble is, her singing is in a group shot at that end that's so far away you can't really see her on the television screen. I'm thinking this has to do with the fact that, unless they played domestics, black performers weren't allowed to be on the same screen as their white counterparts, not unlike the line in Show Boat that I saw and heard this morning about the same thing concerning the play in there when Julie almost got arrested. While I was looking for Nina during the rest of the picture, I got mostly bored with the plot of the triangle between Harlow, William Powell, and Franchot Tone. It was interesting when I recognized many of the supporting players: Nat Pendleton, Ted Healy after leaving The Three Stooges to Columbia, May Robson, Rosalind Russell, a 14 year-old Mickey Rooney in a couple of scenes, frequent Marx Brothers foil Margaret Dumont as one of the women at the end yelling at the Harlow character to get off the stage, and, as the jockey Gold Dust, former "Our Gang"-er Allen "Farina" Hoskins. Other than that, the dialogue went for such long stretches, especially when the Powell character was drunk, that I was just waiting for the movie to end. I did sort of liked the final 5 minutes but that's it. So for all that, I don't really recommend Reckless.

Sleepy-17 This really seems like a Marion Davies vehicle: comedienne who really can't dance or sing is called upon to do so (but her songs are dubbed). This one has ornate, ridiculous-but-not-Busby Berkely routines, and the usual good, almost artistic, direction by Victor Fleming. But it also has William Powell and Jean Harlow! I've never seen Powell more relaxed and fun; he has obvious chemistry not just with Harlow but with May Robson as Granny! The scenes between him and May are a delight. And Harlow's acting is great! So it's a must-see for fans of Powell and Harlow. Just be prepared, the musical scenes are a joke, and the final scene is so ill-conceived it's a let-down. Otherwise, this is first-rate.