So, I don’t know how many of you have seen Gentleman’s Agreement, or read the book, but quick summary. Phil, who’s a writer, is hired to write a series on anti-Semitism for a magazine, and, for a hook, decides he’s going to pretend to be Jewish and see what life is like for a Jew in New York. When he’s hired, he meets the niece of the publisher, and the two of them have the fastest moving relationship in the world. It’s pretty much:
“Hi, I’m Phil.”
“I’m Kathy.”
“Want to become engaged?”
“Sure.”
So, Phil does his experiment, and during it, he ends up fighting with Kathy, who, while she’s not a rabid anti-Semite or anything, sort of takes it for granted and is prejudiced against Jews and has all these stereotypes and all.
Meanwhile, in a related subplot, Phil’s childhood friend Dave, who’s Jewish, has just gotten out of the army, and has a job lined up in New York, if he can find a place to live, with the housing shortage and all that. Otherwise, he’ll have to turn it down.
So it turns out that Kathy has this cottage in Darien where she used to live when she was still married to her first husband, but, after the divorce, moved to the city, and now the cottage is vacant. So that would be perfect for Dave and his family, and he could take the job and all is good. But she doesn’t want to sell it or rent it to him, because in Darien there’s this sort of gentleman’s agreement that you shouldn’t sell to Jews…they’re not welcome as residents.
So, Phil and Kathy have this giant fight, they break up, and all. Then Kathy, after somebody at a party tells an anti-Semitic joke and everybody just stands around looking embarrassed, has a revelation, and realizes that by not doing anything about anti-Semitism, you’re part of the problem, and that Phil was right all along, and that she’s a wimp. She decides to let Dave have the apartment, she and Phil make up, the article is a success, and everyone lives happily ever after.
And then there’s Anne. Anne is the Woman’s Editor at the magazine, and she’s a firecracker; strongwilled and fun and a little bit bitchy, and she gets along great with Phil and Dave and shares Phil’s opinions on things and isn’t afraid to stand up for what she believes in and is really just kind of awesome. And, of course, she ends the movie single.
It’s an extremely frustrating book and movie for me in that regard, even though I like them both, because why on earth is Phil with conventional Kathy the milquetoast when Anne is right there? And you know she likes him and would date him if she could. So, who’s with me?