Love conquers all. That includes reality as defined in this pre-Code tearjerker. I would sympathize with the moral if the end weren't exaggerated into such a pile of mush. As others point out, the first half is sprightly as Gable and Harlow work the shady side of life. But then Gable accidentally kills a guy, while Harlow gets nabbed for a con job. So it's off to the hoosegow for both. Actually Gable drops out, while we follow Harlow's jaunt in a military- type slammer for women. Babes behind bars it ain't. The girls get to wear shapeless smocks, presided over by a bunch of long black crows (Patterson, et al.). One thing this segment proves—women can march from here to there in lockstep as well as men. Some pre-Code highlights—Harlow in a gown unruffled by underwear; an actual socialist loudly denouncing the "system"; an unmarried Harlow with-child after an undisguised night with Gable; a peek-a-boo with Harlow in the bathtub. And though it's not pre-Code, the black minister and his inmate daughter rise above stereotype of the day. In fact, Theresa Harris is so winning as daughter Lillie Mae, she nearly steals the show. I can see why she had such a long career, even if mainly as menials.The movie's a good look at MGM's golden twosome in their prime. And if the material falters, the stars manage to shine. So fans should be happy, despite the soggy ending.

Hold Your Man finds Jean Harlow, working class girl from Brooklyn falling for con man Clark Gable and getting in all kinds of trouble. The film starts out as his film, but by the time it's over the emphasis definitely switches to her character.The film opens with Gable pulling a street con game with partner, Garry Owen and the mark yelling for the cops. As he's being chased Gable ducks into Harlow's apartment and being he's such a charming fellow, she shields him.Before long she's involved with him and unfortunately with his rackets. Gable, Harlow, and Owen try pulling a badger game on a drunken Paul Hurst, but then Gable won't go through with it. Of course when Hurst realizes it was a con, he's still sore and gets belligerent and Gable has to punch him out. But then he winds up dead outside Harlow's apartment and that platinum blond hair makes her easy to identify. She goes up on an accomplice to manslaughter.The rest of the film is her's and her adjustment to prison life. Her interaction with the other female prisoners give her some very good scenes. I think some of the material was later used for the MGM classic Caged.Harlow also gets to do the title song and it's done as torch style ballad, very popular back in those days. She talk/sings it in the manner of Sophie Tucker and quite well. Gable is well cast as the con man who develops a conscience, a part he'd play often, most notably in my favorite Gable film, Honky Tonk.Still it's Harlow who gets to shine in this film. I think it's one of the best she did at MGM, her fans should not miss it.

I always loved Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner, but not so much Jean Harlow. Me = dumb. I'd only seen clips of her films here and there. I always thought she was a hot one-liner, a glamour girl. But after seeing this, my first full length Jean Harlow experience, I admit that Miss Harlow was a truly great screen artist with the gift of creating rich characters. I simply fell in love with her, not because she was the first blonde bombshell or because she died young and became a legend. In this film, Miss Harlow's character is multi-dimensional beyond the traditional 1930's moll. She starts out one place and travels an arduous journey to end up on the other side of life. I loved her tough exterior. I loved her smile. I loved her song at the piano. My God, she was stupendous, she made me burst into tears when she sang her sad song. Most of all, I loved the HAPPY ENDING, Hollywood style. One other thing I was thrilled about was the African American inmate and her preacher father. Anita Loos was SO ahead of her time. She wrote 2 characters who were so lovely and so real. The inmate girl and her father brought such harmony to their scenes with all the white folk. A REVELATION for me. I hate stereotypes.

Characters are believable when they are consistent, or when a circumstance arises that will justify change. The authors appear to have forgotten these basics. What begins as a very entertaining slam-bang wisecracking streetsmarts drama, with Gable and especially Harlow playing their roles to the hilt, goes soft after he abandons her and she finds herself in prison and pregnant. The toughness and grit that made the characters so appealing are nowhere in evidence once she finds herself dewy-eyed in love with him, and once his pangs of conscience drive him into the snare he is so determined to avoid. In real life (sic) she would have known dozens of guys like him, making certain not to get serious about any of them; for his part, she wouldn't have been the first girl he left in the lurch without giving it a second thought. Enjoy the first half of the picture, but then be ready for a letdown.