Brash and boorish junkyard tycoon and would-be political mover and shaker Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) lands in Washington D.C., looking to buy himself a congressman or two, and bringing with him his ex-showgirl mistress, Billie Dawn (Judy Holiday). Nervous of the impact the brassy and uneducated Billie will make in polite society, Brock hires newspaperman Paul Verrall (William Holden) to provide her with a crash course in social etiquette. But Billie proves an unexpectedly avid learner…
A sharply satiric take on the Pygmalion story, in which good manners are nothing without social understanding. Holiday won a much deserved Oscar for her turn as Billie, while Crawford’s Harry Brock is said to be the inspiration for the character of Tony Soprano.