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Posted: |
Jan 15, 2007 - 11:43 PM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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This one was on TCM the other night. Now I know it has been mentioned in passing over the years, often with the characterization, "guilty pleasure." You know, Marvin & Clint 'singing', etc.
Maybe it's because I was watching it widescreen for the first time, what do I know, all's I can say is guilt be damned, I LOVED it. The photography was gorgeous. Marvin was outstanding from beginning to end. Clint was not the bad singer he's been made out to be. Jean Seberg was positively lovely. The supporting cast acted its collective heart out; exuberance all 'round. The chorus was astounding, their numbers pure corkers. The intermission music was beyond soaring. Hats off to Loewe, Previn and Riddle. GREAT arrangements. This was one rollicking piece of entertainment.
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Any thoughts on the gay subtext?
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LOL!
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PAINT YOUR WAGON is a testament to how sumptuously, ravishingly gorgeous movies in the 1950s and 1960s could look, and just how dreadfully awful a film from any period could be.
A few years earlier, my cousins made an equally ill-conceived film called THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL. It's jaw-droppingly beautiful to look at, has a terrific cast, and boasts a magnificent Elmer Bernstein score -- and is utterly unwatcheable. A comedy that is not only not funny, but offensively unfunny. At an hour and thirty minutes it would be just another very bad movie but, at two hours and forty-five minutes, it's a crime against humanity.
Obviously, both films had been made by people who had great track records, and should've known better (well, Joshua Logan seems to have specialized in making wretched movies; he was a disaster as a film director) but, for whatever reason(s), they inflicted their -- shall we say -- imperfect visions on an unsuspecting and undeserving public.
It just goes to prove that all the money and good intentions in the world don't automatically yield a work of art, or worthwhile entertainment.
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Joshua Logan ruined every musical he touched.
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Logan evidently was far more effective in the theater than he ever was on screen (even "Camelot"'s saving graces aren't totally immune).
I kinda like Clint's (uh-oh!) warbling of "I Talk to the Trees" - casual and altogether convincing.
And, if enfeebled memory is accurate, Marvin's charming take on "Wandrin' Star" won him a Grammy.
As for one of my favorite all-time directors, the SERIOUSLY unheralded (these superficial-Rice Krispies-flash-with-no-substance days) JOHN STURGES, his A-list achievements (Bad Day at Black Rock, The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape) more than mitigate some of his misconceived efforts (Take "Sergeants 3" - please).
Which is what - misconceived - "Hallelujah Trail" is (aside from Lancaster's wry performance, Bernstein's bucolic score and the impressive cinematography).
(To say nothing of Donald Pleasence's genuinely embarrassing, if not outright offensive, inebriated "Indian". Where was PC when you really needed it?!)
Guess Wilder's famous fade-out for "Some Like It Hot" says it all:
"Nobody's perfect".
Fer instance:
Twasn't Paddy Chayefsky responsible for "Wagon"'s script but Alan Jay Lerner.
The preceding was an unpaid public service on behalf of TIPPA (Truth in Personally Professional Advertising) ...
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You're quite right (which we'd forgotten to remember) concerning Presnell's robust rendition of "Maria".
If there's an authentic highlight of the film, this is it.
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But why would anyone call the wind "Maria?"
Why not just call it "Fred?"
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I grew up watching this movie on Beta. Wore the heck out of that tape. I saw it again a couple of years ago. I think it's great entertainment, except the movie loses steam in the last act. Especially with all the bull-destroying-the-town hijynks. I don't deal well with madcap zaniness.
Yeah, "They Call The Wind Maria" is a great song.
For what it's worth (probably not much, I'm no authority on musicals), but I enjoy this a lot more than Oklahoma.
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Anyone have any historical insight as to why the film pronounces it "Ma-RIAH" rather than the usual way?
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