Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

classicsoncall All the while I'm watching this story, it seemed like a parody Western to me. Where else have you seen a bead studded holster like the one Johnny Hart (Rod Cameron) wore; he looked like he belonged in "Blazing Saddles" along side Cleavon Little. The principal villain Blackie (Sheldon Leonard) struck me the same way too with the Snidely Whiplash mustache and odd wardrobe. And then there was the interminable slap and kiss routine between Cameron's character and Yvonne De Carlo's Lorena Dumont. Gee, two or three times would have been enough, but even after that exchange they went for a bonus round later in the picture.I don't know, this movie just didn't feel right to me. Cameron himself looked like he might have been trying to channel Randolph Scott, what with all the outfit changes and a look that resembled his contemporary. Scott wouldn't have gotten involved in all the gimmicks though, like using the old tree escape from a posse chasing on horseback, not once but twice. Then, when Johnny gets hustled off to jail for manslaughter, the six year interlude blew by in a flash, not even a commercial break could have fixed that disconnect.And gosh - who thought it was a good idea for the six year old daughter of Hart and Rena to shoot a rattlesnake in her bedroom? Boy, the filmmakers sure were stretching for ideas there. With the chemistry and motivations being all wrong in the story between the principals, I just couldn't warm up to this one, even with Andy Devine and Fuzzy Knight in the cast. Come to think of it, even they didn't seem up to their normal hi-jinks. I think I'll go watch "Blazing Saddles" again.

mark.waltz "I'm scorching!" a dizzy saloon girl tells stranger Rod Cameron upon his entrance into the bar to which he responds, "I don't care if you're on fire!", causing a brawl which saloon owner Yvonne deCarlo breaks up with the help of a whiskey bottle. Business goes on however as fists fly with other customers paying little mind to the fight as if it were an every day occurrence. This is a western "Taming of the Shrew" where sexy Rod kisses Yvonne passionately, gets a slap across the face, and simply just kisses her again. He then compares her kissing her to taming a colt, but even then that doesn't mean he wants to keep it, causing the now enamored De Carlo to insist on a wedding. But Cameron is wanted by the law and must serve a six year prison term. Will his feisty bride wait for him or move onto the many waiting admirers or will she drop another bombshell on him? De Carlo speaks with a strange accent which is never identified even though her dubbed singing has absolutely no trace of an accent. Considering that she was a talented singer in her own right (listen to her legendary recording of "I'm Still Here" from "Follies"), dubbing her now seems a mistake, but MGM also did that with future Broadway musical legend Angela Lansbury as well! De Carlo's songs (three of them!) are pretty mediocre ("Set em' up, Joe. We gotta make dough!") although she still looks great, especially in Technicolor. If you want to see De Carlo sing on screen with her own voice, check out the adventure "Flame of the Islands" where she sings a very campy song called "Bahama Mama". She's also pretty handy with a gun, but will it prevent her from being brought down to earth by the very determined Rod Cameron? A scene of her waking up with an empty but worn looking spot in bed gives a definite impression of the marriage being consummated, pretty daring stuff considering the power of the production code.Comic relief by Andy Devine and Fuzzy Knight helps make the unbelievable plot more tolerable. It never rings true that Cameron and De Carlo whose initial meetings are hot but far from loving would just decide to marry out of nowhere. Sheldon Leonard adds the villainy as the man who threatens to come between De Carlo and Cameron, and also the man who killed somebody that Cameron was blamed for. Beverly Simmons is cloying as an annoying little girl who keeps following Cameron all over. The plot moves forward when Cameron's former fiancée (the lady-like Jan Wiley) shows up with aunt Clara Blandick to claim him, making this much more convoluted and complicated than it need to be. So while this is often pleasant, it can be also a bit irritating when the story moves from feisty to family. Fortunately, there is an exciting climax, complete with chase scene, a confrontation between hero and villain near the edge of a cliff, and a riveting scene with the little girl being held captive on a tree trunk that covers a ravine that appears to be on the verge of falling the gorge, and a final great line from Wiley that sums up the difference between the type of relationship which Cameron would have with her than the one he already has with De Carlo.

Dfree52 I came across this on YouTube after viewing a website that highlighted women in westerns from the 40s and 50s.I picked this at random and was very surprised at the result.In Technicolor, the ravishing, raven haired Yvonne DeCarlo is Lorena who runs and is the star attraction of her own saloon. Drifter Jonathan Hart (Rod Cameron) wanders in and almost immediately gets into a brawl with Blackie (Sheldon Leonard) and his gang.***POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT***When Lorena tells Jonathan she doesn't allow fighting in her place, the sparks between the two start to fly.Each time Lorena winds up and slaps Jonathan...Jonathan grabs her and lays a passionate kiss on her. This continues for a while, Lorena is both angered and aroused and is carried off to her boudoir.A shotgun wedding of sorts ensues, but Jonathan is sent to prison by his rival for Lorena, Blackie. Jonathan returns 6 years later and finds that he's a daddy of a little girl, Lorena is her mommy. Jonathan is now faced with the prospect of instant fatherhood and coping with the ultra independent Lorena, who can take care of her self and their child. There's music, dance,and some comedy...plus a climax near a waterfall. Along for the ride are Andy Devine and Fuzzy Knight. The tone reminds one of the Taming of the Shrew. There's action at the conclusion and a reckoning of Lorena and Jonathan, while Lorena is over his knee.Odd mix of western action, music, comedy and perhaps 1945 political correctness, but it works. Cameron and DeCarlo are great together and remind you of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man. Oh yeah, the climax of this movie will remind you of Wayne/O'Hara in McClintock! too.

gloryoaks I saw and forgot about countless western movies in my early years, but this is one western I recall vividly. (I picture it in Technicolor.) First, I remember fiery Yvonne De Carlo and cowboy Rod Cameron who came riding up to the establishment she owned. It was like the irresistible object encountering the immovable force. Their love-hate romance was unusual for any era, and would be almost unthinkable in today's films, but it worked for this out-of-the-mainstream movie. I've forgotten some of the details, but what impressed me most was their little girl and how she brought about the exciting conclusion of the movie and a strangely satisfying resolution to their love affair. This is one I'd like to see again, but it never turned up on TV and seems to have faded into oblivion. A pity. It was fun.