Li'l Abner

1959
6.7| 1h53m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 11 December 1959 Released
Producted By: Paramount
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A comedy musical based on the comic strip charcters created by Al Capp. When residents of Dogpatch, USA are notified by the government that they must evacuate because of atomic bomb testing, they try to persuade the government that their town is worth saving. Meanwhile, Earthquake McGoon wants to marry Daisy Mae; Daisy Mae wants to marry Li'l Abner, and Li'l Abner just wants to go fishing.

Genre

Comedy, Music, Family

Watch Online

Li'l Abner (1959) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Melvin Frank

Production Companies

Paramount

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime.
Watch Now
Li'l Abner Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Li'l Abner Audience Reviews

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
mark.waltz Abner, Mammy and Pappy Yokum, Daisy Mae, Marryin' Sam and all those other hillbilly characters are musically reunited for the film version of the hit 1956 Broadway musical. The moonshine is flowing, Mammy Yokum has just finished a batch of her muscle building Yokum Berry Tonic (backwoods steroids!), and Pappy Yokum is jumpin' around more excited than a mating grasshopper. The result is a rootin', tootin' musical confectionery delight.Dog Patch USA has been chosen by the Pentagon as the most unnecessary spot on Earth and has the dubious honor of being made a bomb testing site. But when Mammy Yokum's tonic (which turns wimps into the Incredible Hulk) is discovered to be the most wonderful find since Television, Dog Patch is saved, for now.... Greedy General Bullmoose (Howard St. John) finds out that Li'l Abner will be the heir to the Yokum Berry Tonic fortune, and arranges for his mistress (the apply named Appassionata Von Climax) to catch Abner in the Sadie Hawkins Day race, breaking Daisy Mae's heart. Mammy and Pappy Yokum sense evil afoot and join forces with Marryin' Sam to reunited Daisy Mae with her beloved not-so-dumb hunk. The handsome Peter Palmer reprises his role as Abner, showing off a beautiful tenor singing voice, while Joe E. Marks ("Peter Pan") and Billie Hayes ("Puffnstuff's" Witchipoo) are his loving, if unlikely parents. Leslie Parrish makes a charming Daisy Mae, while the lovable Stubby Kaye ("Guys and Dolls") steals every scene he is in as Marryin' Sam. Years before cutting in front of Shelley Winters to climb up the upside down Christmas tree in "The Poseidon Adventure", Stella Stevens was Ms. Von Climax, while that "Too Wong Foo" doll, Julie Newmar, is unforgettably silent (but fortunately not invisible) as Stuppefyin' Jones, Dog Patch's "secret weapon". Bern Hoffman as Earthquake McGoon and Al Nesor as Evil Eye Fleagle are others worth mentioning. The score includes such riotous production numbers as "Jubilation T. Cornpone" (the town hero that helped the South loose the civil war) and "The Country's in the Very Best of Hands", a song that remains quite appropriate more than 50 years later. Daisy Mae gets to sing two lovely duets, "I'm Past My Prime" (with Kaye) and "Namely You" (with Palmer)."Li'l Abner" has only had a brief concert revival in New York, so a new production of it is long overdue. The movie is one of the most faithful renditions of a Broadway show and a lot of fun from start to finish. Everybody gets moments to shine, and sharp viewers will have to look underneath the country bumpkin attire to spot Valarie Harper ("Rhoda") and Beth Howland (Vera on TV's "Alice") in chorus parts. And yes, that is Paramount's top box office draw of 1959, Jerry Lewis, in a memorable walk-on. The cartoonish filming and obvious backdrop set totally work, and remind me of 1954's "Red Garters" which had a similar theme and an artistic approach to its use of somewhat surrealistic sets. Michael Kidd's choreography is right up there with other outdoorsy musicals such as "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" and "Oklahoma!".
clint9laing When "bkoganbing" (of Buffalo) calls Charles E. Wilson a "flannelmouth" it is clear where he stands, but he is sustaining a lie and a slander against Charles E. Wilson. Mr. Wilson was truly one of America's finest business leaders: not only did he start on the assembly line for GM but, even when he was CEO, he kept his Union card framed and on the wall of his office. He DID NOT SAY what that other poster said he said, during his confirmation hearings. He was asked about what effect some legislation or other (or policy) would have on GM. Wilson replied that "it would be good for America. And what's good for America is good for General Motors." The small, silly, anti-capitalistic journalists of that day jumped on the chance to rewrite that testimony and slander one of America's best. Pres. Eisenhower was a great judge of character, and he knew what a great man Wilson was. Shame on the previous poster for sustaining this lie.
jkumpire I am shocked at some of the comments posted here. To me it seems like we have become so jaded as a society that a simple, funny musical that you need a drop of education about is consigned to the trash heap of history.The 1950's was a great time in history, change was on the horizon, and the Cold War hung over everyone's head. The problem is that the change agents of the 1960's decided to destroy the past instead of improve on it. So a simple play that had good satire and music in it became not intense, or sexy, or socially relevant enough for the avant-garde tastes of modern times.It's a funny musical, no more than that, and it aspires to nothing else. enjoy it for what it is, good wholesome fun.
Jim Colyer Al Capp's characters translate to Broadway and then to Hollywood. Capp lost a leg in a trolley accident as a boy. His bitterness wraps itself in satire. The music is forgettable. My interest is Julie Newmar as Stupefyin' Jones. She is a secret weapon created by Available Jones and a metaphor for the atomic bomb. He unleashes her in the Sadie Hawkins Day race to stupefy men so that the women of Dogpatch can catch them. Julie is devastating in seamed nylons. She was the sexiest woman in the history of women---5'11" and 145 pounds. Li'l Abner is steeped in Cold War thinking and regarded as dated although it does turn up on the stage from time to time.