Starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Marvin, Jean Seburg, and Harve Presnell
Directed by Joshua Logan
Music by Fredrick Loewe and Andre Previn; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
This one has a bit of a long history. Louis B. Mayer bought soon after the original Broadway show opened in 1951, but he was fired from MGM, and then passed away and was never able to do anything with it. Eddie Fisher bought it in 1964, intending to turn it into a big Cinerama film. Paramount picked it up after that, hoping to compete with other big musicals and westerns coming out around the same time. They lured Lee Marvin away from The Wild Bunch with a big million-dollar paycheck and Clint Eastwood for his cool factor after the success of the Italian Dollars trilogy. That neither man could sing apparently never crossed their minds...but maybe it should, given the results. What else went wrong with this tale of two miners and the bride between them? Let's start as miners head out west in search of gold and find out...
The Story: In gold-crazy 1849 California, Ben Runsom (Marvin) discovers the precious metal when he buries the brother of a man (Eastwood) who was found near death after a covered wagon crash. He stakes his claim, and takes in the fellow, calling him "Pardner." Tents the miners call No-Name City spring up around the gold mine. The men enjoy drunken revelry when they're not trying to wait out the frequent bouts of rain.
Tired of not having female companionship, the men convince a Mormon (John Mitchum) to auction off one of his two wives. Ben is the ultimate winner of lovely Elizabeth (Seburg), who lays down the law when he tries to jump on her. She'll be his wife, if he makes her a real home, but she's nobody's property. She's delighted when he and the other miners do build her a cabin. After Ben joins the other miners in kidnapping six French tarts, she falls for Pardner as well. She likes both men so much, she convinces them both to be her husbands and all live together.
That works until the gold starts to run dry and Ben realizes how much three people eat. Ben hatches a scheme to tunnel under the city and gather the gold dust that falls through the cracks in the saloons. Meanwhile, a hot-under-the-collar preacher (Alan Dexter) gets the residents all fired up over the sin and degradation in the town, and Elizabeth rethinks the marriage arrangement when a family of settlers stay with them for the winter and think Pardner is her only husband.
The Song and Dance: At the very least, unlike Camelot, you can't say it's dull. There's enough plot here for six westerns. It was also filmed on real locations in Oregon and California, which adds authenticity and some nice cinematography to the gold rush plot. Some of the supporting cast works pretty well, too. Ray Walston gets a few good bits as Scottish miner "Mad" Jack Duncan, Harve Presnell lends his gorgeous baritone to gambler Rotten Luck Willie (and gets the best song in the score, "They Call the Wind Mariah"), and Tom Ligon has some funny moments late in the film as Horton Linty, the young son of the settlers whom Ben brings in on the tunnel scheme.
Favorite Number: We open and close with long shots of the miners and the wagon train as they travel along, singing about how "I'm On My Way." Pardner sings about how "I Still See Elisa," even though he has no sweetheart. Country rock group The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and a passel of hippies turn the big number "Hand Me Down that Can 'O Beans" into a muddy mélange of jumping bodies and lots of drinking. Rotten Luck Willie passes the time during a rain storm with the stunning ballad "They Call the Wind Mariah."
After they build the cabin, Elizabeth (dubbed by Anita Gordon) admits how happy she is in her new home "A Million Miles Away Beyond the Door." Pardner woos her with the gentle "I Talk to the Trees" after she wonders if he gets lonely. Willie and the chorus get the town riled for their new French ladies when "There's a Coach Comin' In." The preacher gets the town fired up in another way, ripping into "The Gospel of No-Name City" and how they're all going down there in a handbasket if they don't repent and soon. Ben wonders if it's time to say good-bye after Elizabeth kicks him out, as he and the chorus admit they're born under a "Wand'rn Star."
Trivia: Lee Marvin's rendition of "Wand'rin Star" was a surprise #1 hit in England and Australia and did fairly well on the charts in the US as well.
The original 1951 production ran a year, not bad but no blockbuster. It actually did slightly better in London in 1953, running almost two years. It's never been seen again in New York or London, save for an off-Broadway Encores concert in 2015.
It was the seventh-biggest hit movie at the box office in 1969, but the production and marketing costs were so great, it still didn't make its money back.
It's probably best-known today for being represented in a segment from a Simpsons episode where Bart and Homer can't believe they're watching a musical with a singing Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood.
What I Don't Like: First of all, let's discuss the leads. Marvin at least looks the part of a grizzled old prospector, and his real-life heavy drinking that caused so many delays on the set is certainly authentic to the character. However, "Wand'rin Star" aside, he's no great shakes as a singer, and his scenery-chewing worked better in the overtly spoofy Cat Ballou than it does here. Eastwood's thin singing voice does "I Talk to the Trees" and "I Still See Elisa" no favors, and he just seems bored. Seburg is only slightly more animated. Her character is a blend of Ben's daughter and the Mormon wife from the show, and they never figure out how to play her. She comes off as alternately feisty, sensible, and frigid, depending on what the script requires.
While the movie's look is a little more colorful than Camelot, it still doesn't work with the tone of the film. The scenery is too gritty and real for the miners' slapstick antics, especially when they start tunneling in the second half. In fact, the movie has no idea what kind of a western it wants to be. Seburg and Eastwood are playing gentle romance, Martin thinks he's back in Cat Ballou, and the rest of the cast doesn't have enough to do to balance them out. The ending is less of an ending and more "we couldn't figure out how to finish this, let's just destroy the set." There's also the entire incident with the Mormon being rather sexist, too, even if Elizabeth did enter into the auction of her own free will.
Oh, and the only thing left of the original show are about half the songs, Ben Rumson, the Gold Rush setting, the opening with Ben staking his claim during a funeral, and a Mormon auctioning off one of his wives. Originally, Pardner was a Hispanic miner in love with Ben's daughter, the Mormon's wife ran off with another miner, and Ben passed away in the end.
The Big Finale: For all the problems, the movie does have small following of fans who remember seeing it when it came out or on cable and enjoying the comedy and cast. I like it a lot more than the deadly dull Camelot, but it's still recommended mainly for major fans of Eastwood or the epic musicals or westerns of the 1960's.
Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming; it's currently free with ads at Pluto TV On Demand.
This was on HDNET movies the other day. I turned it off about the time the Mormon showed up. I was bored to tears, although the "Mariah" song was pretty.
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