Starring Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, and Ann Miller
Directed by Charles Walters
Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
In the 1950's and 60's, Americans became fascinated with Texas and other southwestern and mid-western states as oil production boomed and drillers became millionaires. How does the story of one such Texas oil man and the two carnival performers who become entangled with him look today? Let's begin on the midway of that carnival, as Cornelius "Corny" Quinell (Skelton) throws a pitch for the dunk booth featuring his beautiful partner Debbie Telford (Williams) and find out...
The Story: Corny and Debbie haven't had much luck at the carnival. Debbie's desperately hungry when Corny helps a drunk man with a cheating carny at another booth. The man turns out to be Texas rancher and oil man Dan Sabinas (Keenan Wynn). Sabinas calls him brother and even lets him return his car to the hotel he and his sister Marilla (Paula Raymond) are staying at.
Turns out Marilla is out of town, and Sabinas drunkenly ends up in Mexico. When Corny and Debbie pull up in Sabinas' huge car, everyone thinks they're the millionaires. Corny decides he enjoys the luxury, and Debbie just likes being fed. Corny falls for Sunshine Jackson (Miller), the brassy daughter of the town sheriff. Debbie's interested in Sabinas' head foreman Slim Shelby (Keel).
After Corny accidentally loses $17,000 in a poker game, the others enter him in a chuck wagon race to earn the money. Dan turns up mad as a hornet because someone's in his room. Corny tries to get him drunk again, but has to ride the race drunk with Debbie and Slim's help.
The Song and Dance: Williams and Skelton come together for the third and final time in this noisy bit of fluff. Skelton's having a great time with his brand of wild slapstick and goofy facial expressions. Check out him getting drunk with Sabinas, or attempting to drive the chuck wagon as more and more of it ends up on the ground. The colorful western costumes, with their fringes and buckskins and gingham and elaborate embroidery, and brilliant Technicolor wide open spaces make the movie feel a lot more lavish than the small story would indicate.
Favorite Number: We open with "The Carny's Pitch," as Corny encourages cowboys to throw a ball at Williams in a glitzy pink bathing suit and see if they can dunk her. "It's Dynamite" is Miller's big solo tap routine in the hotel ballroom as Sunshine shows what she thinks is a rich oil man what she can do as she taps on a piano. "Whoa, Emma" is the folksy ballad about a beloved mare for Slim and the cowboy chorus as they gather around the fire. Debbie's attempt at a speech during a party in the ballroom somehow turns into the film's sole large-scale production number, a wild version of "Deep In the Heart of Texas" with Miller and the chorus.
The film's best "number" and Williams' only swimming ballet doesn't actually take place in the water. Slim rescued the famished Debbie from drowning after she arrived at the hotel still hungry. His mind equates her with the water...which is why, in a nifty bit of special effects, she's seen as a swimming vision swishing around his hotel room in white gauze and silver glitter. She's his "underwater dream" as Williams put it in That's Entertainment III.
What I Don't Like: This is awfully short for a major MGM musical. I wonder if they planned more numbers that either weren't filmed, or ended up on the cutting room floor. Williams surprisingly has no swimming routines besides the dream sequence and Slim rescuing Debbie from the pool. Other than her two big numbers, Miller is barely used. Keel doesn't really do much besides rescue Debbie, either. The title's a cheat, too. While the movie is set in Texas, it's only at the carnival in the first ten minutes or so and the last five minutes. It's mostly set at and around the hotel. The music is dull and the script even moreso. This is a bizarre bit of fluff that could have done with a little sharpening.
The Big Finale: Probably best for fans of Skelton or those looking for a fun way to pass an hour on TCM.
Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, the former in a remastered edition from the Warner Archives.
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