Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, May 9, 2024

THE COWBOY AND THE BLONDE

THE COWBOY AND THE BLONDE (1941). Director: Ray McCary.

"Oh, you beautiful dope!"

Actress Crystal Wayne (Mary Beth Hughes), a complete bitch, is softened when she falls in love with a hopeful new cowboy star, Lank Garrett (George Montgomery), which is just as well because Garrett proves to be a hopeless actor except when he's doing love scenes with Crystal. The couple have a series of dumb misunderstandings throughout the 64 minute movie, which seems three hours long. Alan Mowbray plays Crystal's liaison in the studio. Minerva Urecal shows up for a minute or two. It's hard to believe this dog was actually released by 20th Century-Fox, as it looks like nothing so much as a poverty row item with an undistinguished cast. Hughes is at least somewhat vivid as Crystal; Montgomery has some charm but little else. This "comedy" has not got one single real laugh in it.

Verdict: 64 minutes long and only one half-hearted chuckle! *.

2 comments:

angelman66 said...

I need to see more Westerns. I grew up not liking them but I think I would change my mind if I gave them a chance...

William said...

I was late to the western genre myself. Saw lots of western TV shows when I was a kid because my family watched them and back then every other show was a western, but I never really cared for western fare that much. Then I started looking at some well-regarded western films -- not to mention Roy Rogers (but that's a whole other story, LOL) - and find that I like and genuinely enjoy many of them. The best westerns --such as Willie Wyler's "Big Country" -- transcend genre in any case.