In my favorite scene, Pat Garrett (played by James Coburn) orders Bob Dylan's character to read aloud the cans on the shelves while he interrogates two other men about the whereabouts of Billy the Kid. As the tension mounts and we wait to see which man is going to pull his gun first, Bob Dylan's trademark voice and diction can be heard in the background, going, "Beans . . . Baked beans . . . Salmon . . . Lima beans . . . Beans . . . Succotash . . . Quality beans . . ." It's kind of hilarious.
Ha, ha! Capt. Spaulding, that's my absolute favorite scene in the movie also. Didn't he also hit a questioning note, saying
Beef stew? It's been so long since I've seen this, this is the scene that really sticks with me, which makes me sad after reading your great review. I need to revisit it soon.
There's been a lot of discussion of people not remembering movies to comment on them. I've been trying to slide older movies in lately, as I tend to watch quite a few of them that sound interesting. The last two I've commented on came from the Turner Classic Moves cable channel and the next one up is from the same:
Two Sisters From Boston (1946)
While this is described as a "comedy/musical," there is more comedy than music and the music is integral to the plot. In other words, people don't just break out into song for no reason. I'm not knocking that type of movie, but I must say that until this year, musicals of
any kind were not my cup of tea, save for something like
The Wizard of Oz. But as I've been exposed to more of the Fred Astaire/Gene Kelly type of film, I've enjoyed various musicals more and more, as a lot of them have comedy and/or a good plot to go along with them. Sorry I had to use that preface but it's just a fair warning that I may be sounding off on more musicals in the future, just not exclusively.
Two Sisters From Boston stars Kathryn Grayson, who was one of MGM's biggest stars ever, June Allyson (whom I never paid much attention to except in her films with my personal movie hero, Jimmy Stewart, and her Depends commercials), Jimmy Durante, and Peter Lawford. Grayson gets top billing but Allyson totally steals the movie out from under her. Grayson plays Abigail and Allyson plays her sister, Martha, both of whom are from a snooty, turn-of-the-century family. Abigail is in New York, ostensibly singing in the Opera on her Uncle's dime, but in reality dancing and singing at a burlesque house run by Jimmy Durante. It's a very innocent (for our time) burlesque house, with frilly, long bloomers being about the most risque' thing exposed. But a rumor gets out back in Boston about Abigail, so Aunt, Uncle, and sister are off to NY to see if it's true. With Durante running interference at every step, the family is fooled into thinking she's an opera star. When Martha finds out, she (reluctantly at first) also helps in fooling the family to help her sister's opera dream come true.
If this sounds all rather silly, it is, but it's a lot of fun. I never knew Allyson to have comedic chops before and she does. Plus, in 1946, I couldn't believe the Depends lady of commercial ads was so cute. And that's up against Grayson, who was no slouch herself in the looks department. Yeah, Durante mugs it up as usual but he's harmless. If you ever catch yourself finding it on TCM, give it a whirl. It's almost worth it for one site gag alone involving a dog in a recording studio.
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