I first saw this move in 1959 as an 11-year-old, and thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen. When Hope jumps into the back of the buckboard and falls through and can't climb out so he's forced to run to keep up with the horses, his legs were a blur, and I remember laughing so hard my ribs ached.
I'm well past 11 today, and I see things differently. The scene in question evoked not so much as a chuckle from me when I saw it recently, though it was fun to reconnect with such a vivid memory from my childhood. (It was the same sense of deja vu I got watching Gene Autry and the Phantom Empire).
Even by the low movie standards of Bob Hope, this is lesser Hope. He doesn't act in this movie, he monologues. It's one one-liner after another. And, really becomes quite tedious after awhile.
The premise .. not that anyone cares .. Hope plays an insurance agent who sells a policy to Jesse James (played by Wendell Corey, who was terrible). James is a somewhat high-risk customer, so Hope is sent out by his company to protect their investment by protecting James, which puts him at risk from all sorts of people and goings-on, including Jesse James himself. The idea is Hope's character gets into one hopeless situation after another, and comes through without a scratch, oblivious even to what's going on, then offers some awful one-line commentary on what just happened. Repeat for 90 minutes. Boring.
There's a ton of cameos at the end of the picture from many of your favorite western stars: Hugh O'Brien, Ward Bond, James Arness, Gary Cooper, Gail Davis, Fess Parker, Roy Rogers, and many others. All these characters appear without explanation to side Hope's character in the climactic gunfight.
My favorite was Jay Silverheels as Tonto, who plonks one of the James Gang with an arrow in the back, and in the denouement of the picture, this same guy, arrow sticking from his back, gets up and walks meekly off to jail. If you're beginning to feel this was a live action Looney-Tune, you're getting the picture of what this picture was about.
Rhonda Fleming was slumming and stuck in this disaster with Hope, but she never looked lovelier. Lord, but that was a beautiful woman! In addition to the cameos mentioned earlier, this movie featured some of my favorite minor-league players: Jim Davis as Frank James, craggy-faced Will Wright as Hope's boss, and the exotic-looking Gloria Talbot as an Indian princess.
I loved it in spite of myself. 6 out of 10.
I'm well past 11 today, and I see things differently. The scene in question evoked not so much as a chuckle from me when I saw it recently, though it was fun to reconnect with such a vivid memory from my childhood. (It was the same sense of deja vu I got watching Gene Autry and the Phantom Empire).
Even by the low movie standards of Bob Hope, this is lesser Hope. He doesn't act in this movie, he monologues. It's one one-liner after another. And, really becomes quite tedious after awhile.
The premise .. not that anyone cares .. Hope plays an insurance agent who sells a policy to Jesse James (played by Wendell Corey, who was terrible). James is a somewhat high-risk customer, so Hope is sent out by his company to protect their investment by protecting James, which puts him at risk from all sorts of people and goings-on, including Jesse James himself. The idea is Hope's character gets into one hopeless situation after another, and comes through without a scratch, oblivious even to what's going on, then offers some awful one-line commentary on what just happened. Repeat for 90 minutes. Boring.
There's a ton of cameos at the end of the picture from many of your favorite western stars: Hugh O'Brien, Ward Bond, James Arness, Gary Cooper, Gail Davis, Fess Parker, Roy Rogers, and many others. All these characters appear without explanation to side Hope's character in the climactic gunfight.
My favorite was Jay Silverheels as Tonto, who plonks one of the James Gang with an arrow in the back, and in the denouement of the picture, this same guy, arrow sticking from his back, gets up and walks meekly off to jail. If you're beginning to feel this was a live action Looney-Tune, you're getting the picture of what this picture was about.
Rhonda Fleming was slumming and stuck in this disaster with Hope, but she never looked lovelier. Lord, but that was a beautiful woman! In addition to the cameos mentioned earlier, this movie featured some of my favorite minor-league players: Jim Davis as Frank James, craggy-faced Will Wright as Hope's boss, and the exotic-looking Gloria Talbot as an Indian princess.
I loved it in spite of myself. 6 out of 10.