IMDb RATING
6.3/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
Facing forty, a NYC spinster on a bus tour of the West encounters a handsome rodeo cowboy who helps her forget her unsuitable city suitors.Facing forty, a NYC spinster on a bus tour of the West encounters a handsome rodeo cowboy who helps her forget her unsuitable city suitors.Facing forty, a NYC spinster on a bus tour of the West encounters a handsome rodeo cowboy who helps her forget her unsuitable city suitors.
Jean Stevens
- 'Jitterbug'
- (as Peggy Carroll)
Eddy Waller
- Bus Station Attendant
- (as Ed Waller)
- Director
- Writers
- Robert Ardrey
- Jo Swerling
- Garson Kanin(unconfirmed) (uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAlthough his character in the film is named Duke Hudkins, John Wayne got his nickname "The Duke" long before. In his early teens living in Glendale, California, Wayne had a dog named Duke. They were so inseparable that family and friends called them Little Duke and Big Duke. For Wayne, who soon entered high school theatrical productions, the name stuck.
- GoofsThe story takes place in 1938 many years before wash and wear and permapress, yet Jean Arthur's single outfit remains constantly clean and wrinkle free despite her many misadventures, including sleeping all night on the open desert.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Hollywood Hist-o-Rama: John Wayne (1961)
Featured review
An Unlikely Match Made in Hollywood
A lady who attracts suitors like flies meets a man who has women circling around him like bees to honey. Molly Truesdale, a young woman from Manhattan, takes a 14-day bus tour of the American West, where a rodeo cowboy is flipped from his horse and lands on her. Talk about meeting cute, and talk about offbeat casting. Pert and pretty comedienne, Jean Arthur, is the lady swatting away unwelcome men, while tall and tough John Wayne is Duke Hudkins, who wants to remain unattached and play the field. Actually, the two unlikely co-stars work quite well together, and Wayne's charm and Arthur's delightful voice and personality hold "A Lady Takes a Chance" together.
Burdened with a generic title that does not relate to the story, the film also suffers from Robert Ardrey's predictable screenplay, adapted from a Jo Swerling story. Despite a relatively short running time, the plot droops from time to time, and needless repetition in a hitchhiking sequence, reminiscent of "It Happened One Night," feels like padding. A few detours into a night sleeping outdoors on the prairie, the diagnosis and treatment of a sick horse, and a home-made dinner in a motel fall flat; howling coyotes are stale, horse pneumonia is boring, and the qualities of lamb chops irrelevant. However, Phil Silvers as Smiley Lambert, an overly enthusiastic tour guide on the bus, is a bright spot, although he has only two brief sequences. Silvers is much missed when off screen, and his presence would have enlivened the film immensely. Charles Winniger as Waco, Duke's sidekick, is diverting, as is Mary Field, a gossipy fellow tourist on the bus. Molly's trio of suitors, Grady Sutton, Hans Conried, and Grant Withers, illustrate why the unfortunate lady needs a long trip away from New York.
"A Lady Takes a Chance" depends too heavily on the chemistry and talents of the two unlikely co-stars. While the film is fitfully amusing, audience interest will depend on their desire to see John Wayne or Jean Arthur or the two together; fans of either or both will not be disappointed, but others who are looking for a hilarious screwball comedy may be disappointed.
Burdened with a generic title that does not relate to the story, the film also suffers from Robert Ardrey's predictable screenplay, adapted from a Jo Swerling story. Despite a relatively short running time, the plot droops from time to time, and needless repetition in a hitchhiking sequence, reminiscent of "It Happened One Night," feels like padding. A few detours into a night sleeping outdoors on the prairie, the diagnosis and treatment of a sick horse, and a home-made dinner in a motel fall flat; howling coyotes are stale, horse pneumonia is boring, and the qualities of lamb chops irrelevant. However, Phil Silvers as Smiley Lambert, an overly enthusiastic tour guide on the bus, is a bright spot, although he has only two brief sequences. Silvers is much missed when off screen, and his presence would have enlivened the film immensely. Charles Winniger as Waco, Duke's sidekick, is diverting, as is Mary Field, a gossipy fellow tourist on the bus. Molly's trio of suitors, Grady Sutton, Hans Conried, and Grant Withers, illustrate why the unfortunate lady needs a long trip away from New York.
"A Lady Takes a Chance" depends too heavily on the chemistry and talents of the two unlikely co-stars. While the film is fitfully amusing, audience interest will depend on their desire to see John Wayne or Jean Arthur or the two together; fans of either or both will not be disappointed, but others who are looking for a hilarious screwball comedy may be disappointed.
helpful•20
- dglink
- Nov 21, 2020
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 26 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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By what name was A Lady Takes a Chance (1943) officially released in Canada in English?
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