Love Me Tender (1956) Movie Review

The three main players

The great surprise of Love Me Tender is how solid the story structure is. There’s a lot of small details that come into play in believable ways that in turn escalate the stakes. As such, it’s easy to get lost in the story, even when it’s a bit cheesy. The cast is at worst sufficient and at best compelling, though predictably they aren’t ever truly great. Richard Egan as Vance Reno is the protagonist. He keeps a strong jaw and demeanor. He is likable enough to be worth wanting to succeed. The more interesting elements of him are what he places his trust and affection in and how that affects him. Early on, he trusts the money he takes to be problem-free. That proves very important. He also trusts his brothers. If his brothers weren’t there to support him, but he still trusted them, that would make for a very different story.

Elvis Presley as Clint Reno is much more erratic and careless than the other characters, which goes along with the fact that he’s so young. While Clint’s material isn’t exactly Oscar-worthy, Presley handles it fine. He does manage some depth, like when he’s arguing with people. His character is possibly the most important of the story. His decisions make big strides in how the story goes, even when he is not being rational. This of course drives Vance heavily. While not everyone likes the musical numbers, and they are a bit out of place, they are fun and energetic enough to be worthy of inclusion. They are excellently performed and serve to give texture to this world and Clint’s character. Real people can go to places and have fun.

Apparently the character of Clint was less important before Elvis got on board, causing his relevance to be beefed up. Considering how necessary this character is, it is interesting to wonder how the original would’ve gone. One theory of mine is that one of the war buddies of Vance would’ve served this role. This would explain the plot hole of why Clint wouldn’t have been made to go to war if he’s a healthy man in his 20s.

The other characters don’t do too much, though some of the more villainous ones get a few fun moments. Most don’t need a lot, though exceptions are Clint and Vance’s brothers William Campbell as Brett Reno and James Drury as Ray Reno. Both have very few lines and just seem to be there to make up for the fact that Vance can’t be in three places at once. They don’t have girlfriends or feelings or individuality. At one point when things unexpectedly go wrong for them, they have amusing looks of bafflement. Also, I like to think that Campbell went on to replace that bass player in the Beatles.

SPOILERS

When Vance and his brothers come home from the war, they find out their father is dead and they seem unphased. Especially because of how important Clint is, it is a shame that it takes so long for him to show up in the story. That’s not so bad as once he does the bomb is dropped that he’s married to Vance’s love Cathy. It’s nice seeing that built up throughout before this revelation hits everyone. When Vance is told that if he agrees to give up the money, everyone will be left alone, he keeps quiet before eventually coming clean. Ideally, something he cares about would’ve been connected to this, like if he was told his mother would be bothered by authorities or his dad wouldn’t have wanted him to lie.

To Vance, lying about the money seems like a small thing. Clint doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal. However, this expertly plants doubt in Clint’s view that Vance is always truthful. Thus, when someone later says Vance is running away with Cathy, he can’t so easily discount that. Initially, all these characters like each other. Issues come from believable places and thus there’s drama when some turn on the other. People can separate and in turn that can cause someone to say something bad about the other, then someone else can go find someone that separated to tell them what happened. There’s a constant thought of who will go where and who will discover what.

Clint is physically violent to Cathy. The scene where he does this is pretty horrific. Fortunately, his brothers are against this. The points they bring up are that she isn’t lying to him, when ideally they would’ve pointed out that hitting her is wrong no matter what. Whether or not we’re supposed to be rooting for Clint isn’t made too clear. The music scenes, which show him as lovable and charismatic, suggest very loosely we should be. Ultimately Clint dies, which also points to us feeling for him. It is genuinely moving when we see him superimposed over his family walking away from his grave. Still, the spousal abuse, explosive temperament, and shooting his brother all make him too much of an antagonist.

Initially I wondered what the point of Clint’s death was. Seeing as things started as simply as “Let’s take this money” and that decision caused problems to escalate greater and greater, it makes sense that an especially extreme place you could take that is by having someone die. Still, odds are the reason for this was because we walked into the love triangle between Vance, Cathy, and Clint from Vance’s perspective. It’s also made clear that Cathy loves Vance more than Clint. This is basically the only way Vance and Cathy could’ve ended up together, especially after trying to prove to Clint that they weren’t going to run away. That’s too bad for Clint, though, dying for plot catharsis.

OVERVIEW

There are a handful of moments that feel random, typically to inject some drama, but none are too off-putting. The sense of fun and adventure, with plenty of fight scenes and action, make Love Me Tender hard to take seriously, but very enjoyable. It is very breezy and lovable, being far better than its reputation suggests.

Whoops, I’m An Indian! (1936) Review // The Three Stooges #22 – Curly Gets Married To A Man

While Whoops, I’m An Indian! is expectedly a little racially insensitive, it doesn’t play into that particular hand as hard or as bad as you might expect. Bud Jamison acts like such a stereotypical dumb American that it’s always amusing when he speaks in broken English. That could imply the joke is more about how poorly understood Indians are by outsiders. The leads doing such comically poor impersonations of Indians could be an accidental commentary on this. It’s charming how suddenly one of the main conflicts is established, with Bud apparently thinking all Indians deserve to die because one “stole” his wife. This is topped with him smashing the table.

Larry taking his shoe off for no reason (for the sake of the audience) is a nice way to remind us that Larry is pretty dumb. That opening is very good at creating a unique atmosphere, where the gang is trying to con people. Sadly, it pretty quickly goes in a predictable direction, with them trying to evade capture by authorities. There are a few points where that leads them to interesting places, especially with the solid last few minutes, but overall there’s a little too much mud in the wheel. There’s of course many good gags: “Now you go out and get a moose and a few meeses.” Later there’s; Moe: “Oh, deer!” Curly: “I didn’t think you cared!” Curly’s chewing tobacco plan is amusing. Moe and Larry’s dance with Bud is probably the funniest bit in the picture, parodying a common trope.

There is a bit of a free spirit to this installment. When Moe yells, “I’m talking to you!” to Curly, he seems genuinely annoyed, like he’s gone through this all too much. Curly pulls up his skirt when trying to get a lift. The gang is clearly able to have a little fun and that makes it a reasonably engaging watch, though there’s not enough of a chance for things to develop or really get going. The Stooges and Bud Jamison have many good scenes together, so it would’ve been better if the short focused on their conflict. The ending scenes are quite strong. The plot easily could’ve been just that, but expanded on. As is, it works as a little twist.

SPOILERS

Curly trying to get Moe and Larry to save him from the marriage is another fine character moment, with Moe and Larry unwilling to actually do much to help him, showing their more selfish sides. Curly and Bud get a particularly solid exchange with, “Where are we going?” “Oh, for the honeymoon. For you I have the grand surprise.” “So have I if you only knew it.” When Bud wants to sleep with Curly, Curly doesn’t seem to mind as much as you’d think. He at points has a goofy smile on his face, though of course he is still trying to prevent anything from happening. Moe and Larry being under the bed not only makes for a funny surprise, but it shows the bond the leads have, that they’re willing to help each other out if possible and there is not a great personal risk.

OVERVIEW

This short shows some improvement over past installments. There’s some genuinely unexpected twists here. There’s still many filler scenes of things like the gang trying and failing to accomplish a simple task. This is epitomized by the final joke being quite poor, seeming like something was forced in because no one knew how to end it. The opening, ending, and a few other parts show a lot more ingenuity than usual and are thus pretty funny. The actual story here isn’t too bad and more importantly has momentum. The leads get in a situation, try to get out of it, then that causes strange and humorous things to happen. That sharp pacing is hurt by the aforementioned filler.

Horses’ Collars (1935) Review // The Three Stooges #9

A frame from the short

Horses’ Collars embraces the Three Stooges formula. “Let’s give the audience a random assortment of jokes that don’t necessarily fit together.” This western short could’ve started in the west, instead of an introductory scene of the boys as detectives. While that opening is solid, it isn’t western. If you can forgive that admittedly very minor issue, there’s a lot of fun moments, like a bird flying out of Curly’s pipe; when Curly looks at a picture of a beautiful woman, Moe preemptively hits him because he knows he will get hot for her; the Three Stooges throwing their hats on a moose head; the three singing “You’ll Never Know What Tears Are” in unison; and at one point Moe says, “You know, you’re not a bad dancer.” Curly: “Ah, I bet you tell that to all the boys.” Curly then chuckles, Moe responds with a head bonk!

The Three Stooges get a really nice introduction. A man says he needs intelligent and courageous people to go on a dangerous mission. We then see that he’s talking to Moe, Larry, and Curly in detective outfits, topped with Curly’s great painted-on eyes – a nice bit of weird absurdism is often the highlight of these films. The short just as easily could’ve not had that, but it being there is such a charming touch of madness. Curly gets a lot of the big moments. You can tell that some thought he was the heart of the act as Moe and Larry are at points immobilized while Curly remains to progress the story.

Minor issues include editing errors, like a number on a chalkboard reverting to what it had been earlier. There’s some bad dubbing of voices. After a shot of a real mouse is a fake one that isn’t even the same color as the real one. However, that is so funny that it gets a pass. Scenes like the coin tossing one suffer from poor pacing. There’s far too many beats of nothingness before the next funny thing happens. Much of the episode is like this, with some humorless moments and/or too much time being dedicated to setting a plot element up. This suggests there weren’t enough good ideas to fill the runtime. One of the largest issues is Curly with mice. Curly going crazy when he sees a mouse is only used as a plot convenience. It also is used to minimally retread ideas done in Punch Drunks. Maybe the writers were so short on ideas they reused some? Here, this plot point is exploited for comedy far too little to not feel forced in.

SPOILERS

Why would the boys open the wallet in the middle of a room of people, including the person they stole it from? Why would Moe be so sure the IOU was in it? When the leads are hung up by nooses, Curly frees himself and starts fighting while the others stay trapped, not even doing anything funny. When the fight finishes, they just escape. This seems like it could’ve been a way to give Moe and Larry less focus, possibly because of a potential Curly preference.

OVERVIEW

Horses’ Collars arguably collapses under its own weight due to the poor plotting, the lack of Larry and Moe, and most offensively the relative lack of good jokes, but there are still many worthwhile parts that may sustain it. Even the coin tossing scene has some really funny gags. Moe and Larry demand some presence, like when Larry smokes and Moe does that silly dance. Outside of raw humor, Larry and Moe’s taming of Curly by relaxing him with cheese gives us a new look at the dynamic of the characters. They’re portrayed as seeming to care about each other enough to put up with their antics. Scenes like the ending and others here emphasize teamwork. Woman Haters also showed them as friends, but always in conflict with each other. Punch Drunks suggests they don’t really like each other and the next two suggest they’re together by circumstance. Which dynamic is best is up to the individual.

Go West (1940) Review – A Night At MGM

The meatheaded quality of the “old west” and characters like John Carroll as Terry Turner and Robert Barrat as “Red” Baxter create a fun and effective mood that is very abled to produce many quality jokes. Despite the problems, there are admittedly a few. Due to those and the good filming, especially with the action-heavy train sequence, it’s easy to come away from Go West with a bit of warmth, a warmth that is severely drowned out if you actually watch it. So much of this trods along, in a way that’s sometimes reminiscent of a classic Marx Brothers element; breaking into houses, Harpo being destructive, Chico being extremely idiotic; and then they’re mishandled. Scenes can take forever to end or the jokes lack any real wit or edge. As an example, Chico and Harpo’s characters get into situations and instead of baffling people or being explosive, they act reasonably normal. They take the abuse they’re given and don’t stand up for themselves. They aren’t even defeated in absurdist or interesting ways.

It’d be one thing if the material was not Marxian, but still well-performed, but the brothers seem like they don’t know what they’re doing. Chico and Groucho so rarely give a comedic spin to their lines or seem to understand or appreciate the material. The first collective scene of Chico, Harpo, and Groucho exemplifies this. It used to be one I liked, but it doesn’t naturally fit their strengths. Chico as Joe Panello and Harpo as “Rusty” Panello don’t act very mischievous in most of the film, so it was nice to see them be that in this scene. Groucho as Quentin Quale comes off very idiotic. The dollar on a string is a clever enough gag. The big issue of the whole flick is the brothers. It could pass as an inconsistent vehicle for an act whose characters are inept the way the group is here.

They do get a few good jokes. “All we wanna know is where’s the train.” “The train? It’s out on the tracks. It seldom comes in here.” Joe misspelling “safe” got a chuckle. The telephone gag is another. A bigger laugh went to the popcorn gag, possibly the best one here. The final joke is also decent. As is often the case, the musical numbers are very solid. It’s always great to hear the rarity of Groucho playing guitar.

Bits like Groucho’s wisecracks are far weaker than normally. Take a moment like the “revolving door” line. There’s almost no emphasis on it, with the film quick to move on. The line isn’t said with much heart or personality, as if it’s written by someone that watched a classic Marx Brothers movie and didn’t get it. You’d think Rusty messing with people’s hats and other possessions on the train would be a highlight, but it feels off. It’s like it was being done for formality and no one knew how to react in a funny way. The responses to Rusty lack naturalism. As a very minor complaint, Quale keeps touching a woman without consent. Rusty briefly strangles a woman later for no reason.

The movie would benefit from fewer long dialogue sequences about plot. The first with the handsome romantic lead is especially tedious. The romantic scenes as a whole have very stock-romance movie lines. The relationship is so little focused that it’s a shame it was focused on at all, though this movie is certainly not the only to have this problem. Anything not featuring the Marx Brothers is very dull. Despite their acting, the brothers can usually inject at least a little energy in the film.

The second half of the runtime as a whole feels randomly generated. Either it goes through the motions of the story or has bottom of the barrel humor, namely the racist bits. Take Rusty with the cannon. It seems like Harpo is improvising, trying to do something funny. The first half also isn’t great, but it has some spirit to it. There’s many tiresome scenes due to the MGM tone of trying to be a family friendly light musical comedy that is short on ideas.

The extensive train sequence and the earlier scene with the safe both had massive potential. The leads are generally taken advantage of in the latter and the cornball-ness of some of the former make those scenes inconsistent. The spectacle is quite nice and it’s hard not to get a smile out of it if you haven’t seen it before. Note that around the ending the villains literally laugh and connive about something they did.

SPOILERS

Miscellaneous comments include: Rusty’s duel with Baxter is a highlight, as is him with that giant magnet, and hiding in the desk to escape a threat. Harpo definitely has come out the least scathed of these late-in-the-day installments, possibly due to not having terrible dialogue to say. There’s no point to Rusty and Joe briefly not having the deed. There’s not even much comedy to them losing, being without, and getting the deed back. If Joe knew Quale was a crook, why would he trust him? It’s amusing that the third act isn’t about retrieving the deed, but instead trying to escape with it. Terry, the romantic lead, seems to steal someone’s horses.

OVERVIEW

The previous two films had their moments of feeling like the Marx Brothers, but not here. Go West is the one most deserving of another talent of their post-A Day At The Races affairs. The most value it brings as a Marx film is in the very good looks of Chico. The final act is reminiscent of The General, so maybe it could be a Buster Keaton vehicle? (And I’m not talking about the train)

Conservative commentary hasn’t seemed to move beyond Quale and Joe being idiotic with the Indians, acting like everything was invented by white men.