"Tammy and the Bachelor" is a comedy romance set in the Bayou country near New Orleans. This is the first of three films to be based on a 1948 novel, "Tammy Out of Time," by Cid Ricketts Sumner. Her story is about a girl, Tammy Tyree, raised on a riverboat away from modern society. She knows about civilization but is innocent and naïve about many of the ways of the world. She hasn't been exposed to the biases and prejudices of society, or of Southern racism. After her parents died, she was raised by her maternal grandparents, and she recently lost her grandma Dinwitty. So, that left her, as an older teen-ager, to live with her grandpa. The two take care of one another, with Tammy having learned how to pretty much survive on her own.
And, while she may be ignorant of the ways of the world, she bears real wisdom based on her upbringing. They live off the land mostly. Tammy didn't go to school but learned to read and write, and was brought up learning the Bible. Grandpa Dinwitty is a part-time preacher who has run into trouble with the law over making illegal corn liquor in the swamps.
One of the things Tammy hasn't learned to do yet is lie, or hedge facts or try to cover up or get around the truth. So, her frank, honest and straightforward talk often rankles the norms of proper society once she is exposed to the outside world. But, in the meantime, that honesty has a winning way with Peter Brent. He's a young man from the outside, aka "real" world, whom Grandpa Dinwitty and Tammy rescued when his plane crashed in the river.
Debbie Reynolds stars in this first of what would become four films over 10 years. It's her film and she set the standard. The series, like most films with sequels declined after the original film. Reynolds sings the title song in the film, and it was later a number one hit that propelled the film to more popularity on its second release. "Tammy" had the 20th highest box office sales for the year. I saw it in the theater then, and watching it again recently, I found it to still be an endearing, sweet and wholesome picture. Because of its time and setting it's not a movie that is outdated. Young people - and older ones, too, in the 21st century can and still do enjoy this film. It's not a rollicking comedy but a wonderful story with humor, budding romance, and warmth that leave one with a good feeling. It's a breath of fresh air and decency in a world that often shows so much of the opposite with little faith and much anger, angst and strife.
All of the cast are quite good. Veteran actor and three-time Oscar winner Walter Brennan plays Grandpa Dinwitty, but he's toted off to jail a quarter of the way into the film. A young Leslie Nielsen plays Peter Brent in one of the many fine early roles he had before becoming a middle-age comedy icon. The rest of a fine supporting cast includes some well-known actors of the day - Mildred Natwick, Sidney Blackmer, Fay Wray, Philip Ober and Louise Beavers.
Here are some favorite lines from the film.
Peter Brent, "Food, shelter, love, children and chickens! Tammy, is the whole world crazy, or is it you? And me... listening... almost believing?"
Tammy, "Y'all talk so poor when you've got so much."
Tammy, after dusting a shelf with lots of dust and Mrs. Brent saying her husband should move, "A man's got more hair in his nose than a woman and he don't breathe it like we do." Mrs. Brent, "Tammy, we do not discuss the hair in a man's nose." Tammy, "Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Brent."
And, while she may be ignorant of the ways of the world, she bears real wisdom based on her upbringing. They live off the land mostly. Tammy didn't go to school but learned to read and write, and was brought up learning the Bible. Grandpa Dinwitty is a part-time preacher who has run into trouble with the law over making illegal corn liquor in the swamps.
One of the things Tammy hasn't learned to do yet is lie, or hedge facts or try to cover up or get around the truth. So, her frank, honest and straightforward talk often rankles the norms of proper society once she is exposed to the outside world. But, in the meantime, that honesty has a winning way with Peter Brent. He's a young man from the outside, aka "real" world, whom Grandpa Dinwitty and Tammy rescued when his plane crashed in the river.
Debbie Reynolds stars in this first of what would become four films over 10 years. It's her film and she set the standard. The series, like most films with sequels declined after the original film. Reynolds sings the title song in the film, and it was later a number one hit that propelled the film to more popularity on its second release. "Tammy" had the 20th highest box office sales for the year. I saw it in the theater then, and watching it again recently, I found it to still be an endearing, sweet and wholesome picture. Because of its time and setting it's not a movie that is outdated. Young people - and older ones, too, in the 21st century can and still do enjoy this film. It's not a rollicking comedy but a wonderful story with humor, budding romance, and warmth that leave one with a good feeling. It's a breath of fresh air and decency in a world that often shows so much of the opposite with little faith and much anger, angst and strife.
All of the cast are quite good. Veteran actor and three-time Oscar winner Walter Brennan plays Grandpa Dinwitty, but he's toted off to jail a quarter of the way into the film. A young Leslie Nielsen plays Peter Brent in one of the many fine early roles he had before becoming a middle-age comedy icon. The rest of a fine supporting cast includes some well-known actors of the day - Mildred Natwick, Sidney Blackmer, Fay Wray, Philip Ober and Louise Beavers.
Here are some favorite lines from the film.
Peter Brent, "Food, shelter, love, children and chickens! Tammy, is the whole world crazy, or is it you? And me... listening... almost believing?"
Tammy, "Y'all talk so poor when you've got so much."
Tammy, after dusting a shelf with lots of dust and Mrs. Brent saying her husband should move, "A man's got more hair in his nose than a woman and he don't breathe it like we do." Mrs. Brent, "Tammy, we do not discuss the hair in a man's nose." Tammy, "Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Brent."