Red Garters (1954)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

George Marshall

Writer:

Michael Fessier (writer)

Release Date:

12 April 1954 (UK)

Genre:

Musical | Western

Plot:

Reb Randall rides into town seeking the murderer of his brother, Rob Randall. Jason Carberry is the Mayor of the town.

Plot Keywords:

Girlfriend | Gunplay | Dead Brother | Beautiful Woman | Murder

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Rosemary Clooney	...	Calaveras Kate
Jack Carson	...	Jason Carberry
Guy Mitchell	...	Reb Randall
Pat Crowley	...	Susan Martinez De La Cruz
Gene Barry	...	Rafael Moreno
Cass Daley	...	Minnie Redwing
Frank Faylen	...	Billy Buckett
Reginald Owen	...	Judge Wallace Winthrop
Buddy Ebsen	...	Ginger Pete
Richard Hale	...	Dr. J. Pott Troy
Joanne Gilbert	...	Sheila Winthrop
Herb Golden	...	Townsman (as Herbert N. Golden)
Anthony Numkena	...	Indian Boy, Assistant to Dr. J. Pott Troy (as Anthony Earl Numkena)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

France:U | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Director George Marshall replaced Mitchell Leisen.

Soundtrack:

Lady Killer

RED GARTERS (George Marshall, 1954) ***

I’d been interested in this musical for a long time in view of its famously stylized look – bright yellow scenery, disembodies sets – which, in hindsight, is still the film’s major asset (though, curiously, it’s taken for granted throughout and never once commented upon!). The cast is low-key but undeniably engaging: lovely Rosemary Clooney is delightful and surprisingly sensuous at times (although the title’s promise of naughtiness is not carried through); Jack Carson is amusing as her loudmouth womanizing beau (atypically, he’s the object of Clooney’s affection throughout); Guy Mitchell is the gauche stranger hero looking for his crook brother’s murderer – simply because the Code Of the West (which, actually, reminds me of a very funny Tex Avery cartoon!), whom everyone takes off his hat to, demands it – and who falls for Carson’s sheltered ward; and Gene Barry(!) as the archetypal Latin lover who strikes up an unlikely partnership with Mitchell (while, naturally, having his own romantic complications over the daughter of a judge from out-of-town played by veteran Reginald Owen).

Frank Faylen – emerging as the real villain of the piece – is typically weaselly, while Buddy Ebsen appears briefly as a bartender (but who still gets his own specialty number and is involved in an amusing fade-out gag); besides, there’s resistible (but not particularly intrusive) comedy relief courtesy of a squaw character. After a funny introduction, too, Mitchell’s horse – who hates its own species and really itself human! – is simply forgotten about for the rest of the film. There are a couple of nice spoofs of barroom brawls and duels, but rather too many ensemble dance routines which don’t really add anything new to the fold. The songs, while not especially memorable, are nonetheless fine – ironic and intimate as the case may be…but the plot itself is rather blah. The whole, then, is somehow less than the sum of its parts – if still highly enjoyable, even endearing; in retrospect, it’s a pity that RED GARTERS has been overshadowed by other contemporaneous Western musicals such as ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1950), CALAMITY JANE (1953) and OKLAHOMA! (1955).

Clooney, who also co-starred in WHITE Christmas (1954), later ballooned into a really fat lady and is nowadays perhaps best-known as George Clooney’s aunt; for eclectic film buffs, however, she is also Mrs. Jose' Ferrer and Mrs. Dante Di Paolo (from Mario Bava’s BLOOD AND BLACK LACE [1964]). Incidentally, George Marshall was the ideal director for this Western musical spoof – having previously directed DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939) and FANCY PANTS (1950), and later still the color remake of DESTRY (1954) and THE SHEEPMAN (1958).