Lucy Gallant (1955)

Director:

Robert Parrish

Writers:

Margaret Cousins (novel), John Lee Mahin,

Stars:

Jane Wyman, Charlton Heston, Claire Trevor

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jane Wyman	...	Lucy Gallant
Charlton Heston	...	Casey Cole
Claire Trevor	...	Lady MacBeth
Thelma Ritter	...	Molly Basserman
William Demarest	...	Charles Madden
Wallace Ford	...	Gus Basserman
Tom Helmore	...	Jim Wardman
Gloria Talbott	...	Laura Wilson
James Westerfield	...	Harry Wilson
Mary Field	...	Irma Wilson
Allan Shivers	...	Himself (Governor of Texas)
Edith Head	...	Herself

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

texas | ranching | oil boom | oil | fashion show | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 1956 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Oil Town

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pine-Thomas Productions, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original story, "The Life of Lucy Gallant" by Margaret Cousins, appeared in the May 1953 issue of Good Housekeeping.

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Quotes

Lucy Gallant: Always wear black with dark gray; not that color.

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Connections

Featured in The Colgate Comedy Hour: Episode #6.2 (1955)

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Soundtracks

"How Can I Tell Her?"
Written by Jay Livingston & Ray Evans
Performed by Four Freshmen (as The Four Freshmen)

User Reviews

Fashion comes to Oil Town

Have heard of this film for quite some time and finally got the chance to view it on tape (probably from AMC). I think the film captures the boomtown feel very well-instant population with lack of lodging or goods =business opportunities. While the film undoubtedly contains many truthful elements concerning the oil boom in Texas ( and even Governor Shivers playing himself ), it does seem just a bit stagy, although Jane Wyman's performance is actually quite good. I found it very intriguing that for the time period when the film was made, a woman was portrayed as virtually building her own business from the ground up without any real help from the man (or men) in her life. The real reason I had heard about the film previously is the "high fashion comes to Texas" bit, with Edith Head behind the creations. As usual, Edith does not disappoint. The designs, especially during the fashion show sequence, are amazing. It's no wonder that Edith Head was so sought after in Hollywood as a costumer for films (most notably for Alfred Hitchcock). She was a real talent. I am in total agreement that this film needs to be released on DVD, as I don't believe that it has ever even been on VHS at any point.