Hollywood or Bust (1956)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Frank Tashlin

Writer:

Erna Lazarus (writer)

Release Date:

6 December 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

A COAST TO COAST FUN TOOT! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A singer who can't pay his bookie joins a nerdy, star-struck movie fan and his Great Dane in a cross-country convertible ride to Hollywood.

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Great Dane | Gambler | Bookie | Convertible

Cast

Dean Martin	...	Steve Wiley
Jerry Lewis	...	Malcolm Smith
Pat Crowley	...	Terry Roberts
Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom	...	Bookie Benny (as Maxie Rosenbloom)
Anita Ekberg	...	Actress Anita

Also Known As:

Beginner's Luck (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Boulder Dam, Nevada, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

When they arrive in Hollywood, Anita Ekberg is starring in a movie where she plays Napoleon's lover. That same year, Ekberg was featured in War and Peace (1956), another Paramount release, which included Napoleon as a character.

Quotes:

Malcolm Smith: But remember, I'd have never known about the phony ticket or the stealing if you didn't tell me, which means you're very noble. You're as noble as Abraham Lincoln or Raymond Massey.

Movie Connections:

References The Rainmaker (1956)

Soundtrack:

Let's Be Friendly

The boys sign off with unbridled joy.

Malcolm Smith loves the movies and especially Anita Ekberg. Getting one of his lucky feelings, Malcolm buys a ream of raffle tickets to win a car. Sure enough he wins, but so does gigolo gambler Steve Wiley, who not unsurprisingly has won by less than honourable means. Refusing to give out two cars, the promotion merely tells the men that they will have to share the car. Much to Steve's annoyance as he has debts to pay. So deviously he agrees to drive with Malcolm to Hollywood, planning to ditch him at the first chance he gets. Only he hadn't figured on Mr Bascom, Malcolm's Great Dane who's along for the ride, and an encounter with the pretty Terry Roberts. Yep, it's safe to say this is not going to be an ordinary road trip.

With their relationship deeply fractured at this time {this was their last film together}, it's something of a surprise to find that Hollywood Or Bust is one of the finest films that Dean Martin {Steve} and Jerry Lewis {Malcolm} made. Everything that made the duo so massively popular is in here, even into the bargain daring to cast a satirical slant to the whiles and trials of Hollywood itself. A lot of the credit has to go to director Frank Tashlin. Tashlin, who was also at the helm for arguably the boys career high point Artists & Models, keeps the whole thing zippy, steering the duo in a direction to which they simply could not fail.

Sure enough the humour is almost juvenile at times, and yes Dean of course croons and tries to bed the girl {a spiky Pat Crowley as Terry}, but it's got such a sense of joy to it, the kind of joy that much like Artists & Models, can really lift the blues. Stand out songs from the Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster score are "A Day in the Country" and "It Looks Like Love", whilst it will be tough not to giggle at some of the antics of Mr Bascom and the irrepressible Lewis, particularly with one particular movie parody. Anita Ekberg comes and joins in the fun later in the piece, just in time for the riotous carnage that you know is around the corner.

If the sight of a Great Dane driving a car is not funny to you? well chances are you should avoid this film completely. But that would be a shame for it's a delightful film, brisk and cheeky, it's most definitely one that's in desperate need of reappraisal from the grumpy brigade. 8/10