A naive but stubborn cowboy falls in love with a saloon singer and tries to take her away against her will to get married and live on his ranch in Montana.
We dive into Hollywood's long shared history with Broadway, and provide you with Watchlist picks from the stage and screen.
Related News
-
Marilyn Monroe movies: 15 greatest films ranked worst to best
29 May 2020 | Gold Derby -
"Tom Chantrell- The Man Behind The 'Star Wars' Poster (1977)
25 November 2019 | CinemaRetro -
Mary-Louise Parker & David Morse To Star In Broadway’s ‘How I Learned To Drive’
13 August 2019 | Deadline
Share this Rating
Title: Bus Stop (1956)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
Edit
Cast
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Marilyn Monroe | ... | Chérie | |
| Don Murray | ... | Beauregard 'Bo' Decker | |
| Arthur O'Connell | ... | Virgil Blessing | |
| Betty Field | ... | Grace | |
| Eileen Heckart | ... | Vera | |
| Robert Bray | ... | Carl | |
| Hope Lange | ... | Elma Duckworth | |
| Hans Conried | ... | Life Magazine Photographer | |
| Max Showalter | ... | Life Magazine Reporter (as Casey Adams) | |
Learn more
More Like This
The Prince and the Showgirl
(1957)
Comedy
|
Romance
Director:
Laurence Olivier
Stars:
Marilyn Monroe,
Laurence Olivier,
Richard Wattis
Let's Make Love
(1960)
Comedy
|
Musical
|
Romance
Director:
George Cukor
Stars:
Marilyn Monroe,
Yves Montand,
Tony Randall
How to Marry a Millionaire
(1953)
Comedy
|
Drama
|
Romance
Director:
Jean Negulesco
Stars:
Marilyn Monroe,
Betty Grable,
Lauren Bacall
River of No Return
(1954)
Action
|
Adventure
|
Drama
Directors:
Otto Preminger,
Jean Negulesco
Stars:
Robert Mitchum,
Marilyn Monroe,
Rory Calhoun
Comedy
|
Drama
|
Musical
Director:
Walter Lang
Stars:
Ethel Merman,
Marilyn Monroe,
Donald O'Connor
The Seven Year Itch
(1955)
Comedy
|
Romance
Director:
Billy Wilder
Stars:
Marilyn Monroe,
Tom Ewell,
Evelyn Keyes
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(1953)
Comedy
|
Musical
|
Romance
Director:
Howard Hawks
Stars:
Jane Russell,
Marilyn Monroe,
Charles Coburn
Niagara
(1953)
Film-Noir
|
Thriller
Director:
Henry Hathaway
Stars:
Marilyn Monroe,
Joseph Cotten,
Jean Peters
The Misfits
(1961)
Drama
|
Romance
|
Western
Director:
John Huston
Stars:
Clark Gable,
Marilyn Monroe,
Montgomery Clift
Don't Bother to Knock
(1952)
Certificate: Passed
Drama
|
Film-Noir
|
Mystery
Director:
Roy Ward Baker
Stars:
Richard Widmark,
Marilyn Monroe,
Anne Bancroft
Monkey Business
(1952)
Comedy
|
Sci-Fi
Director:
Howard Hawks
Stars:
Cary Grant,
Ginger Rogers,
Marilyn Monroe
We're Not Married!
(1952)
Comedy
|
Romance
Director:
Edmund Goulding
Stars:
Ginger Rogers,
Marilyn Monroe,
Victor Moore
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Add Synopsis
Storyline
Innocent rodeo cowboy Bo falls in love with cafe singer Cherie in Phoenix. She tries to run away to Los Angeles but he finds her and forces her to board the bus to his home in Montana. When the bus stops at Grace's Diner the passengers learn that the road ahead is blocked. By now everyone knows of the kidnapping, but Bo is determined to have Cherie. Written by Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Taglines:
Give this boy enough rope and he'll land Marilyn Monroe! See more »Parents Guide:
View content advisory »
Edit
Beauregard 'Bo' Decker: Are you ready, Virge?
Virgil Blessing: Anytime.
Beauregard 'Bo' Decker: Turn him out!
[calf is released from chute]
See more »
(1948) (uncredited)
Music by Lionel Newman
Lyrics by Don George and Charles Henderson
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
The role of Bo Decker was intended for Fess Parker, but Parker was under contract to Walt Disney at the time, who wouldn't release him. Parker also didn't get the role eventually played by Jeffrey Hunter in The Searchers (1956) for the same reason and it was many years before he was even aware of it. See more »Goofs
The camera lens that the Life photographer uses at the rodeo is too short a focal length for this sporting event. In addition, a mono-pod or tripod would have typically been used with a long lens for sports photography. See more »Quotes
[first lines]Beauregard 'Bo' Decker: Are you ready, Virge?
Virgil Blessing: Anytime.
Beauregard 'Bo' Decker: Turn him out!
[calf is released from chute]
See more »
Crazy Credits
And Introducing / Don Murray See more »Soundtracks
The Right Kind(1948) (uncredited)
Music by Lionel Newman
Lyrics by Don George and Charles Henderson
See more »
Frequently Asked Questions
See more »
Edit
Edit
See more on IMDbPro »
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
20 September 1956 (Argentina) See more »Also Known As:
Bus Stop See more »Edit
Box Office
Budget:
$2,200,000 (estimated)Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)Color:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.55 : 1Contribute to This Page
On IMDb TV, you can catch Hollywood hits and popular TV series at no cost. Select any poster below to play the movie, totally free!
"Bus Stop" is named for the setting of the last half-hour of this film, the bus stop in the snow, somewhere in Wyoming, where Beau finally gets his 'comeuppance', right before he and Cherie reconcile. If this movie had not been made in 1956, but instead in modern times, it would have received a very laughable reception. As it is, I consider it a cult classic in the genre of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", so horrible and fake are the characters and the dialog.
However, Marilyn Monroe, in her 26th film, playing a simple showgirl from Arkansas, does very well with her role. Don Murray as "Beau", in his very first film, is so obnoxious that by the time he apologises for his bad behavior, we no longer care about him, and "Cherie's" accepting him just doesn't make sense. Hope Lange has a small part as "Elma" on the bus, in this her first film. She and Murray married afterward in real life, but it didn't last. Murray made a number of other films, including the father in "Quarterback Princess" in 1983 with Helen Hunt.
The reason to see this film is Marilyn Monroe in her prime, almost 30, and only 6 years from her death. The story, of the possessive cowboy who decides to marry Cherie and haul her away to his ranch in Montana, is pretty simple and pretty implausible. The scene in the bus stop, where he finally kisses her "for serious", was also featured in an episode of Northern Exposure, with Chris playing Beau and Maggie playing Cherie, for a community theater production they were rehearsing for.