Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)

An unsophisticated young woman from the Mississippi swamps falls in love with an unconventional southern gentleman.

Director:

Joseph Pevney

Writers:

Oscar Brodney (screenplay), Cid Ricketts Sumner (novel)

Stars:

Debbie Reynolds, Walter Brennan, Leslie Nielsen

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Debbie Reynolds	...	Tammy
Leslie Nielsen	...	Peter Brent
Walter Brennan	...	Grandpa
Mala Powers	...	Barbara
Sidney Blackmer	...	Professor Brent
Mildred Natwick	...	Aunt Renie
Fay Wray	...	Mrs. Brent
Philip Ober	...	Alfred Bissle
Craig Hill	...	Ernie
Louise Beavers	...	Osia
April Kent	...	Tina

Storyline

When Pete's plane crashes in the swamp, he's rescued by young Tammy, an unsophisticated backwoods girl who lives with her lay-preacher-cum-moonshiner grandfather. When Pete's well, he goes back home to his fiancée. But then Grampa gets sent to jail and he sends Tammy to stay with Pete. At Pete's house, Tammy's home cooking, enthusiasm and quaint sunshiny personality bring about changes in Pete's family and in Pete himself.

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Plot Keywords:

swamp | louisiana | rural setting | country girl | southern u.s. | 

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Taglines:

All about a little Mississippi riverboat gal who taught a sophisticated bachelor about love!

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.

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Quotes

Tambey 'Tammy' Tyree: [continues the recitation] Well, there was a robber in that country went by musical name / Played the harp like an angel / And they called him Little Harp. / Now he noted the birds was all a-leavin' him / The mockin' bird, the jade, the little brown thrush, and the sparrow. / So 'bout the only thing left was the buzzards. / When they lead out, he followed through the swamp till he came to the edge of the trace / and there was all the birds a-roostin' whilst we was a-sleepin'. / It were in the ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Bright Lights (2016)

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Soundtracks

Tammy
Music and Lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
Sung by The Ames Brothers (over the opening credits)
Later sung by Debbie Reynolds (at her bedroom windowsill)

User Reviews

Sixty Years Later

Plot—a backwoods southern girl is invited into a plantation manor after her father is sent to jail for bootlegging. The invite comes after she's rescued the hunky son from a plane crash. Now she's caught up in a humorous conflict of cultures while trying to adjust. At the same time, she pines for the son's affections despite his snobbish girlfriend.

Okay, after 70-some years of breathing my brain is turning to mush—Reynolds is charming, the song's cute, and I even enjoyed the suds this time around. Sixty years ago I hated the movie, but then I preferred rubber space monsters and Elvis's shaking' up the world. So I guess Reynolds and her song didn't really register. Truth be told, I still like Roger Corman's quickies and, of course, Elvis forever.

Nonetheless, in my now geezer opinion, the movie's a charmer, with occasional brain teasing moments. Tammy's a role the spunky Reynolds was born to play. Her sparkly innocence is winning from the git-go. Pairing her with the hunky Nielsen, however, remains a stretch. He towers over her like Tarzan in a spiffy suit. Still, her down-home truth-telling contrasts engagingly with the uptown sophisticates. I can see Peter (Nielsen) succumbing to her natural charm. But she's not all innocence. Behind her lack of education, Tammy has a perceptive inner eye, or a kind of backwoods wisdom. That compensates a lot for her amusing goofs in polite company. And catch the many innuendos I missed first time around. For example, when Tammy comes up with "of a carnal nature" while fending off masher Ernie's eager advances, I had to rerun the passage to make sure I heard correctly.

What also catches my eye this time is the subtle romancing of the ante-bellum South. The Brents represent the gentile side of the Old South transposed to the 1950's. In that sense, there's something of a nostalgia for the earlier time though it's not rubbed in. Then too, a contrasting note is sounded when Osia (Beavers), the Black cook, explains to Tammy the onerous meaning of her red bandanna headgear. So we're reminded of the Old South's not so gentile other side. And catch those colorful battleship cars. 1957 was about the peak year for showy fender fins that seemingly stretch into the great beyond.

Anyway, sociology aside, my age may be showing, but this time around I found the movie charming and occasionally insightful. So maybe something can be said said for geezer-years, after all.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 August 1957 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Tammy and the Bachelor

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1