the audience applauded

Powerful

Just what I expected

A different way of telling a story

When gold is discovered in California it creates a mad rush among certain people who want to get their hands on some. By chance, one particular person named "Ben Rumson" (Lee Marvin) has already arrived and as luck would have it happens to notice a wagon rolling out of control down a steep mountain. When he gets there he discovers that one of the men inside the wagon is dead and the other is badly hurt. Not long afterward some members of the wagon train arrive and they begin the task of burying the dead man. However, upon digging the grave they just happen to strike gold and immediately Ben claims the spot for himself and the badly injured man who he announces as his new "Pardner" (Clint Eastwood). Eventually, Pardner recuperates and they both set about digging for gold in the mining community that has attracted over a hundred men but is totally lacking any women. Then one day a Mormon man with two wives arrives at the mining camp which attracts the attention of all of the miners except Ben who is dead drunk. At the same time the two women get into a spat and the husband decides to auction off the wife named "Elizabeth" (Jean Seberg). As the auction commences Ben awakens from his drunken stupor and makes the highest bid before passing out once again. One thing leads to another and soon both Ben and Pardner wind up marrying Elizabeth. Anywary, rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie is probably best described as a Western-Musical-Comedy. As such it has some good humor here and there and a couple of good songs most notably "Mariah" and "I Was Born Under a Wandering Star". Unfortunately, it also has some pretty bad songs as well. Along with that this movie turned out to be quite long and because of that there were some parts here and there which seemed to drag on for too long. In any case, it turned out to be fairly enjoyable and I have rated the movie accordingly. Slightly above average.

This movie is plain and simple fun. Sure, you have to suspend your disbelief, but so what. I like to escape with movies, and this is 2+ hours of escape. Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood are not gifted singers. But they are gifted actors and they do a great job in this movie. I love the male chorus songs, as well as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. "They Call the Wind Maria" is perfectly placed and perfectly sung. Staging this in the Sierra's was genius. It adds a touch of realism when it comes to the gold rush story. Wet, nasty, sometimes foreboding weather is very realistic. If you have the DVD and the making of the movie is available, it's very interesting.

This epic Musical Western may not be an artistic triumph but is an unbeatable entertainment with larger-than-life star-power. By sharp contrast to the elegance and sophistication of the Lerner & Loewe team's exquisite MY FAIR LADY, GIGI and CAMELOT, the entirely revised movie version of PAINT YOUR WAGON throws all grace and poise to the winds in its raunchy celebration of the pure joy of dancing and wallowing in gloriously filthy mud.The original 1950's Broadway show was daring at the time for its interracial romance between a white woman and a Mexican native, but by 1968 this theme had become dated. Thus producer/lyricist Alan Jay Lerner based his bawdy screenplay on an entirely new story by playwright Paddy Chayefsky, which parodies "Sodom and Gomorrah" as a grandiose comedy of colorful moral follies in Gold Rush California. The previous Lerner & Loewe film, CAMELOT -- also directed by Joshua Logan (SOUTH PACIFIC) -- had focused on an adulterous triangle relationship, so the new PAINT YOUR WAGON seeks to top that with a marriage-threesome at center. But in place of the tragic fall of a shining ideal, the inevitable collapse of "No Name City" (the Las Vegas of the Old West) is played entirely for uproarious belly-laughs.Seven songs from the original show are retained, including "I Talk to the Trees", "There's a Coach Comin' In", and (supremely) the show- stopping aria "They Call the Wind Maria" (powerfully sung by Harve Presnell in full "Howard Keel" mode). In support of these are five new songs written by Lerner with composer Andre Previn (standing in for the retired Frederick Loewe).The production and costumes are spectacular, but it is the bold casting that makes this a memorable show. Clint Eastwood has natural singing ability and demonstrates how cool an old-fashioned Musical can be with "Gold Fever" (the one Lerner-Previn song that gives the vintage score a real challenge). In other respects Eastwood is in good form as the easy- going side of his unique screen persona. Jean Seberg is fine as well, leavening the broad comedy with an underplayed wry humor.However, the movie truly belongs to the great Lee Marvin, who is its heart and soul. Besotted old "Ben Rumson" is one of the actor's most memorable characters, evoking his Academy Award-winning role in another comic Western, CAT BALLOU. Taken as a super-vehicle for Marvin, this PAINT YOUR WAGON becomes something special.As for the caliber of Lee Marvin's talk-singing: Don't let it be forgot that the soundtrack recording of his rough yet poignant performance of the Lerner-Loewe classic "Wandrin' Star" was a #1 hit in England.Rating: 8/10 **** OUTSTANDING.

Paint Your Wagon has often been sited as an example of a big-budget film that lost its way. The problem for the film was that it was released at a time that the traditional Hollywood musical was dying. Motion pictures such as Bonnie and Clyde and Midnight Cowboy were ushering in the age of dramatic realism. However, with the film's release now more than forty years in the past, it holds up amazingly well and is thoroughly entertaining.The film follows the life of two gold mining partners (Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood) who find themselves in love with the same woman (Jean Seberg). The twist is that she is in love with both men. The solution is that Seberg's character marries and lives with both of them. This unusual family is made possible by the fact that they find themselves in a rough gold mining camp in the California wilderness. Eventually, the tri-marriage breaks down due to a variety of circumstances and one of the husband leaves and one stays.The often-dismissed production values of the film now look amazing. Alan Jay Lerner shot much of the film outside of Baker City, Oregon in the wilderness. The town, No Name City, was recreated to scale. Indeed, no studio would green-light this kind of big-budget musical film today. One of the things that make it so special is that a modern audience is seeing something that could not be produced in the present.Along with the production values, the music is exceptional. There are no throw-away songs, and against the backdrop of the Oregon wilderness they come alive. When it was released Marvin's and Eastwood's voices were ridiculed. Once again, the passing of time has led to audiences that don't expect the perfect pitch-and-tone musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Their voices sound like that of a couple of gold miner's.No matter the age group, this is a film that is worth seeing. Undoubtedly it will be a pleasant surprise for young and old.