Mail Order Bride
Elderly Will Lane arranges marriage of wild son of dead friend to tame him.
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- Cast:
- Buddy Ebsen , Keir Dullea , Lois Nettleton , Warren Oates , BarBara Luna , Paul Fix , Marie Windsor
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Reviews
You won't be disappointed!
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
A Masterpiece!
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
It is interesting that Buddy Ebsen managed to get this one in between seasons of his CBS series. His role is more quiet and reserved in this movie than Uncle Jed, and he has to mail order a bride since Elly Mae is not available. Too bad since Donna Douglas would not do badly here.Lois Nettleton, Marie Windor and Barbara Luna are much more mature ladies here, than Douglas would have been. There is some solid male acting here with Warren Oates getting lessons on how to be the bad guy he would become in the classic Bonnie & Clyde which comes later. The plot has Will Lane (Ebsen) assigned by a friend to protect his son from himself as the young man is a lot irresponsible, After getting full exposure of the kid, he decides the only way to get the kid to settle down is get him a woman. I think it is more of a way to torture a woman but somehow this actually works pretty well and this film turns into a minor success. Hey, not every summer vacation movie can turn into a "Psycho" Especially when the master is not behind the camera.
This movie was on TCM so I tried it out. Its the story of Will Lane, an older man who travels to Montana to seek Lee Carey, the son of an old friend. The reason Lane does this is to try to make Carey into a responsible man, apparently a promise he made to Carey's deceased father. Carey turns out to be fond of drinking, women and gambling, so in order for Lane to calm him down he travels to find him a mail order bride. From there, we'll see whether Carey is tamed. This is a basic western, with drama and light comedy. Buddy Ebsen as Lane is fine, and the film is easy to watch. Its nothing special but I still didn't mind it. I'm not particularly fond of Westerns, and this does not rank anywhere near John Wayne's best but its not bad. I was never a big fan of Mr. Ebsen's TV work, but this is a decent film. A curious bit of casting is Jimmy Mathers, Jerry's brother, as the bride's son. He is in a very small role but it was interesting anyway (I didn't know he had a brother). So, if you like westerns or are just looking to pass the time, I think its watchable. Go ahead, its worth it.
Minor comedic western has rural newlyweds (a hot-tempered rebel and a widow with a young son) forced together into matrimony, but attempting to make the union work if only to spite the town's naysayers. Buddy Ebsen's role as a potential troublemaker isn't well-defined--and worse, he keeps popping in and out of scenes without any character motive. Keir Dullea and Lois Nettleton fare much better as the married twosome, and Jimmy Mathers (brother of Jerry) is a cute youngster. Nettleton in particular looks very much at home in these rugged settings; she's a warm, reassuring presence on the screen, like a younger version of Deborah Kerr. The scenery is attractive and the pacing is lively, however a bit more action or excitement in the narrative might've helped. Still, fast-paced, innocuous fun. **1/2 from ****
Old fashioned western comedy with an interesting cast. Keir "2001" Dullea plays a wild young man and Buddy "Barnaby Jones" Ebsen plays a friend of his dead father who should learn him how to behave. Warren Oates and a very young William Smith play his bad friends.