La Kermesse de l'Ouest

Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin - in a musical? Yes, and it works rather well.

No expense was spared by Paramount in assembling the behind-camera talent. Lerner and Loewe's successful stage show was beefed up by Andre Previn's compositions and Nelson Riddle's arrangements, and a script by Paddy Chayefsky. If Clint and Lee aren't exactly Mario Lanza and Tito Gobbi, they are good enough. Clint sings timidly but tunefully ("I Talk To The Trees", "Gold Fever") and Marvin's growly "Wandering Star" was a big chart success back in 1969. The songs are strong, the lyrics clever and the choreography slick and busy. At two and three-quarter hours, the film is rather too long, but it contains plenty of interesting things, including some excellent comedy.

No-Name Town is a rough and ready prospectors' settlement, one of many such ramshackle communities springing up during the California Gold Rush. Two very different men link up as partners and grow into inseperable friends. 'Pardner' (Eastwood) is a straight, solid farmer from the Mid West, while Ben Rumson (Marvin) is a hell-raising wildman from no place in particular. When a mormon auctions one of his wives (Elizabeth, played by Jean Seberg), Rumson buys her. Things get complicated when Pardner falls in love with Elizabeth, and she falls in love with .... er, both men.

Added interest is provided by the arrival of a bunch of French whores and a party of rescued wagon-trainers (this last was drawn from a true story).

Good things include a barnstorming performance from Marvin, radiating enormous personality and a real flair for comedy. His career flowered late, but he was at his best in the late sixties ("Point Blank", "Hell In The Pacific", and of course this one). Previn's musical interlude which introduces the Parson (Alan Dexter) is superb, leading into one of the film's best songs, "Here It Is". The comical discords of the musical passage are a joy in themselves, and they pave the way perfectly for the Parson, who is at odds with everybody. "Hand Me Down That Can Of Beans" is rendered by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, guesting in the movie. The boys obviously decided to stay on, because they crop up in various shots throughout the film. Mad Jack is played with manic zest and a peculiar British accent by Ray Walston, none other than TV's "My Favourite Martian".

The interminable gag of the collapsing tunnels stand as a metaphor of the film's shortcomings - over-elaborate, and over-long.

Joshua Logan's screen version of "Paint your wagon" works a treat, perhaps because the original stage version is so little known and apparently has been given something of a make-over by screen writer Paddy Chayefsky. The fact that the leads (Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood and Jean Seberg) can't sing matters not a jot; they perform with charisma, (even Seberg is less wan than usual) and bring a touch of realism to the proceedings, their songs seeming to evolve naturally from the action. Other singing duties are performed by the splendid Harve Presnell and a rousing, mostly male, chorus for this is a musical western of a more robust kind than "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". It's plot, which concerns mining for gold, polygamy and the building of a town, fairly races along. Logan handles the whole thing with great aplomb and brings to it some nice, naturalistic touches sadly lacking from his earlier musicals, "South Pacific" and "Camelot". Most critics didn't warm to it, though and it remains largely under-valued.

Despite the fact that Paint Your Wagon seems to have a non-existent plot line (at least for the first two thirds of its running time) it is a film that I did find to be highly enjoyable. Although the storytelling is rather weak, the writers provide so many humorous scenes that to me it very rarely mattered. Lee Marvin is the main reason to see this and his performance here was nothing short of sublime. Although Marvin was great here, I was a little disappointed with Eastwood. The truth of the matter is that his character was a bit bland and nowhere near as interesting as Marvin's character. However, the blame for this lies with the writers and not Eastwood and I just didn't find his character that interesting and also found the chemistry between Eastwood and Marvin was a bit hit and miss.

The musical numbers here are colourful, lively and very enjoyable (I don't think there was one song that I didn't like). However, usually with musicals songs are used to cover plot points or to convey emotions from characters. In Paint Your Wagon there were a couple of songs here that worked in this manner, but a lot of songs were rather random and had nothing to do with the story. Again this isn't a major problem as the musical numbers were fun, but again it made the story a little strange at times.

Where this film really comes good is in its final third (when we get to the point of the story) and the final act was absolutely hilarious.

On balance there is definitely more good than bad here. Despite the fact that there was no real story for the first two thirds of the film, there were still enough fun moments to make this worthwhile overall. However, Lee Marvin's superb performance and incredibly funny on-screen antics are definitely the biggest selling points here.

If you're a stuck up type that can't stand any form of irreverence, stay far far away from "Paint Your Wagon".

However, if you have any sense of humor at all and can stand to see fun poked at any and every fixture of polite society, "Paint Your Wagon" is a riot.

Although the movie is a musical, the story and the comedy are the main draws here. In my mind, the teenage farm boy telling his parents, "Unless you've had a strong drink of whiskey and a good cigar, you're missing the 2nd and 3rd best things in life", is one of the funniest lines delivered in a movie, certainly one of the most memorable if you've seen this film.

Lee Marvin is at his best as an unashamed hedonist. On a serious note, the writing of his role and his performance thereof helped me learn to take a good look at both sides of things. Society's status quo might often make sense, but not always. ;-) The modern cliché "Thinking outside the box" applies to this story in spades!

I once heard a critic state any movie where Clint Eastwood sings should be rated for violence. He must have never actually listened to this movie. Clint may not be the best voice in the cast but he is surely not the worst. As a young man he has a pleasant "everyman" kind of voice I ENJOY. And in addition to that this an outrageously funny and moving movie.