Steineded How sad is this?

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Neil Doyle There's a delightful dual role for HOWARD KEEL as a has-been cowboy star who has vanished when his old pictures are shown on TV--and FRED MacMURRAY and DOROTHY McGUIRE are desperate to lure him back so they can make more dough off all the cowboy merchandise he inspires. This was at a time when early TV was showing mainly the old Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers films for the kiddies.Persuaded to come back east and take on Callaway's role, Keel finds himself in a lot of funny situations once he takes on the assignment of playing the cowboy star. Later in the film, when the real Callaway is being groomed for a comeback, Keel's performance in the dual role is really impressive. There's never any mistake about which character he's impersonating, thanks to a subtle difference in nuances, looks and expressions.DOROTHY McGUIRE gets the glossy MGM treatment for her close-ups and looks wonderful as the sweet woman who develops an interest in the cowboy "Stretch" who's doing the Callaway impersonation. FRED MacMURRAY gets every grain of humor out of the role of the fast-talking agent with money on his mind. It's an enjoyable romp for all three stars with some guest appearances by folks like Elizabeth Taylor, Clark Gable and Esther Williams.Summing up: Pure fluff, but pleasant enough. The trick photography is abetted by the use of stunt doubles for the final fight scene between Keel and Keel.

Robert J. Maxwell Howard Keel is Smoky Callaway, who made a lot of B Westerns some years ago. Now his movies are being shown on television and Smoky Callaway is everyone's hero, especially the kids who adore his wholesome character. The problem faced by two advertising people -- Fred MacMurray and Dorothy McGuire -- is that although there is a strong market demand for Smoky in the way of personal appearances and commercial endorsements, Good Ol' Smoky Callaway has disappeared into the woodwork whence he came. What can MacMurray and McGuire do? Well, what they can do is stumble upon an exact look-alike, a good-natured, cowboy in Duck Falls, Colorado, who's Zen character is interested only in the beauty of the sky and hills. He's making only $140 a month as a ranch hand and saves $130 of it. The other ten dollars "seems to slip right through muh fingers." But he can't resist two large a week for impersonating the elusive Mister Callaway so before anyone (outside the immediate circle of conspirators) know it, Stretch Barnes is in La La Land endorsing cereals and male extension products and exercisers designed to develop rock hard abs.Stretch is a little guilty about all that money though. He doesn't deserve it for impersonating someone else. So he sees a lawyer and sets up a non-breakable trust into which all his money will go except for a few grand for his ranch and, some day, his wife and lovely kiddies.Trouble is always around the corner in this sort of fairy tale. An unscrupulous rival advertising agent (Jesse White) locates Smoky Callaway in a louche dive somewhere in Latin America where he plays the guitar nightly and gets drunk daily at the El Chicolo.Smoky wastes no time getting back to where the money is. MacMurray and McGuire are frantic. They've lied to good old Stretch and told him that the real Callaway was dead -- which, for all they knew, might be the case. Now they must keep Callaway and Barnes separated while they hire a training team to get the truculent Smoky into shape, "physically, mentally, and morally." When he becomes human again, Stretch will be told the truth, replaced by Smoky, and sent back to the mountains he loves. It's a tough job. Smoky doesn't take his training regimen seriously, partly because he's got liquor stashed in the well, in hidden tree trunks, and liniment bottles -- and he's got martinis in the ink well.The team finally succeeds in drying him out but not improving his mentality. Smoky and Stretch finally meet and there is a fist fight, which Smoky loses. In a fit of pique he leaves for Latin America, and Stretch takes over the rest of the tour, making money that will mostly go to help kids who are poor and sick.A disclaimer at the end tells us that the movie was in no way meant to detract from the charitable civic efforts of real cowboy stars, whose movies were now beginning to show up and win audiences on TV. That must be a reference to guys like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, and Buster Crabbe, some of whom were much like Stretch Barnes, unpretentious and generous.It's funny, but not as funny as it might be, considering it was written, produced, and directed by Norman Frank and Melvin Panama and starred the first-rate light comedian Fred MacMurray. The situation itself was in no way original but the jokes aren't as funny as they might have been. Some ARE pretty amusing. As Smoky Callaway, Keel is drunkenly romancing a gal at the bar and mumbles to her, "You know, you remind me of a girl I knew in South America. Her name was Si, Senor." But it's all pretty light-hearted and enjoyable and is an innocent way to spend an hour and a half.

dougdoepke Thanks be to TMC for rescuing this minor gem from movie oblivion. Sure, kids have long since traded cowboy idols for computer screens, but the pointed humor surrounding Hollywood's money-making machine remains as fresh and timely as ever. MacMurray and McGuire are Hollywood hustlers looking to cash in on cowboy Callaway's renewed popularity via that novel entertainment gimmick, television. Meanwhile, kids everywhere are clamoring for more of their TV idol. The trouble is the actor has long since decided he prefers a drunken stupor to riding horseback and has disappeared from public view. What to do-- the hustlers are so close to the big bucks they can almost smell easy street. In a stroke of luck, a Callaway look-a-like turns up, and they hire him as an impersonator. The trouble is he's a straight-shooter from the boondocks, can't act, and couldn't care less about the Hollywood scene. But the two M's are real Tinsel Town slickers so things begin to work out. Then, however, the real Callaway (Keel, also) shows up and the fun really starts.Fine script from Panama and Frank. The barbs fly thick and fast, so you may need a scorecard to keep up. I love it when the stagehands and those folks who never get their names on screen show how to sabotage an arrogant movie star. Watch the flop Callaway takes executing one of those spectacular flying horse mounts. Though the humor is mainly aimed at Hollywood types and film-making generally, it's never mean-spirited, and we end up liking MacMurray even though he takes real advantage of the innocent "Stretch". Note too, the studio disclaimer at the end. That, no doubt, was to keep Hoppy happy since Cassidy's old films on TV were the movie's obvious inspiration. Being one of those kids that long-ago lined up to meet the real Hoppy, I can testify that he was stone cold sober and a nice guy, to boot. So as the disclaimer says-- the movie is intended merely in the spirit of good fun with no aspersions cast. And a lot of fun it is.

proffate It's the early days of television and much of the programming consists of old western movies. Suddenly, the films of Smoky Callaway (Howard Keel) are discovered by a new generation and he becomes a star once again.One problem: the real Smoky Callaway is a hopeless drunk who has disappeared somewhere in Mexico. Enter Hollywood agents Frye and Patterson (Fred MacMurray and Dorothy McGuire), who need to find a replacement to make a new series of westerns and cash in on the merchandising possibilities. They discover an actual cowboy, Stretch Barnes (also Keel) who agrees to impersonate Smoky.There's a Frank Capra feel as simple Stretch turns out in real life to be the white-hatted western hero that Smoky pretended to be onscreen. Things get complicated when the real Smoky returns.The writing team of Panama and Frank (A Southern Yankee, The Court Jester, White Christmas) delivers another warm, funny movie that pokes fun at Hollywood superficialities and contrasts them with the genuine values of hometown America.