Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

calvinnme While I love Judy Garland (and I think she was the best part of the film), there was really no point to her character. She didn't really add anything to the story. It's almost like she was just added in for the sake of having this child singing prodigy in the film. The only reason I believe that this film is even remembered is because of the future stars that it featured: Garland, Betty Grable and Elisha Cook Jr. Patsy Kelly, who played the wife, was annoying at best. I didn't mind Jack Haley, but he is forever etched in my mind as The Tin Man. When there were multiple comments made to him about having a brain, I was really wanting him to mention his heart somehow, but alas no. I love watching football, so the old timey football scenes, to me, were the best part of the film. I'd love to know how many horrible injuries players sustained during these times, because they aren't wearing very much protection. However, the game seems to be more physical now than it used to be, and the players are also much bigger. I found the logic of basketball players being good at football to be strange. I guess we're presuming that these are pass heavy games and good blocking and tackling abilities aren't required in 1930s football. I really liked the scenes of the football in the snow. Bad weather football is the most fun to watch. 5/10 points are for Judy, Betty and football. Whether it is worth watching even once is a take it or leave it proposition.

MartinHafer It is rather ironic that Judy Garland's feature film debut would NOT be on a picture from her home studio, MGM, but when she was loaned out to rival studio Twentieth Century-Fox. However, apart from the novelty of seeing a young Judy in the film, there is not a lot to recommend this sub-par musical.The film begins with the Yale administrators discussing an important topic--which college will play their football team in an upcoming game. They decide on powerhouse University of Texas, but due to a stupid mistake, tiny Texas State is instead offered this prestigious game. This comes at a very opportune time, as the horrible team of Texas State has a new coach (Jack Haley) and he wants to make a name for himself. But there are two problems--the team hasn't won a game in two years and the coach's wife (Patsy Kelly) is a buffoon and she ends up breaking the star player's leg! So, to try to make amends, this annoying woman goes on a cross-country trek trying to find a star for their team. Her search ends up in a watermelon patch--with melon-slinging Amos Dodd (Stu Erwin*) being offered a scholarship to play for Texas State even though they have no idea if he even finished or even attended high school! He's hesitant but his kid-sister (Garland*) insists and comes along to college with him. Can this hayseed somehow help the team to be able to take on Yale and not embarrass themselves?This film is jam-packed full of songs--mostly bad songs. Even if you love songs, you may find some of them hard to take--particularly those of a strange and very old-looking college quartet, The Yacht Club Boys. Their songs, to put it bluntly, are third-rate and it's obvious the studio really saw this more as a B-movie** than anything else. The humor is generally very broad and corny. Subtle the film ain't---and this can also be said about much of the acting. Erwin is more a caricature than anything else and Kelly is as Kelly usually is--brash, loud and, well, LOUD! So, we have one character who is a lot like Uncle Jed from "The Beverly Hillbillies" and another who seems to be performing specifically for the hard of hearing, as she screams many of her lines! In addition to being a poor film, it brings us an incredibly cynical message that when it comes to small schools, they must cheat in order to keep up with the big colleges! And cheating is what Texas State does repeatedly as Dodd isn't even eligible to play though he does through some creative cheating! I know that the reviews for this film are all rather positive--some even giving it a 10. I find this inexplicable, as I have seen hundreds of better musicals--hundreds! Aside from Garland's amazing singing and a few cute moments, the film is lame through and through. It is something no one would remember or want to remember except because of her appearance...as well as when Texas State punts the ball on 2nd down (pay attention...they really do this in the big game with Yale).*College movies of the 1930s, 40s and 50s OFTEN featured college students who were practically old enough to be on social security! In this film, most of the students appear to be in their 30s--and Erwin is 33! And, in an odd twist, his 'sister' is only 14! **Yes, I know a true B-movie is only about 60 minutes in length--not 93 minutes like this one. However, the film is full of second and third-tier actors, bad writing, bad music and the studio seemed to have little faith in the film.

rok2 For those who pooh-poohed this film, remember Stu Erwin received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for this film. Patsy Kelly is always a wonderful comedienne. This is a film to lift the spirits. Made at a time when Americans needed to have their spirits boosted. The premise is admittedly bogus, but the result is a great laugh riot. Years ago I recorded it from an AMC broadcast and played it for my parents (both depression era children - neither recalled it) they couldn't stop laughing. I'm certain it received the same reaction when it first appeared in 1935. It is an example to humor with out bawdy references. I wish it were on DVD, I'd buy in an instant. This helped buoy spirits in an era before Adolph Hitler raised the US economy out of the Depression.

gftbiloxi Yale invites the University of Texas to compete in a charity football game--but a secretary fumbles the communication and extends the invitation to tiny Texas State University instead. New coach Slug Winters (Jack Haley) and his harridan wife Bessie (Patsy Kelly) manage to whip the team into shape, but when an accident sidelines the star player they find an unexpected replacement in barefoot yokel Amos Dodd (Stuart Erwin)... and before you can say Sis Boom Bah every one is off to the big game! Best known for his later performance of The Tin Man in THE WIZARD OF OZ, Jack Haley was a memorable light comic of stage and screen, and his pairing with Patsy Kelly is truly inspired. In addition to the then-popular quartet The Yachtclub Boys, the film also offers early glimpses of future big names like Betty Grable, Alan Ladd, Tony Martin, and Elisha Cook Jr., not to mention B movie queens Arline Judge and Lynn Bari.But then as now, the real noise in the film was teenage Judy Garland, who made her feature film debut on loan from home studio MGM with the small role of Amos Dodd's hillbilly sister "Sairy." Slight though the role was, Garland's handful of cornpone-humor scenes and her three songs served as a wake-up call to her MGM handlers, and for the rest of her MGM contract she would never work off-studio again.Although PIGSKIN PARADE is hardly in the same league with the Paramount, Warner Brothers, or MGM musicals of the same era, the lightweight story, memorable cast, silly dialogue ("Well, Call My Hawgs!") and pleasant if not greatly memorable songs has a great deal of period charm. I do not think it will greatly appeal to any one who isn't already a fan of 1930s musicals, but those who are will enjoy it--and Garland fans will consider it a minor classic.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer