The Paleface (B or 3/4 stars)
'The Paleface', a Technicolor western spoof directed by Norman Z. McLeod, stars comedian Bob Hope as cheerfully inept dentist "Painless" Potter and lovely Jane Russell as buxom outlaw, Calamity Jane. The movie begins with Calamity Jane being broken out of jail. However, this is no ordinary jail break; as it was organized by the U.S. government because they want her to do some undercover work for them. But they staged it so that her fellow partners-in-crime wouldn't suspect that she had made a deal to help out in exchange for a pardon from her 10 yr. sentence. It is soon after agreeing to all of this that she meets up with our hapless protagonist, "Painless" Potter. She easily woos him, pretends to fall in love with him, & even marries him to create a cover for herself.
Considering that Painless Potter is a simpleton & a wimp, you'd think that he'd realize that he's being used {but then ther'd be no movie, would there? haha}. So yeah, Painless has absolutely no idea that his brand new wife is a special agent & fails to wonder why they aren't making love. Every time she kisses him, she clubs him over the head; yet he thinks that he's passing out from how overwhelmingly gorgeous she is -- see, a simpleton, haha. Eventually, the trail of the bad guys leads them to an Indian camp where Painless' late-breaking prowess as an Indian killer could lead to his dying a horrific body-splitting death. This is because Calamity Jane has, on the sly, done all the trick sharpshooting that everyone thinks Painless has been doing all along; & taking credit for throughout the proceedings. Will this 'newlywed' couple get out of this complicated situation alive? Will love bloom for real {gee, I dunno}? Craziness ensues.
This is one hell of a silly movie. Silly, colorful, ridiculous ... and oh, so much fun. Really, this is one of the rare, rare examples of an exceedingly dumb movie that gets by completely BECAUSE of the silliness and because of the Hope/Russell star combo -- usually, I can't abide these types of movies. In fact, of all of Bob Hope's movies that I've seen, this is among his very best. And it's not just me ... 'The Paleface' was the 3rd highest grossing film of 1948, its breakout hit song "Buttons & Bows" went on to win an Academy Award, & a profitable sequel was spawned just 4 years later. So yeah, this film did well, haha.
This was only Jane Russell's 3rd motion picture after jumping onto film screens as a sexpot in Howard Hawks' The Outlaw (1941). Here, she's given a chance to show her star quality as an actress, singer, & comedienne ... and she matches up perfectly with the spirited Hope. This film contains a ton of one-liners (Painless' patient: "the bad tooth is on the right". Painless: "Please, no clues") & slapstick sequences. Normally that can irritate me, but it's all done with such light-hearted fun that I just accepted it. i.e., a silly routine over laughing gas; and a running gag of characters being hurled off of a coach by runaway horses {I laughed so hard}. So while 'The Paleface' could never be accused of being 'brilliant' ... it offers fun characters, nice visuals, & an irresistibly nonsensical storyline to boot.
Considering that Painless Potter is a simpleton & a wimp, you'd think that he'd realize that he's being used {but then ther'd be no movie, would there? haha}. So yeah, Painless has absolutely no idea that his brand new wife is a special agent & fails to wonder why they aren't making love. Every time she kisses him, she clubs him over the head; yet he thinks that he's passing out from how overwhelmingly gorgeous she is -- see, a simpleton, haha. Eventually, the trail of the bad guys leads them to an Indian camp where Painless' late-breaking prowess as an Indian killer could lead to his dying a horrific body-splitting death. This is because Calamity Jane has, on the sly, done all the trick sharpshooting that everyone thinks Painless has been doing all along; & taking credit for throughout the proceedings. Will this 'newlywed' couple get out of this complicated situation alive? Will love bloom for real {gee, I dunno}? Craziness ensues.
This is one hell of a silly movie. Silly, colorful, ridiculous ... and oh, so much fun. Really, this is one of the rare, rare examples of an exceedingly dumb movie that gets by completely BECAUSE of the silliness and because of the Hope/Russell star combo -- usually, I can't abide these types of movies. In fact, of all of Bob Hope's movies that I've seen, this is among his very best. And it's not just me ... 'The Paleface' was the 3rd highest grossing film of 1948, its breakout hit song "Buttons & Bows" went on to win an Academy Award, & a profitable sequel was spawned just 4 years later. So yeah, this film did well, haha.
This was only Jane Russell's 3rd motion picture after jumping onto film screens as a sexpot in Howard Hawks' The Outlaw (1941). Here, she's given a chance to show her star quality as an actress, singer, & comedienne ... and she matches up perfectly with the spirited Hope. This film contains a ton of one-liners (Painless' patient: "the bad tooth is on the right". Painless: "Please, no clues") & slapstick sequences. Normally that can irritate me, but it's all done with such light-hearted fun that I just accepted it. i.e., a silly routine over laughing gas; and a running gag of characters being hurled off of a coach by runaway horses {I laughed so hard}. So while 'The Paleface' could never be accused of being 'brilliant' ... it offers fun characters, nice visuals, & an irresistibly nonsensical storyline to boot.