JohnHowardReid Copyright 1956 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 31 August 1956. U.S. release: 14 August 1956. U.K. release: 19 November 1956. Australian release: 27 September 1956. Sydney opening at the Regent. 8,496 feet. 94 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A young and innocent cowboy, Bo Decker (Don Murray), is brought from his Montana ranch by his friend Virgil (Arthur O'Connell) to a rodeo in Phoenix, Arizona. At the Blue Dragon café in Phoenix, Bo discovers Cherie (Marilyn Monroe), a singer of uncertain virtue. He is indignant at the inattention of patrons during her number and bullies them into a respectful silence. NOTES: Location scenes filmed in Phoenix, Arizona. The play opened on Broadway at the Music Box on 2 March 1955 and ran a most satisfactory 478 performances. Kim Stanley and Albert Salmi were the leads. Other players: Elaine Stritch, Anthony Ross, Phyllis Love, Lou Polan, Crahan Denton, Patrick McVey. The play was directed by Harold Clurman, produced by Robert Whitehead and Roger L. Stevens.Film debuts of Don Murray and Hope Lange. (Don't take any notice of reports that Murray had a role in 1951's "Dallas". Some computers don't know the difference between Don Murray and Zon Murray). Nominated for Hollywood's most prestigious award for Supporting Actor, Don Murray lost out to Anthony Quinn in "Lust for Life". Number 16 at the US/Canadian box-office for 1956. Number 10 on the National Board of Review's list of the Best American Films of 1956. One of Bosley Crowther's selections for his New York Times list of the Ten Best Pictures of 1956.COMMENT: William Inge's Broadway hit was originally a one-set affair about half-a-dozen bus passengers stranded at a roadside café during a blizzard. This has been brilliantly expanded by George Axelrod so that one is not aware of the film's stage origins until about 30 minutes from the end when the film too becomes confined to the original stage setting. Indeed, some of the scenes which Axelrod has added are the most memorable in the film — Murray waking up the drowsing bus passengers by doing push-ups at five o'clock in the morning or embarrassing Marilyn Monroe by hollering out to her at the rodeo.All Marilyn Monroe's scenes are superbly conceived. She doesn't come on for about 20 minutes. Finally we catch sight of her sitting forlornly on the window-sill in the back-room of a broken-down bar. A few minutes later she is hustling drinks out of Arthur O'Connell and then she launches into that memorable rendition of "Ole Black Magic", tattily staged with colored lights, photographs of which have been immortalized in countless books and articles on Marilyn Monroe.Some may argue that Marilyn Monroe's performance is a little too calculated and lacks the spontaneity and naturalness Don Murray brings to his role. Be this as it may, Marilyn Monroe's study of Cherie is an engaging and sympathetic one and the fact that at times there seems to be something a little too contrived about her characterization is as much a fault of the script as anything else. It is a tribute to Marilyn Monroe's skill as an actress that she manages to make the character as believable as she does, given such potentially awkward script moments as her confidences in Vera and above all, her sudden change of heart towards Bo. Marilyn Monroe makes an honest and for the most part very successful endeavor to give a rounded portrayal, whereas Don Murray simply skims — albeit very charmingly — over the surface of his role, playing Bo throughout on a purely superficial level as a simple- minded rustic. The other players are competent. We particularly liked Robert Bray's personable bus driver. Hope Lange, though, is wasted in a very tiny, colorless role, while Hans Conreid and Casey Adams have such minuscule parts they are little more than bit players.As might be expected from a Broadway director used to blocking action on a stage of similar shape, Logan fills up the wide CinemaScope screen very ably; but otherwise his direction is best described as unobtrusive. There's very little camera movement, for instance. (Logan had worked in Hollywood in the latter 1930s as both a full director and dialogue director). Other technical credits are thoroughly professional. As usual, the work of the Fox sound department is absolutely brilliant.

talisencrw In her prime, which because of her death at any early age was all of her cinematic life, Monroe was a gorgeous force of nature very much under-appreciated in her thespianism. Once I adjusted to Logan's directional style and to the rodeo and fish-out-of-water concepts, I really laid back and enjoyed this. Though it doesn't feature Marilyn's best singing--she portrays a bad singer, at least at the start--it does have some of her best acting, as she finds out she's accepted for who she really is. Wish that had happened to her in real life. Don't get me wrong: it's not by any stretch of the imagination a great film. Yet neither is it the mediocrity other people tend to say it is.

atlasmb When Joshua Logan tested the play "Picnic" out of town, he had to confront the fact that audiences did not like certain aspects of the William Inge play, especially the ending. Over Inge's protests, he changed the play. It went to Broadway where it was successful. Logan was then pegged to direct the film. He brought the play "out of the box" of the theater and set the movie in an actual town.After the success of "Picnic" the movie, another Inge play, "Bus Stop" was brought to film with Logan again directing. This film has obvious similarities to "Picnic" even though Logan is not listed as writer. In particular, the scenes that occur before they reach the bus stop--with their slice of life montage--and the presence of Arthur O'Connell. Marilyn Monroe replaces Kim Novak as the small-town girl and Don Murray replaces William Holden as the interloper who enters her life.I disagree with those who find Marilyn Monroe's performance lacking. She plays Cherie--at least that's what she calls herself--a "chanteuse" from the hill county who has created what she thinks is a refined personality. For those who find her accent uneven, I suggest that it is no more real than her name, so it makes perfect sense that it comes and goes, mixed with her hill folk twang.Don Murray's performance is criticized by some as annoying or overly loud. Beau is a farm boy who has probably never talked with a woman, let alone kissed one. His manners are suitable for the barn because he doesn't know any better. His attraction to Cherie (whom he calls "Cherry") is like the first crush of a schoolboy, transformative and tempestuous. He is bursting at the seams with enthusiasm. His ideas of manhood are, no doubt, garnered from ranch hands. Jack Lemmon has played a few characters with similar traits--loud and enthusiastic.The original play was much different and, as Inge intended, much darker. It is a story about the essential loneliness of life. The movie has been considerably brightened. No doubt Logan had a large hand in that. When Cherie and Beau are waylaid at a bus stop with some strangers, Beau is forced to confront his caveman ways. Cherie is touched, leading to her revelation about her background. Somehow the bus stop scene is still the central part of the film. The kiss between Cherie and Beau after their transformations is touching and intense (thanks to the contrast with Beau's behavior beforehand).I don't think Cherie's decision at the end is as risky as the decision Madge makes at the end of "Picnic", but it still indicates a major change in the character. In the end, "Bus Stop" goes from over-the-top comedy to a love story.

jhfenster The firs time i tried to watch Bus Stop, I switched it off because I did not see the Marilyn Monroe I had expected to see. Then recently, and for the first time, I watched Bus Stop all the way through and was amazed.It's clear that Marilyn was drawing on her own experiences in portraying Cherie, the put-upon saloon singer. But she also brought to the role an amazing portrayal the likes of which she had never before done, nor ever would again, which is the public's loss. She proved herself to be a real actress and while Don Murray was Oscar-nominated, Marilyn's work was ignored by the Academy, as it would be for the rest of her life.Watch Bus Stop and be amazed.