LCShackley I knew I was going to like this movie when a 25-year-old Stan Freberg walked onto the screen in an early scene, playing an employee at an ad agency. In fact, I would have given this movie a good rating just on the basis of all the TV icons in the cast: Fred MacMurray, Jesse White, Natalie Schafer, and in tiny cameos John Banner and Hugh Beaumont. And speaking of cameos, how about Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, and Esther Williams? Yes, they're here too.This comedy is WAY above "B" picture level, with a snappy script by the team of Frank and Panama, who earned their comedy medals writing for Hope/Crosby and Danny Kaye. Howard Keel does a fine job in his dual role, while Fred and Dorothy try to please a cantankerous sponsor and keep their phony cowboy happy at the same time. There are plenty of laughs, and some plot twists to keep you wondering how it's all going to work out in the end. If you watched TV in the 1950s, you'll especially enjoy this gentle satire of the entertainment and advertising industries of the time.

edwagreen A bygone era is depicted in this cleverly produced 1951 film. Remember when children sat glued to the set to watch those cowboy shows. There was always the great chase scenes and the hero saving the town and getting the girl at the end.You would think this picture would be like that from its beginning. Instead, it turns into a comedy about what life should really be.When a cowboy star of past movies becomes popular once again, a team nicely played by Fred MacMurray and Dorothy McGuire look for him. Our hero is Howard Keel in a non-singing role. Trouble is that Keel has become a has-been hiding out in Mexico under the influence of alcohol and women.Jesse White is sent to look for him. In the meantime, a double appears that the MacMurray-McGuire team will use.The story becomes heartwarming as the fake Callaway, Keel, in a double role known as Stretch, becomes enamored by the part but realizes that something has to be done with children who are impoverished and ill. His setting up of a fund for them is wonderful but when he meets up with the "real" Callaway, all hell breaks loose.This movie has everything. Comedy, helping and that old western spirit of a bygone era.

blanche-2 "Callaway Went Thataway" is a slight comedy enlivened by some fine performances by Dorothy McGuire, Fred MacMurray, Howard Keel and Jesse White. As television was threatening to take over the film industry, MGM produced this send-up of the TV western hero craze. Smoky Callaway's old movies are being run on TV and are such a hit with kids that an enormous licensing potential develops for Smoky products and endorsements, plus the making of more Smoky movies. One small problem - Smoky done left the corral 10 years earlier and no one - including his agent (White) knows where he went. The ad agency partners (McGuire and MacMurray) find a lookalike, Stretch Barnes, a simple man with simple needs, and convince him to take Smoky's place, claiming that Smoky is dead. All goes well until Smoky's agent finds the real Callaway, a womanizing boozer, and brings him back.This is a fun film for baby boomers who grew up with Gabby Hayes, Roy Rogers, The Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers etc. etc. and who used all the products that carried their hero's face: the cereals, the lunch boxes, the toys. Howard Keel is terrific in the dual role of sweet, sensitive, aw shucks ma'm Stretch and the hard-drinking slob Smoky. McGuire is lovely in her role, and MacMurray does well as her less conscience-stricken partner.MGM takes the opportunity to plug its stars - there are cameos of Esther Williams, Elizabeth Taylor, and Clark Gable, and there are lots of future TV stars as well. Besides Jesse White, there's Stan Frieberg, Natalie Schaeffer, and in an uncredited role, Hugh Beaumont. Fun viewing.

Draconis Blackthorne A spoof on the massive western trend of Hopalong Cassidy and the like. When a western character comes into favor with the masses, a film company initiates a frantic search to find the original actor who portrayed that icon of wholesome American heroism, but when there are no leads, they decide on a good-hearted yokel who just so happens to resemble the cowboy of yore, and offer him a substantial salary if he will bring the character back to life for all the little kiddies who look up to him so admirably.By and by, an investigator manages to locate the original Callaway, who had taken residence in Mexico with some spicy senoritas and his chronic alcohol consumption. Now a rather grizzled version of his former self, he refuses to leave his lifestyle of excess, so the investigator plans on literally kidnapping him after he passes out to catch a ship back to the states. He reluctantly agrees to assume his former role, much to the chagrin of the female chaperon accompanying the new cowboy, as she takes quite a fancy for him as he does with her, who after traveling across the country, become, shall we say, 'very well acquainted'. A fight eventually ensues between the cowboys, and the real one wins out over the drunk.Amusing scenes include: in an effort to bring the drunken cowboy back to shape, he hides bottles of booze in various locations throughout this health ranch, including in a well bucket, and in a rock while jogging out on the trail.The well-meaning impersonator manages to gain possession of all of the money the character had been generating up to that point and sets up a fund for clinically ill children, after feeling deeply guilty since a stern woman admonished him about their conditions. He eventually grows to embody the Callaway icon, and assumes the role whole-heartedly.