Brandin Lindsey
Paint Your Wagon is a 1969 musical/western/comedy. The story follows Pardner, a man searching for a living, played by Clint Eastwood. Pardner soon becomes indebted to an alcoholic panhandler named Ben Rumson, when Ben saves Pardner's life after a severe carriage accident. The mining camp that Ben and Pardner are working in is inhabited by four hundred men, and not a single woman. This leads to a Mormon man with two wives coming to town and all hell breaking loose, as one of the wives is auctioned off to the miners. Now that one of the miners has a wife, antics ensue as all the problems one could imagine arising from this situation occur: jealousy, fighting, and distrust.Paint Your Wagon is an enjoyable movie and manages to entertain throughout the lengthy run time. Many of the songs displayed throughout the film are highly memorable and all of the cast did a fantastic job in their roles. Many of the jokes are still hilarious, even forty years later. There are also some funny twists throughout the story. These plot choices are interesting, but they're fun and they work. Some of the best parts of the film are also the same things that bring the film down at times. While the comedy is great, some of the slapstick humor is dated and pratfalls are simply no longer entertaining. This film also displays the obnoxious form of intoxication. You know what I'm talking about, crossed eyes and tongue hanging out. This is common in older films, but it always stands out as irritating. It's as if the actors were taught how to act drunk by Bugs Bunny. Another point that is great about the film is the music, but there are some songs that don't quite fit. For example, the men of the camp speak of the loneliness and the rain that seems to put a depressing pall on everyone. Out of nowhere, one of the characters adds that the wind is bad too, despite the fact that there is no wind. This leads to a song about the wind, and even during the song there is no wind. This is an example of a song that needed to go somewhere and was clumsily added to the story.Despite these complaints, Paint Your Wagon is still very entertaining. Even those who are not fond of musicals will find plenty to enjoy in this film, not to mention this is a great movie for Eastwood fans.
gilligan1965
the ratings this movie received; the fact that Lee Marvin considered it 'crap' and only did it for the money; and, that 'tough-guy' Clint Eastwood sings in it, which most considered silly...I believe this to be a very good and entertaining movie.Sure, it's likely all of this - it received low ratings and it's crap to those who dislike musicals; and, seeing 'Clint' sing and be all lovey-dovey was probably too much for most viewers and only appealed to children in a "Doctor Dolittle" sort of way.However, it is also a 'fun' movie in the way that the characters interact; especially how these two men (the two main stars) "ALLOW" and "ACCEPT" to be the husband(s) of the same beautiful woman, Elizabeth (Jean Seberg).In a time when musicals were on their way out, this movie actually makes me wish they came back.This is a very enjoyable movie! :)
dimplet
While "Hello, Dolly!" is a movie that some viewers feel compelled to admire, "Paint Your Wagon" is a movie some viewers feel compelled to criticize. I don't feel compelled to do either. What counts is whether you enjoy a movie, not whether you are "supposed to" admire a movie. I did not enjoy "Hello, Dolly!" despite giving it my best try several times. But I have enjoyed watching "Paint Your Wagon," even with several viewings over the years. I enjoy musicals. As a kid in the Sixties I would borrow the LPs of the Broadway cast or movie soundtrack from the library, before there were VHS or DVDs. I enjoyed listening to the great songs. But now we don't have to limit ourselves to just the music excerpts. This provides a clue to the difference between these two musicals. "Hello, Dolly!" had some very good music, of a Broadway sort, so we assumed it was an equally good musical. "Paint Your Wagon" had musical roots going back to the Fifties, and was a musical non-entity."Hello, Dolly!" the movie has lots of good Broadway songs and incredibly lavish sets and dance numbers, which are its raison d'etre. But the movie has a plot that is astonishingly weak, in light of its Broadway success. Watching a fleet of dancing waiters performing absurd acrobatics is not my idea of fun."Paint Your Wagon" has some decent musical numbers, and some almost feeble attempts at dancing, but no one in their right mind would see it just for its music and dancing. So judged on that score, alone, it would rate a flop. But it's got a reasonably interesting story and very good acting, including a fine comic performance by Lee Marvin (!), not to mention some memorable croaking that passes for singing. If you snipped out all the singing and dancing, "Paint Your Wagon" would still be a film worth watching."Hello, Dolly!" on the other hand, has acting that varies from mediocre to miserably atrocious, and a story line you wouldn't pay more than $100 for someone to write. If you cut out the music and dancing, the audience would walk out. The sore point with "Paint Your Wagon" is its budget. Reviewers relish reminding people of its $18 million budget. But "Hello, Dolly!" cost $25 million, and they both came out in the same year (although Dolly was filmed earlier and shelved). Because so much money was wasted on Wagon, we are not supposed to enjoy it. While it is easy to put down the musical side of Wagon, it should be pointed out that Lerner and Lowe, Nelson Riddle and Andre Previn are hardly slouches. And Clint Eastwood acquits himself remarkably well. With Wagon, the producers wisely picked actors who were right for the part, and dealt with the singing later. What I find most curious in comparing the two, is that Dolly seems two or three times as long as Wagon, even though it has faster pacing and is 146 minutes long, to Wagon's 158 minutes. Dolly is rushed, and painful to watch, while Wagon has a relaxed pace and is fun to watch. It is nice to see a movie that is not in a hurry, though Wagon could fit its story line into a shorter movie.Part of the problem with Dolly is that it is a comedy that just is not funny. With Wagon, the humor is built into the awkward situations and odd characters, so it works with repeated viewings. But it is those situations that may provide the real clue to Wagon's hostile reception: it's menage a trois. It was rated "M," or "R" today, just because of its implied three-way sex. It is something viewers hardly notice today, but in 1969, Wagon must have been viewed as sneering at religion and all morality (which is about right). This may be why I like it so much, but it is also undoubtedly why some people despise this movie, even today. Wagon is the original louche musical.For some people, musicals are supposed to embody family values. Wagon ridicules them. It makes a mockery of marriage, while glorifying prostitution, drinking, cigar smoking, violence and thievery. Dolly, on the other hand, couldn't be more old- fashioned and square. You cannot imagine, in your wildest dreams, Matthau and Streisand having sex, and yet Matthau, out of the blue, proposes to her, without even a kiss. Now that's family values. Wagon certainly is not one of the great musicals, but it is still a fun movie worth watching when you have a long evening and a lot of popcorn handy. The bottom line: I find "Paint Your Wagon" entertaining, but "Hello, Dolly!" pretentious. Watching Wagon, or even just recollecting it, brings a smile to my face.
