Ein toller Bursche

You cannot go wrong watching a 1940's western that stars the charming and macho Clark Gable who plays a huckster named Candy Johnson with two ladies chasing after him. The first lady is the street smart, poker playing barmaid named 'Gold Dust' Nelson (Claire Trevor) and the second lady who still lives at home with her daddy judge Cotton (Frank Morgan) the one and only Grand Wizard from the 1939 classic Wizard of Oz is the Boston born debutante Elizabeth Cotton (Lana Turner).

There is no one in the modern day age of the 1940's cinema that garners more attention, confidence and natural swagger than the smooth talking Clark Gable who could even charm the skin off of a rattlesnake and he certainly lives up to his reputation in Honky Tonk. No doubt, this is a western with gamblers, gunslingers, bar room brawls and high noon shootouts, but it is also a romantic film so there is a little bit of country charm in it as well.

I would recommend Honky Tonk is worth watching at least twice in a lifetime. I give it a solid 7 out of 10 rating.

Fast talking conman "Candy" Johnson is a kissing cousin to a Rhett Butler without card tricks; oozing charm that disarms men and women alike, Candy arrives in the Western town of Yellow Creek and, through corruption, rises to the top both politically and economically. Made only two years after "Gone with the Wind," "Honky Tonk" has some echoes of the Selznick epic woven into its melodramatic scenario. However, the primary throwback to the Civil War epic is Clark Gable, who not only looks exactly as he did as Butler, but his performance closely tracks the earlier iconic role as well. Cocky and flashing his trademark grin, Gable flirts, cons, and shoots with the best, aided and abetted by Chill Wills as his bewhiskered side-kick, "The Sniper."

The twenty-year age difference between Gable and the film's female lead, Lana Turner, passes without remark, because Gable's charms are understandably ageless. At age 20, Turner is already glamorous and incandescent with her bleached blonde hair and pale flawless skin, which glow in Harold Rosson's crisp black-and-white camera-work. Beyond Wills, the other supporting players are skilled veterans. Sharp and tough, Claire Trevor is always fascinating to watch, and she provides romantic rivalry for Turner and gal-pal friendship for Gable. Frank Morgan as Turner's alcoholic father and Albert Dekker as Gable's rival for power are effective, and Marjorie Main supplies the needed light moments. All told, the stars and cast are the film's primary assets.

Directed by Jack Conway, "Honky Tonk" is a predictable, but entertaining star vehicle for Gable and a showcase for emerging star Lana Turner. As such, fans of Turner will be entranced, while Gable's followers will consider the film essential viewing.

MY absolute all time favorite Clark Gable movie is Honky Tonk. Gable's Candy Johnson is more perfect characterization for him than Rhett Butler was. This movie is in the pinnacle of Gable's career between Gone With The Wind and Carole Lombard's death.

Gable and Chill Wills are a pair old West con men who we first see actually conning their way out of a tar and feathering. They sneak aboard a train and Gable meets Lana Turner who he falls head over heels for. He soon finds out she's the daughter of a fellow grifter, Frank Morgan, who's the justice of the peace of the town they've arrived at. And the fun starts.

Lana Turner in the beginning of her career had a certain winsomeness that was very effective on the screen. You can see the same thing in another of her films with Gable, Homecoming. Supposedly Gable and she had a fling during this film and this was when Gable had that storybook marriage to Carole Lombard.

Gable and Turner get great support her with a cast that includes Frank Morgan, Chill Wills, Marjorie Main, Henry O'Neill, Claire Trevor, and Albert Dekker. The film begins with a con and actually ends with one as Gable cons the bad guys into giving up, I won't reveal how.

Finally I like this film because even though he gets the girl and even might be settling down, Gable is totally unrepentant about his past. Very unusual for 1941 Hollywood.

This is a slick MGM western that pulls out all the stops. It combines the finest actors and supporting actors, excellent production values and excellent writing to make a very enjoyable picture. I'm sure that some might be put off by the style of film, as it's pretty predictable and breaks no particular new ground. However, to audiences who were paying to see a "Clark Gable Picture", they were getting exactly what they paid for--the King of Hollywood in all his macho-ness combined with the radiant Ms. Turner in an involving western about professional gambler Gable and his desire to make a fortune any way he can to initially please his new wife, but forgetting WHY over the course of the film. It's all you'd expect from a top-notch studio with top-notch stars.

This picture starts out with great promise; A con-man and his sidekick about to get ridden out of a town on a rail, tarred and feathered, but they turn the tables on the angry mob and 'hightail it' out on the next train. In the next town he meets Lana Turner, and the action and narrative come to a screeching halt as the story becomes a sappy love story with the old west as a backdrop.

I say 'sappy', because there is not a note of veracity in what follows, as unlikely and far-fetched a love story as can be imagined. Gable gives it all he's got but Lana Turner was a lightweight as an actress and is no help. They are both hampered by a sappy script designed to pander to 40's audiences but which nowadays is just irritating, right down to the happy (sappy?) ending. OK for Gable fans but pass on this one if you're not.