Hootenanny Hoot

For just plain old laughs, this is great. This film my wife and I laughed at for most of the picture. I love it when a movie is SO cornie that it becomes laughable. What makes watching it more enjoyable is knowing that many of the actors probably saw this as their "big break" into the movies! Did people really dance like that? The music was good on the serious side, and it does serve as a period piece of film, though exaggerated.

I recommend this film for anyone who wants to have a light laugh. It isn't the best for a plot, and it really just tries to showcase the artists. If you like folk/country from the early 60s, this has some really good music.

They had a Hoot-Nanny.

...and the film about their life is a hoot... HOOTNANNY HOOT in fact from 1963 and filmed TV style on the MGM back lot one Tuesday afternoon before the bulldozer tore through the Andy Hardy street. One other comment on this site correctly identifies the same storyline as ROCK AROUD THE CLOCK and the remake TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK and now this remake... (stray TV Producer wanders into isolated rural utopia and - gasp - discovers it to be chock full'o new performers and their dancin pals all set to be ruthlessly exploited as their 'new music style' sweeps the nation) ....now as a bumpkin drive in spectacular with a trolley full of plunkin pickin groups. All that is missing is Merle Haggard and Jayne Mansfield in a caftan (now available on DVD in LAS VEGAS HILLBILLES) ... HOOTNANNY must be well respected in Australia as we saw it at 8.30pm TCM time slot which for some misguided reason made it the most watched program of the night. Not that we couldn't have switched stations... why would you? HOOTNANNY HOOT is exactly that... trios of banjo fun with people who look dressed for church, matched by angular dance moves by young'uns who look like Barbie and Ken. Now if I can only see COUNTRY MUSIC JAMBOREE starring that Queen Of Outer Space: Zsa Zsa Gabor. I am soooo excited.

Forget the plot. As far as that goes, be prepared for another Sam Katzman exploitive quickie designed to cash in on whatever was hot at the moment. In this case, it was the pop-folk boom that effectively began with the Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley" in 1958 and lasted roughly about five years, until just before the start of the British Invasion.

The music, however, is another matter, and you'd do best to just fast forward through the droning dialogue to catch solid early performances by Johnny Cash, the Brothers Four (looking and sounding good even when bouncing on trampolines during one number), George Hamilton IV (singing his # 1 hit, "Abilene") and Judy Henske, among others. Everyone gives good performances despite, or perhaps in reaction to, the overall cheesiness surrounding them.

In short, musically I give this film an 8, otherwise one half of one.

Hootenanny Hoot (1963)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Slight but entertaining musical from MGM has a television director (Peter Breck) and a producer (Ruta Lee) whose marriage is breaking apart. He leaves town a soon finds himself in a small town in Missouri where he's introduced to a local "hootenanny". After seeing some of the musical acts he tries to get it produced and on television but guess who he'll after meet again? The actual "story" here isn't much as its poorly written and probably done so on purpose. There's no doubt that the main goal of this film was to show off some of the musical performers and as long as you like the music you should have an okay time going through the film. The film follows the same structure as stuff like ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK and TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK and that's to introduce new music to a wider range of people for acceptance. The music here just happens to be country and folk, which the film tries to say is one in the same. I'm sure many people would debate that but either way we get some very good numbers here with the highlight being an appearance by Johnny Cash doing Frankie's Man Johnny. Other numbers include Joe and Eddy's There's a Meeting Here Tonight, The Brothers Four doing Frogg and Little Cory and a strong Abilene by George Hamilton IV. There are a lot of banjos and old-fashion dances going around but I guess that's what a hootenanny is all about. If you hate country music and folk then there's really do reason to check this out as the story isn't strong enough to carry the thing. If you can put up with the music it's worth checking out, although I'm sure many will be hitting the fast-forward button to get to the music.

I watched this bit of harmless nonsense on TCM. I remember the "hootenanny fad" and oddly did not recall this movie at all. Seeing a young Johhny Cash was a treat, although I'd hardly classify his music as part of the hootenanny craze. Likewise for Sheb Wooley, what no "Purple People Eater", and George Hamilton IV or whatever number he was. The Brothers 4 I recall, but other performers I do not remember at all. The format reminded me of the rock and roll movies with Alan Freed and a few others. Extremely corny, but a record of some of the music of the times !