Franc jeu

Clark Gable is a rogue trying to go straight, and Lana Turner is his wife in "Honky Tonk," a western from MGM that also stars Claire Trevor, Frank Morgan, and Marjorie Main. Gable is Candy Johnson, who blows into town, and after he wins $5,000, opens his own gambling establishment. He meets Elizabeth (Turner), whose father (Morgan) is an old crook with a respectable front as a judge. After he and Elizabeth get married, Candy gets a taste of power and starts trying to take over the town. All his efforts initially were for his bride, but his intentions get away from him.

The two stars really make this film. Turner and Gable have great chemistry, as they proved in other films together (this was their first). Gable is in his Rhett Butler phase and is at his handsomest and most charming in this pre-war era - clever, tough, sexy, and soft-hearted. The very young Turner is a good match for him - she seems overwhelmed by Candy at first, but she's got her own toughness, too, and knows what she wants. Claire Trevor is Candy's ex-girlfriend, and she's excellent as a woman who knows all there is to know about Candy and has been around the block a few times herself.

"Honky Tonk" is a big MGM picture with wonderful stars and first-class production values. The script isn't the greatest, but you'll hardly notice.

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.

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 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.

This romantic western is often overlooked. This is the first Clark Gable and Lana Turner tandem. Turner is a Boston maiden who finds herself out west and falling in love with a gambling ne're do well(Gable). Gable half heartedly wants to start living respectable; but after buying a saloon with gambling winnings, he gets the hankering to run the whole town. It is not easy to walk the straight and narrow especially with an old flame(Claire Trevor)in the mix. In spite of good intentions, this drama grows stale. Very good support from Marjorie Main, Frank Morgan, Chill Wills, Lew Harvey and Albert Dekker. Gable is Gable and Turner is drop dead beautiful...the sizzle caused by the two may be just cause to watch.