Les filles de Joshua Cabe

Pleasant enough 70's TV movie is made much more memorable and entertaining by the quality of the cast.

Buddy Ebsen is all folksy charm forsaking the Jed Clampett bit for a somewhat more realistic version of a homesteader with Jack Elam doing the trusty sidekick role that was his staple.

It's the actresses playing the daughters who really give this one snap. Sandra Dee, in the last really active year of her career before slipping into a sad almost hermit existence that continued up to her death, is drolly humorous, Lesley Ann Warren sexy and saucy and Karen Valentine her usual spunky self. It's their chemistry and interactions which makes this a fine comic western. One of those wonderful opportunities that TV movies of the period provided to see a group of highly talented stars of different levels of fame gathered together.

Extremely successful when aired this led to a sequel that none of the three ladies returned for and is as bland as this is charming.

In the 1970's Aaron Spelling produced many made for TV western films, some of these films include "The Trackers," "Yuma," and "Wild Women". "The Daughters of Joshua Cabe" seems like a crazy far fetched story, it concerns a man trying to save his land by having his three daughters file a claim. His daughters have moved, and he has not received any word from them in years. His attempt at tracking them down fail, so he enlists the help of a former prisoner, prostitute, and a petty pick pocket thief to pose as his three daughters. The humor in the film works at time, and it is always nice to see familiar character actors scattered throughout the film. Jack Elam abandons his usual villain character to play a sympathetic older man. This film gets a 9/10

The story begins in Wyoming back in the time of the old west. Joshua Cabe (Buddy Ebsen) learns that there's a change in the homestead law and he'll lose his land if he doesn't make a new claim. But, the law also says that each family member can make a claim and if he could get his daughters to file as well, he'd be able to keep his land. But there are two huge problems--he's estranged from his daughters and they have their own lives back East AND his neighbor is a slimy jerk with four slimy jerk sons...who all plan on filing a claim on HIS land! In desperation, he quickly takes a trip to St. Louis to recruit some 'daughters' who will agree to move West with him! He can't be picky and ends up with a prostitute (Leslie Ann Warren), a career criminal (Karen Valentine) and a pickpocket (Sandra Dee). Can this weird new family actually work? And, can they stand up against these ruthless neighbors?

The film certainly is odd and has some actresses playing against type--particularly Valentine and Dee who both played Gidget! And, it's also odd to see Ebsen in a western! But somehow it all works-- mostly because the movie is fun. It is NOT a comedy...and I think that would have worked poorly. Instead, it's a light drama...and a well written and enjoyable one. For a made for TV film, it's very good and actually manages to deliver a rather touching ending.

I came upon this movie in an unusual way. Recently I had been watching old 'Gidget' movies and TV shows, because I also grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. Sandra Dee was the first 'Gidget' in the 1950s and I was looking for additional roles she had. She is in this one, almost 30, as one of the daughters. But I am getting ahead ...

It is set most likely in 1887 or 1888, based on the 1867 death of his 25-yr-old wife, and their mentioning the daughters have been gone 20 years, raised by an aunt. Buddy Ebsen is Joshua Cabe, with a prime homestead in a nice valley in Wyoming. He finds out a new law will soon go into effect, residents can apply for tracts of land based on the size of the family.

So to avoid a devious rival with four sons from stealing his land, he has to go look up his three adult daughters, likely in St Louis, and convince them to come home and file for a tract of land. He has barely four weeks and travel was still very deliberate in the 1890s.

This is a fun movie for fans of the various actors. It runs barely 81 minutes and has the look and production values of the old 'Bonanza' TV series. Old Cabe isn't exactly successful in his trek to get his daughters back home but finds a solution that probably works out even better.

It was also interesting seeing William Katt, who was only barely 20, as one of the sons of the devious rival. Katt of course went on several years later to star in the then hit, 'Greatest American Hero.'

At home on DVD from my public library.