Son of Paleface

I had seen Trigger steal the scene - and the blanket - from Hope, and finally got to see the whole movie. What a cast! Bob Hope, Jane Russell, and Roy Rogers. The three stars complement each other, and I'd love to have a copy of a still with the three of them singing together! The movie is a great showcase for Trigger, and Paul E. Burns is great in a Gabby Hayes-like role! Of course, it is not a "politically correct" portrayal of American Indians, but it is typical of its period.

Agreeable comedy/musical/western with genuine and sympathetic characters , it is plenty of humor , tongue-in-cheek , bemusing gags , entertainment and amusement . One of Bob Hope's best , full of cartoon like gags , unheralded comedy classic . Hope as Harvard-educated son of the original role heading off in the Old West to claim an inheritance . He plays Junior Potter, who returns to claim his father's gold , which is nowhere to be found . As a cowardly Hope becomes a gunslinging hero when ¨The Torch¨ starts aiming for him . There he unwittingly takes on bad guys as Bill Williams . Along the way he meets a beauty Jane Russell as "Mike", who is actually ¨The Torch¨, Wanted : Dead or alive , 20.000 reward ; the luscious head of a band of thieves, and Roy Rogers as an undercover government agent hot on her trail .

A rip-roaring Western/comedy as the conventions of the Wild West are turned upside down . This funny picture is a gag feast , plenty of humor , diverting situations and absurd sketches in Leslie Nielsen style . Amusing and spasmodic comedy with the genius comic Bob Hope acting in his stereotyped role by relinquishing creative control and concentrating on humor based on destruction and wreak havoc , nice inventive bits , skilfully combining the entertainment with the amusement . Bob runs away with every cowboy cliché and even arranges to wind up with the girl . Gorgeous as well sultry Jane Russell who ropes the nervous Hope into marriage for the sake of her job . Bob Hope offered the role of Mike to Maureen O'Hara but she turned it down ; O'Hara loved the script but was going through an unhappy period in her marriage and felt that she would not be able to be funny in the film . Important appearance by Roy Rogers as a federal marshal and , of course , likable Trigger that holds the best scenes on bed with Hope . It includes a lot of songs such as ¨There's a cloud in my Valley of Sunshine¨, ¨Four legged-friend¨ and the Oscar-winning song ¨Buttons and bows¨, reprised from the original movie . The first movie titled ¨Paleface¨ was directed by Norman Z MacLeod starred by Hope as a bungler dentist , Jane Russel as Calamity Jane and Robert Armstrong , its sequel ¨Son of Paleface¨ results to be as good as the original . Remade in 1968 as ¨The shakiest gun in the West¨ , a fun good time directed by Alan Rafkin with Don Knotts and Jackie Coogan .

The motion picture was well directed by Frank Tashlin , one of the few directors to successfully make the transition from animation to live-action , as he directed his cartoons like live-action films and his live-action films like cartoons . Frank Tashlin wanted to direct this film because he disliked Norman Z. McLeod's direction of ¨Paleface¨ for which he wrote the script . Director Frank Tashlin introduces cinematic especial techniques in animated cartoon style , such as odd camera angles , montage and quickly paced editing , as some shots lasting only five frames long . He directed various vehicles for Jerry Lewis as ¨The Geisha boy¨, ¨Hollywood or Bust¨ , ¨Rock-a-Bye Baby¨ , ¨Cinderella¨ and for Bob Hope as ¨Paleface¨ , ¨The son of Paleface¨ . Both of them are considered to be two of his best films . Rating : 6,5 . Entertaining and amusing movie that it will appeal to Bob Hope fans . Worthwhile watching .

The original "Paleface" feature was pretty good, but this sequel is actually better, in large part due to the addition of Roy Rogers and Trigger. Rogers and Bob Hope are two of the most likable performers that the movies have seen, and together they seem like old friends who have stopped by for an enjoyable visit. Jane Russell is also back from the original movie, though in a different role.

The story is good fun as long as you don't take it seriously. It's actually rather well-written, in that it accommodates all three stars with material well-suited for them. Hope gets plenty of one-liners and similar gags, and he pulls off even the goofiest of them with energy and aplomb. Rogers gets the chance to do some singing and to have some action sequences, and Trigger gets several good moments. Russell is given a character that allows her to stay within the role of the tough, glowering beauty.

There are enough connections to the first movie to add to the enjoyment if you have seen it, but "Son of Paleface" could also easily stand on its own, and in fact overall it probably is actually a little bit better.

This is one of Hope's best movies. Along with its precursor, PALEFACE, it would make a great part of a double feature...an evening in front of your vcr or dvd. Russell's affectionate/condescension towards Hope works like a charm. The presence of Roy Rogers in this film is a stroke of genius. He plays a perfect lampoon of his own screen image here...and it may very well be his only film appearance in a movie not strictly in the Western genre (you could argue that DARK COMMAND was not only a Western, but a civil war film, but it hardly matters). Roy has a perfect sense for his part of the chemistry of the film and he plays it to the hilt...which is so much fun to see. It was one of the last movies Roy made (as he was now focused on becoming a TV cowboy star), and (with his entire film career supporting this appearance) watching him onscreen here not only makes you laugh, but tugs at your heartstrings as well. This makes SON OF PALEFACE a special movie on many levels. My favorite scenes: Hope trying to impress Russell in the saloon in the beginning; Roy Rogers on Trigger to the rescue as Hope's jeep runs amuck without a wheel; any scene where Trigger is bothering Hope.

Federal Agent Roy Rogers is on the trail of a mysterious bandit known as The Torch and little does he suspect at first that The Torch is that powerful piece of pulchritude, Jane Russell.

Of course gumming up his investigation is tenderfoot Bob Hope, who is the son of famous frontier scout Paleface Potter. Hope's not inherited much from his father's side. Therein lies a lot of the comedy in Son of Paleface.

The original Paleface film had the Academy Award winning song Buttons and Bows. This one has a whole load of musical numbers in it, better to utilize the talents of the three stars. One of them, Am I in Love was nominated for the Academy Award that year, but lost to Three Coins in the Fountain.

Best scenes in Son of Paleface involve the smartest horse in the west, Trigger, constantly outsmarting Hope. Well if Bing Crosby could constantly do it in every Road picture.................