The Second Time Around

IIRC, women got the vote in AZ in 1912, so that'd mean they did their homework, but who cares. I love early 60's movies. Love Debbie Reynolds. It moved along at a good pace and all in good fun. Better than any flick produced in the past 10 years or more, in the good fun genre. Character actors include Andy Griffith being Andy. Thelma Ritter. Eleanor Audley (oft seen on old Lucy show, Bev Hillbillies, etc.), Marie Blake (Grandma on the Addams Fam). Best scene was when Lu (Debbie Reynolds) shot at a fellow in the street and he expired, watch it and see how. And fwiw I have mixed feelings about Andy G so it felt satisfying to see him punched into the crick, LOL.

Although not a note of the song is sung, The Second Time Around gets its title from the song Bing Crosby introduced in High Time the year before this film came out. However Frank Sinatra scored the big hit on that song and the melody is heard throughout the film.

It's a cute film, but sadly not cute enough for me. Debbie Reynolds a recent widow comes out to Charleyville, Arizona to get a job in a mercantile when she finds the owner being shipped out in a pine box. He was a friend to her late husband and now she's stranded in Charleyville in 1911 on the eve of Arizona becoming a state.

Thelma Ritter gives her a job on her small ranch and pretty soon gambler Steve Forrest and neighboring rancher Andy Griffith are panting after Debbie. But Debbie who is disgusted by the lack of law and order in the town gets the sheriff recalled and gets his job.

A great blow for women's rights, but so help me I couldn't wrap my mind around the concept that Debbie who was such a tenderfoot when she came out west is now handling a six gun like a gunfighter. It was really a bit much.

Debbie and Thelma Ritter worked well together and they would do so again in the much better How The West Was Won. Juliet Prowse has a nice part as Steve Forrest's saloon dancer girlfriend who is remarkably tolerant of her new rival.

I don't think The Second Time Around is first rate for Debbie Reynolds and the rest of the cast.

I remember seeing this movie at the theater and thoroughly enjoying it. I would very much like to see it again and cannot understand why it is not available. I loved Debbie Reynolds, of course, but Thelma Ritter as always is truly splendid as are all other cast members. Steve Forrest is a handsome romantic lead with Andy Griffin and Juliet Prowse creating a colorful background. The whole concept of a very proper young Boston widow with two adorable children trying to make a new life in the West working as of all things a ranch hand makes for most enjoyable entertainment. Why is this movie not available for purchase on DVD?

The Second Time Around 1961 Directed by: Vincent Sherman and star's: Debbie Reynolds as Lucretia or Lu Rogers. Steve Forest as Dan Jones and Andy Griffith as Pat Collins.

you can't not love this movie, Lu Rogers travels to Charleyville Arizona looking for work, her husband was dead and she face's the unknown with the kind of gumption that overpowers her small flame, and it didn't take long for the men to see it to, the towns people are amazed at her ability not to be afraid and to stand up for herself and those around her and after a few run in's with outlaws she's made Sheriff. I think this movie was well made and would watch it again

This certainly is a very unusual film--and its being so different is a big plus. The film begins in the East and the widow Lu Rogers (Debbie Reynolds) and her children are living with her mother-in-law. However, Lu wants to go out and earn her own money and find a place of her own for her family, so she takes up on an offer by an old family friend to move to Arizona (about 1912) and work for him. However, when Lu arrives she learns that the man is dead...and she is without any prospects. But a woman (Thelma Ritter) feels sorry for her and agrees to take this city girl on as a hired hand.

Along the way, two men (Andy Griffith and the rakish Steve Forrest) vie for her hand. She also has a bit of a small feud with the local sheriff...that ends up erupting into an all-out war! Can this nice little lady manage to survive all this?!

The film is, more than anything else, fun...along with being unusual. It's hard not to like the film and Reynolds is at her spunky best. Well worth seeing and as much different from a typical western as you can find! Cute and clever.