Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick

At best, this old fashioned, country mouse versus city slickers story is amusing and disarmingly cute. At worst, it occasionally becomes dull. There are several things that make the movie possibly worth watching.

First, there's Alan Young. He's kind of a low rent Danny Kay with a gentle boyish style of acting reminiscent of Harry Langdon. He became a big star with the talking horse comedy series "Mr. Ed" in the early 60's. This movie shows that Young is talented and entertaining even without a talking horse. As far as I can tell, this was his only starring movie. Its too bad. He has a lovely and unique quality that should have led to a much bigger career. He makes every scene he's in amusing and interesting to watch.

Second, there's Robert Merrill. He became famous as a great Metropolitan Opera singer. This was his only straight starring acting role. He is actually quite natural and funny. Again we have an actor who shows a lot of screen presence. Unfortunately, the Hollywood studios didn't agree. He went back to the opera stage permanently after this film failed at the box office.

Third, we have Dinah Shore. She was famous as a singer and successful as a television talk show host later in the 1960's and 70's. This seems to be her only real staring movie role. She comes off as a low rent Doris Day. Unlike Merrill or Young, its hard to see her really being a movie star, she has a dull but pleasantly folksy personality, perhaps best suited to second banana roles. She probably made a good decision to stick with the singing.

This is a sweet movie which I think kids 8-12 would really enjoy. It should probably be seen in conjunction with the 1940 and 1959 versions of "Li'l Abner." Some of the humor matches up.

I won't argue that it is a lost masterpiece, but it is a generally pleasant little musical 75% of the time. If you want to be put into a mild and nostalgic mood, give it a try.

The hillbilly Aaron Slick has been unsuccessfully wooing the young widow Josie Berry for many years. Josie is eager to take a trip in the big city. Bill Merridew and his "kissing cousin" Gladys hide in the trunk of a $20,000 obtained from an improper transaction. Relatively speaking, they held a touring tent show on Josie's farm. Merridew actually went into hiding, thinking that there was oil on the farm. Aaron knew that was not the case and tricked him into buying the farm for a large sum of money. Josie ran to Chicago with the money, and Meridou realized that he had been cheated and pursued him. Aaron arrived in time to prevent Josie from letting Meridou "invest" her money.

May not be one of the greats...but I would have thought it well-known enough that some over-45 IMDb contributor would have compiled a review by now.

Alan Young makes a pleasant enough Aaron Slick, a likeable hayseed you would expect to see in GREEN ACRES. After Josie (a young Dinah Shore) is tricked into selling her farm she gets herself mixed up with the Mob until homespun Crick comes to her rescue. Very much a product of 50's American provincial theater.

Few laughs, a few songs..nothing much to remember five minutes after its finished. Hasn't stood the test of time either and is dated as all hell now.

I remember listening to one of Bing Crosby's old radio shows Dinah Shore was his guest and she was hawking this new film she did for Paramount, Aaron Slick From Punkin' Crick. Said Bing who opined that it sounds like one highly sophisticated piece of work.

Maybe if the rather large score that Jay Livingston and Ray Evans had contained a memorable song the film might be better known.

Alan Young plays the title role and he and Dinah Shore own adjoining farms in the bustling metropolis of Punkin' Crick. The two get involved with a pair of sharpies Robert Merrill and Adele Jergens and it's country versus city folk. Guess who wins.

For the life of me why Robert Merrill signed for this film is beyond me. If he was going to do a film adaption of some Broadway musical I would understand. But none of this material is worthy of that voice.

Aaron Slick From Punkin' Crick is mildly amusing. Alan Young comes out best.

It's not that ALAN YOUNG and DINAH SHORE don't try to bring some life to a lifeless, uninspired script co-authored by Claude Binyon, who directed this mess. Considering what they have to work with, they sometimes rise to the occasion and produce a few chuckles. And as the villains of the piece, ROBERT MERRILL and ADELE JERGENS contribute somewhat to what few laughs there are.

Shore is a country bumpkin lass who longs for the big city and is taken in by on-the-lam gangsters (Merrill and Jergens) who are really after the $20,000 worth of savings. Young is the equally country hick neighbor enamored by Shore and willing to go to the extreme to extricate her from the clutches of the villains.

It has a L'IL ABNER flavor to the sets and costumes but the score is rather commonplace and no help in bringing any entertainment value to the ponderous farce.

It's films like this that probably put a hex on DINAH SHORE's stab at a film career. Wisely, she was content to enjoy her TV stardom.