Callaway Went Thataway

"Callaway Went Thataway" is a good comedy in a Western setting. With veteran comic actor Fred MacMurray in the lead, and an able assist by Dorothy McGuire, much of the comedy is provided by Howard Keel. He plays the double role of Smokey Callaway and Stretch Barnes.

Keel gets to sing a song and gets into a fist fight with himself in a good job of camera work and staging by MGM. As promoter Mike Frye (MacMurray) tells Stretch as he and Deborah Patterson (McGuire) coach him on replacing the missing Callaway, "Powerful - that's a good word. Use that a lot, and don't forget a hankerin' and a yearnin'...." And Deborah adds, "and fixin;" and Mike continues, "yeah, and fixin' too, and, and mighty." Stretch says, "Mighty what?" and Mike answers, "Well, mighty anything. That's real cowboy talk."

This is the type of comedy that kids and families should enjoy far into the 21st century.

A bygone era is depicted in this cleverly produced 1951 film. Remember when children sat glued to the set to watch those cowboy shows. There was always the great chase scenes and the hero saving the town and getting the girl at the end.

You would think this picture would be like that from its beginning. Instead, it turns into a comedy about what life should really be.

When a cowboy star of past movies becomes popular once again, a team nicely played by Fred MacMurray and Dorothy McGuire look for him. Our hero is Howard Keel in a non-singing role. Trouble is that Keel has become a has-been hiding out in Mexico under the influence of alcohol and women.

Jesse White is sent to look for him. In the meantime, a double appears that the MacMurray-McGuire team will use.

The story becomes heartwarming as the fake Callaway, Keel, in a double role known as Stretch, becomes enamored by the part but realizes that something has to be done with children who are impoverished and ill. His setting up of a fund for them is wonderful but when he meets up with the "real" Callaway, all hell breaks loose.

This movie has everything. Comedy, helping and that old western spirit of a bygone era.

While CALLAWAY WENT THATAWAY isn't the deepest film I've seen, it sure was very perceptive and fun to watch. I also wonder if maybe although the film has a disclaimer saying it ISN'T based on any celebrity they REALLY were lampooning several of the big-name cowboy stars (such as Gene Autry who was a lot like the original Callaway)--a lot like how A FACE IN THE CROWD was based on Arthur Godfrey, though the studio strongly denied this.

The film is about a cowboy movie star from a decade ago who has suddenly gained a new following with kids thanks to television--just like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were re-discovered thanks to TV. As a result of his fame, the advertisers are anxious to find the actor who played Smokey Callaway so they can make more films as well as public appearances. The problem is that the actor was a big-time drinker and he just seemed to vanish after going on an extended bender in South America. Even a private eye (Jesse White) can't find the guy, so Dorothy McGuire and Fred MacMurray (who own the advertising agency) go in search of a double to pretend to be Callaway. In the process, they find a dead ringer--played by Howard Keel. The only problem is, eventually the drunk and nasty Callaway DOES resurface and they are in quite a quandary! The film has some nice comedic moments but late in the film it also becomes rather serious and romantic. Leonard Maltin's guide indicated the film was excellent until this change, but I actually liked the finished product. While not a great film, it was well worth seeing and quite perceptive about the private lives of some celebrities. Also, it's worth a look for some cameos of other stars playing themselves, such as Clark Gable and Dick Powell (among others).

Consider the time this film came out. It is one of the first feature films about the cinema's new rival, television. More specifically it is based on the renaissance of Hopalong Cassidy as an early television star.

This film takes me back to when I was a lad in the early days of television when there was a need for programming. The first films that were shown on early television were grade B product from the studios which were not about to be re-released for the big screen. And of course those B westerns were in plentiful supply. In fact I have a theory that John Wayne's rapid rise to number one at the box office may have been in large part to the showing of his pre-Stagecoach westerns giving him valuable publicity for the A product he was currently working on.

But the guy who had the biggest benefit was William Boyd who made his last Hopalong Cassidy picture in 1948. He had scraped together every bit of cash he could to buy all the rights to the Hopalong Cassidy films and character from producer Harry Sherman and author Clarence Mulford.

So when those Cassidy films became a big hit on early television Boyd's career revived and he became a tycoon with all the Hoppy merchandise. And the craze was big, the film accurately depicts the merchandising bonanza that Hoppy was in real life and Smokey Callaway in this film.

Like the Cassidy films in real life, the old films of B picture western star Smokey Callaway become a big hit on TV. They'd like to make more of them, but where's Smokey. TV programmers Fred MacMurray and Dorothy McGuire would sure like to find him. Smokey's just dropped off the planet. MacMurray and McGuire dispatch former agent Jesse White to locate Callaway who was quite a boozer back in the day and nothing like his screen image.

In the meantime they locate a cowboy from Colorado who is a Callaway doppelganger. Howard Keel plays both parts and plays them well. The two scheming TV programmers hire Keel on to impersonate his lookalike. But they get quite a bit more than they bargain for.

Callaway Went Thataway is an enjoyable film about a forgotten era in our social history. Cowboys don't have quite the image they once did in America and I'm not sure how today's audience relates to a film about early television which we pretty much take for granted. Still it's a piece of nostalgia for me.

A cowboy hero dressed in white is chasing down a group of dastardly villains. Pull back to reveal that what we are seeing is on television. Now cut to scenes across the country to show children from all walks of life glued to their sets watching wichaway Callaway went. Meanwhile, back in the offices of the creative team behind the TV series, it seems that they've got a problem on their hands. The show has been pieced together from old movies, but it's such a success that now the public is demanding to see the real deal and nobody actually knows where Callaway is. Enter a perfect double, an honest-to-goodness aw-shucks cowboy, and you can guess the rest.

This is a predictable comedy which does little to distinguish itself, but it isn't without its charms. The lead actors are very appealing and occasionally have some snappy dialog to work with. Howard Keel is particularly entertaining in the dual roles of "Stretch" Barnes and "Smoky" Callaway. Anyone who enjoys comedies from this time period should get a kick out of this film.