La ballata della città senza nome

(No spoilers herein).

My friend sent me this movie wanting to know my comments on it, without telling me even a word of what it was about or what he thought of it. I went and checked out the entry on IMDB and was a touch confused why he was sending me a sort of musical half-western flick, being that neither of those categories would pop up at the top of either our lists.

Needless to say, something about this movie surprised me -- I fully enjoyed watching it ! Right from the start the characters were interesting and the scenes quite absurdly funny. Some of the singing was truly awful (in a funny way), and other songs were actually very toe-tappingly catchy.

There is a whole lot of physical humor in this movie, from the opening scene after they bury the guy, to the ending scenes with the bull. And holy crap the older man drinks a lot. I don't think I've ever seen a movie where a single character drinks so much hard alcohol ! Along with the numerous sexual jokes I certainly wouldn't recommend this movie for children.

As the movie came to a conclusion, I found myself attached to the main characters and wanting to see more of their adventures. The plot had a very natural progression. As silly and ridiculous as it certainly was, the plot made a strange sort of sense.

I rate the movie an 8 out of 10.

I once heard a critic state any movie where Clint Eastwood sings should be rated for violence. He must have never actually listened to this movie. Clint may not be the best voice in the cast but he is surely not the worst. As a young man he has a pleasant "everyman" kind of voice I ENJOY. And in addition to that this an outrageously funny and moving movie.

Agreeable musical with patches of interest, long runtime and nice settings. Dealing with the California Gold Rush, in which two adventurers, Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, living at a gold mining boom town, join forces as tough prospectors. The plot involves a farcical discovery of gold and the growth of a mining towm : No Name City. Then a Mormon wife, Jean Seberg who was mercifully dubbed, is sold by her husband and bought by a drunken Marvin. Later on, the lady pioneer takes two hubbies, but its quality scarcely matters given that the husbands are performed by the great Marvin and Clint Eastwood, hamming away as the second hubby.

A breathtaking, rotund but overlong rendition compensated for a solid plot, being based on a notorious, hard-shelled musical play by Lerner and Loewe with pretty sounds. This movie put Marvin's gravel voice at the top of the charts, thanks to the million-selling famous song Wandrin' star .Here there is also an enjoyable picture postcard approach to history. Resulting to be a sympathetic movie with plenty of panoramic scenary about two prospectors sharing the same Mormon spouse completing with a vintage Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical score .

It contains a colorful and brilliant cinematography in Technicolor by William A. Fraker. Amusing and entertaining screenplay by the prestigious writer Paddy Chayefsky. There stands out Lee Marvin who steals the show, he chews the sagebrush scenary. There are marvelous songs as highlights, such as Wandrin' Star sung by Marvin and the other vocal highlight : The call the wind Maria sung by Harve Presnell. Furthermore : Talk to the trees, I still see Elisa, I am on my way, Best things, among others.

Displaying a supremely tuneful score by various composers Alan Jay Lerner, Fredeick Loewe and Andre Previn .This big budgeted western musical comedy rendered very pretty and wonderful look at by filmmaker Joshua Logan. This craftsman was a good filmmaker who directed successful films, usually dramas and musical , including big name actors such as Picnic, Bus stop, Sayonara, South Pacific, Fanny, Ensign Pulver, Camelot and this Paint your wagon. Rating 7/10. Above average musical. The flick will appeal to Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood fans.

If you're a stuck up type that can't stand any form of irreverence, stay far far away from "Paint Your Wagon".

However, if you have any sense of humor at all and can stand to see fun poked at any and every fixture of polite society, "Paint Your Wagon" is a riot.

Although the movie is a musical, the story and the comedy are the main draws here. In my mind, the teenage farm boy telling his parents, "Unless you've had a strong drink of whiskey and a good cigar, you're missing the 2nd and 3rd best things in life", is one of the funniest lines delivered in a movie, certainly one of the most memorable if you've seen this film.

Lee Marvin is at his best as an unashamed hedonist. On a serious note, the writing of his role and his performance thereof helped me learn to take a good look at both sides of things. Society's status quo might often make sense, but not always. ;-) The modern cliché "Thinking outside the box" applies to this story in spades!

Joshua Logan's screen version of "Paint your wagon" works a treat, perhaps because the original stage version is so little known and apparently has been given something of a make-over by screen writer Paddy Chayefsky. The fact that the leads (Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood and Jean Seberg) can't sing matters not a jot; they perform with charisma, (even Seberg is less wan than usual) and bring a touch of realism to the proceedings, their songs seeming to evolve naturally from the action. Other singing duties are performed by the splendid Harve Presnell and a rousing, mostly male, chorus for this is a musical western of a more robust kind than "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". It's plot, which concerns mining for gold, polygamy and the building of a town, fairly races along. Logan handles the whole thing with great aplomb and brings to it some nice, naturalistic touches sadly lacking from his earlier musicals, "South Pacific" and "Camelot". Most critics didn't warm to it, though and it remains largely under-valued.