Tammy and the Millionaire

After a charming series of movies starring Debbie Reynolds and Sandra Dee, this fourth entry in the series is an unmitigated disaster. The steady, professional actors who populated earlier movies are gone. The dialogue, in which Tammy's language is composed of archaic usage and quotes from the King James' Bible is replaced with bilge straight from Hee Haw and the plots, in which Tammy's naive goodness brings out the goodness in others is replaced with Grandpappy discovering his multiply-great grandfather has a deed to half the county and a pair of blonde witches out to nail the 'millionaire' of the title who manage to combine the most annoying parts of Larchmont Lockjaw and bad hillbilly accents.

Debby Watson mugs her way through the role of Tammy, people fall into the mud every so often and the whole thing is an utterly miserable waste of time. Go watch Hee Haw reruns. At least the music is good.

"Tammy and the Millionaire" is the fourth and final Tammy movie. The first came out a decade before and this final film actually consists of four episodes of the Tammy TV series stuck together...specifically "Tammy Leaves Home", "The Aristocratic Tates", "The Riverfyin' of Billy Joe Morgan" and "The Tarleton Land Grant"

In this film, Debbie Watson plays Tammy and her performance is a bit broad compared to previous incarnations of the character. And, try as they might, the movie DID seem like several TV shows together. However, despite this and the broad performance, the film works well and is quite enjoyable...enough that I plan on looking for the series on YouTube or one of the Amazon Fire channels.

What a treasure!!! Even though this is the last of all the wonderful "Tammy" movies, it certain has not lost its appeal. What a wonderful era to have captured and produced such a realistic presence in these delightful movies. You can get lost in these movies because they represent what is good in human relationships. There is such an innocence that you think you are seeing the woman in love for the first time. The purity here makes you want to go back and do it all over again. (That is, fall in love for the first time again). I could watch this movie and all the "Tammy" movies over and over and over....again and never tire of their delightful freshness and chaste beauty within.

Tammy and the Millionaire is my favorite Tammy movie. Debbie Warson did a wonderful job of portraying a sensitive young woman with a lot of common sense. I liked her portrayal better than her better known actresses on the first three movies. Sandra Dee and Debbie Reynolds did a great job as well but at times they came off as rather hokey. Their demeanor and hackneyed language skills in portraying a riverboat dweller at times was irritating, although I loved all of their movies. In Tammy and the Millionaire, Debbie Watson gave a performance that was more true to kind, leaving us feeling that she is definitely a person we would like to know. Denver Pyle and Frank McGrath gave exceptional performances that were funny yet somehow dignified. All of the cast members did a wonderful job and the movie is definitely one worth seeing if you like gentle humor and an upbeat plot.

This movie is based on the television series that aired 1965-1966. The movie in and of itself is, well ... just okay, but compared to the other 3 Tammy movies, "Tammy & the Millionaire" is pretty bad. The original storyline is only loosely used. Except for the change from Debbie to Sandra, the first 3 movies followed continuity & storyline very strictly. This film, as well as the TV series, has very little to do with the original. The charm & warmth of the first 3 films is lost on this one. It is very much like 60's campy television, which is great for "I dream of Jeannie" or "The Brady Bunch", but doesn't fair well for Tammy. Debbie Watson who played Tammy in both the TV series, and this movie, just doesn't do the character justice.

I highly recommend "Tammy & the Bachelor" with Debbie Reynolds (the original) or "Tammy Tell me True" with Sandra Dee. Also note; in the first 3 movies the character is named Tammy Tyre. In "Tammy & the Millioniare" she is Tammy Tarleton. I imagine this allowed them to completely abandon the original storyline, as well as the original talent & charm of the other films.