Ligas Encarnadas

In 1872, a jovial-but-formidable stranger (Guy Mitchell) rides into Limbo County, California, on an unknown mission where he engages in contention, friendship, romance and... potentially deadly gunfights. The cast includes the likes of Rosemary Clooney, Jack Carson, Gene Barry and Frank Faylen.

"Red Garters" (1954) is a colorful set-bound Western parody/musical. It's like "The Wizard of Oz" in the cinematic Old West, but without the fantastical elements and a focus on romance and quick-draw silliness, etc.

With a name like "Red Garters" you know one of the highlights is the women. Other than perky Rosemary Clooney (George Clooney's aunt), there's Pat Crowley (Susan), Joanne Gilbert (Sheila) and the several beautiful showgirls who perform inside and outside the saloon.

The movie runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot at Paramount Studios, Hollywood.

GRADE: B-

One of the most uniques musicals ever made, Paramounts "Red Garters" with Rosmary Clooney, Guy Mitchell, Jack Carter and Gene Barry was made entirely on inside sets and the results are spectacular. Director George Marshall has surrounded his stars with splashes of colorful sand, trees and rock and a picture perfect all white town that has to be seen to be believed. The set design was nominated for an Academy Award and should have won hands down. The songs were written by Oscar winners Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. It's a rootin' tootin' western funfest made in Vistavision and it shows on your TV.

Its true, the plot is very thin. However this allows a viewer to focus on the dance numbers intricately woven into the rest of the film. Also, its star, who was, in fact at the peak of her first career, Rosemary Clooney,always helped lift the script when she comes on screen. Although the costumes are beautiful( designed by the famed Edith Head )the sets are bland, made that way to make it look like a smart Broadway production. The synopsis on the back of the cover is wrong, saying that Calaveras Kate tries to make Jason Carberry jealous with her involvement with Reb Randall. In fact, she tries to stop Reb and Rafael from killing each other and brings law and order to the county. Its a great movie, for all Rosie fans to experience...

Red Garters certainly is a peculiar movie. I liked it as a child (where I didn't understand all of it), and not so much as an adult. It's a novelty, to be sure. The best part of this is not the film but the soundtrack. Anyone liking the movie should have the original album. The songs were released on a 10" Columbia red-label LP. This is the best presentation of the music and it really flatters the movie. Don't know about the re-issues and CDs; they often "improve" the sound by adding or removing re-verb, or altering the mix. Find the 10" LP on e-Bay and get the best. As an example, the song "Dime and a Dollar" in the movie is sung as a throwaway, too fast and offhand. On the record, it's presented much slower, more in the cowboy-song rhythm that does it justice. All the songs on the album are better in this kind of way.

Though the bright, almost garish hues of nearly everything in this musical spoof of the western genre might look like it, this one was not produced in VistaVision (as is erroneously stated in another comment), Paramount's "High-Fidelity" motion picture process which didn't make its debut until several months later with the release of "White Christmas" starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney.

Rosemary has center stage in this one and, though the songs aren't up to Irving Berlin's standards in the later hit, she holds her own against Guy Mitchell's vigorous attempts to upstage her. The overall tone is a bit on the bawdy side but one thing's "fer shure, pardner!", those people behind the Technicolor cameras were given free rein (and probably a pretty hefty budget) to create a look that defines the term: "primary colors." It's not for those who prefer a muted palette or anything subtle about any aspect of their entertainment. As I recall, the ever-prudish Legion of Decency objected to various "suggestive" elements in this one, including costuming and some song lyrics, such as a line about "Try(ing) to be a mother without a man!" (or something to that effect.) Yep! "Red Garters" is definitely one-of-a-kind and I'm hard put to recall anything that attempts to duplicate its uniquely artificial look and its very lively take on the cliches of Hollywood's version of the Old West.