Bagarre pour une blonde

Original title: Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!

1948
Approved
1h 35m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

June Haver and Lon McCallister in Bagarre pour une blonde (1948)

In 1948 rural America, two stepbrothers compete for the same gal and the younger brother buys two untamed mules for work projects while the older brother tries to sabotage him.In 1948 rural America, two stepbrothers compete for the same gal and the younger brother buys two untamed mules for work projects while the older brother tries to sabotage him.In 1948 rural America, two stepbrothers compete for the same gal and the younger brother buys two untamed mules for work projects while the older brother tries to sabotage him.

Director
- F. Hugh Herbert
Writers
- F. Hugh Herbert
- George Agnew Chamberlain
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

428

YOUR RATING

Director
- F. Hugh Herbert
Writers
- F. Hugh Herbert
- George Agnew Chamberlain
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win total

Photos52

+ 46

Top cast23

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June Haver

Rad McGill

Lon McCallister

Daniel 'Snug' Dominy

Walter Brennan

Tony Maule

Anne Revere

Judith Dominy

Natalie Wood

Eufraznee 'Bean' McGill

Robert Karnes

Stretch Dominy

Henry Hull

Milt Dominy

Tom Tully

Robert 'Roarer' McGill

Robert Adler

Mac - a Lumberjack
(uncredited)

Guy Beach

Elmer
(uncredited)

Ken Christy

Sheriff Tod Bursom
(uncredited)

G. Pat Collins

Mike Malone
(uncredited)

Edward Gargan

Ted
(uncredited)

Herbert Heywood

Dugan
(uncredited)

Eugene Jackson

Stable Hand - Tony
(uncredited)

Lee MacGregor

Ches Forrester
(uncredited)

Matt McHugh

Frank the Barber
(uncredited)

Marilyn Monroe

Betty
(uncredited)

Director
- F. Hugh Herbert
Writers
- F. Hugh Herbert
- George Agnew Chamberlain
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews15

5.8428

Featured reviews

rchrdoconnor

misinformed review

A reviewer writes of his surprise at seeing Walter Brennan not in his "Real McCoys" character. Never saw "My Darling Clementine"? A John Ford classic with Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp??? Brennan plays the head of the notorious Clanton gang, even shoot one Earp brother in the back.

6artzau

Bucolic?

One reviewer referred to this old film as "bucolic," a term we rarely encounter these days. I have to agree that the setting is rural and somewhat tame about a young man, Lon McCalliser, who prefers mules over Natalie Wood. Well, she was only 10 years old at the time and June Haver was the primary female interest as I recall. Crusty old crackly voiced Walter Brennan was the old mentor in the film and the story really doesn't stir a great deal of memories, except it was about muleskinners and back in those days (I was 11 at the time), that was enough romance for me.

Not a a bad old film, if you come across it on the late show. But, definitely bucolic.

7bingoboss

Enjoyable old-school film.

I was curious to see Marilyn Monroe's (one-second) film debut, and when I noticed Natalie Wood's name in the credits, I got drawn in. It's an odd film: an "East of Eden" type soap opera plot involves step-brothers who vie for possession of vivacious blonde June Haver ... and a team of mules. The characters are all quite gruff with each other, and there's little room for sentimentality. The title suggests a screwball comedy or maybe a musical, but the film is far from either. The tone is rather dark, with little Natalie Wood providing welcome bits of comic relief. The acting can be hammy in parts. It seems like it should never work, but it somehow does all come together and make for a watchable, enjoyable film. Bonus points for the proto-feminist attitude of June Haver's character; I thought that was a nice, unexpected touch from a film of this era. Watching in pandemic 2020, this movie drew me into its little world and made me strangely nostalgic for a time I've never known.

5bkoganbing

When you want a mule to give 110%

This rustic film, something not usually made by 20th Century Fox has come down in screen legend as the debut of Marilyn Monroe. She's very briefly seen paddling a canoe after church. As it turns out she's not the only tragic legend in Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! Natalie Wood who plays June Haver's little sister and a little miss fixit is also here.

Young Lon McCallister quits his home and hearth leaving it to mean stepmother Anne Revere and her lugnut of a son Robert Karnes. Almost on a whim he buys a pair of mules who won't work for anyone else but him. Still he's in debt to miserly Tom Tully for them. And Tully is not a man to give anyone a break even with daughter June Haver falling for McCallister.

The man who teaches McCallister about how to work and the dignity of the mule is Walter Brennan playing another of his rustic old timers with lots of wisdom. He also has a nice taste for booze which nearly costs McCallister his mules.

Except for the Francis series, Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! is the only film I know that's about mules. And McCallister's two don't have quite the talents that Francis had. Incidentally the title is what Walter Brennan teaches McCallister to say if he wants his mules to give that 110%.

McCallister and Haver make a nice young couple. Not the greatest of films but a worthy debut for a legend.

6moonspinner55

Much better than its reputation would lead you to believe...

Screen-version of George Agnew Chamberlain's book concerns determined farm boy in rural small town America training two prize-winning mules to drive; pretty soon, he and the two stubborn creatures are hauling out logs from the forest and making $15/day, which irks the man he bought the mules from as well as his own evil stepbrother. Director F. Hugh Herbert, who also adapted the screenplay, does a terrific job setting the mood of the piece--frisky but also angst-ridden. Lon McCallister is the polite juvenile battling with his father's crude wife and her son for his dad's respect, later butting heads with farmer Tom Tully (in a convincingly angry, blow-hard performance). Although a simple tale of a boy's love for two mules, Herbert keeps the scenario busy with melodrama. Thankfully, it isn't overly-folksy, and the villains (including Anne Revere, in her least-sympathetic role ever) are surprisingly effective. The romance subplot between Tully's blonde, beautiful daughter June Haver and skinny McCallister doesn't quite work (she seems a bit out of his league), but little Natalie Wood is fun to have around spying on her neighbors and getting all the juicy gossip. Solid contract-picture from Fox has an undeserved poor reputation (with its title causing most of the derision), but I was entertained. Look fast for Marilyn Monroe as "Betty" on the church steps. **1/2 from ****

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This is generally considered to be Marilyn Monroe's screen debut, although most of her footage was cut. She is visible just for a fleeting second or less as she descends the church steps and says, "Hi, Rad," to June Haver's character as everyone is coming out of church on Sunday morning.

Quotes
Daniel 'Snug' Dominy: [he sits down at the table] Sorry I'm late.
Judith Dominy: Get that dog outta here
Daniel 'Snug' Dominy: Oh, leave him be. He won't hurt none
Judith Dominy: Get that dog out of my house!
Milt Dominy: Your house? Your house! You leave the dog stay!
Judith Dominy: I said I want the dog out of the house.
Milt Dominy: I say the dog stays. Did you hear me?
Daniel 'Snug' Dominy: Yes, sir. I heard ya. Get down, Ruff. Boy, am I hungry! Hey, where are my hotcakes?
Judith Dominy: You're late. This is a farm, not a hotel
Milt Dominy: Fix the boy his breakfast.
Judith Dominy: Let him fix it his-self.
Milt Dominy: Woman, I'm sickened to death with your harp'...
Judith Dominy: [shouting over him] I ain't a-gonna waste no more of my life...
Milt Dominy: For once in your life, you're gonna shut up and listen me. Nine year ago, my Marti died. You was all for joining hands and a home. You and your boy Stretch here, along with me and Snug. No sugar-cured ham was ever smoother to the taste until you got me hog-tied in marriage
Stretch Dominy: Nobody held a gun in your ribs
Milt Dominy: But from that moment to this here, your clammer-hammer tongue ain't never ceased a-swinging like an old cow's tail. It ain't so much the fact that you're a woman keeps me from beating you up, it's the thought of how much you and this worthless son of yours would like to land me in jail. Tell you what I'm going to do with you. I'm through
[he gets up]
Milt Dominy: I'm getting out. I stuck it out as long as Snug here was little and needed care--even such care as you've give' him. But that day has gone--and I'm going with it. I never should have quit the sea and I'm shipping back to sea again right this minute.
Judith Dominy: You don't darst.
[she rises]
Judith Dominy: You're afraid. The years ashore have made you soft. Like a fly drown-ded in honey, you'll be stuck here 'til you die.
Milt Dominy: I'll show you how soft I be. I'll show you how stuck I be.
[he gets his hat and coat from the closet]
Milt Dominy: You watch me. You watch me walk out that door right now with nought but my two feet and my two good hands. You just watch me. And I ain't a-coming back.
[he exits]
Daniel 'Snug' Dominy: Attaboy, Pa!
[he runs to join his father]
Judith Dominy: I done it! I run him out. I run him out good and his brat along with him.

Alternate versions
At least two versions were in circulation at one time: one with Marilyn Monroe's single line of dialogue intact, and another in which her line was cut out.