Paint Your Wagon (1969)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Joshua Logan

Writers:

Paddy Chayefsky (adaptation)
Alan Jay Lerner (musical play "Paint Your Wagon")

Release Date:

15 October 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance | Western

Tagline:

Stake Your Claim To The Musical Goldmine of '69!

Plot:

Two unlikely prospector partners share the same wife in a California gold rush mining town.

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Mining | Prospector | California Gold Rush | Prostitute

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 12

3:15 AM

TCM

Cast

Lee Marvin	...	Ben Rumson
Clint Eastwood	...	Pardner
Jean Seberg	...	Elizabeth
Harve Presnell	...	Rotten Luck Willie
Ray Walston	...	Mad Jack Duncan
Tom Ligon	...	Horton Fenty
Alan Dexter	...	Parson
William O'Connell	...	Horace Tabor
Benny Baker	...	Haywood Holbrook (as Ben Baker)
Alan Baxter	...	Mr. Fenty
Paula Trueman	...	Mrs. Fenty
Robert Easton	...	Atwell
Geoffrey Norman	...	Foster
H.B. Haggerty	...	Steve Bull
Terry Jenkins	...	Joe Mooney

Also Known As:

Guldrushens glada dagar (Finland: Swedish title) (Sweden) [sv]
La leyenda de la ciudad sin nombre (Mexico) (cable TV title) (Spain) [es]
Westwärts zieht der Wind (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Iki kabadayi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Kultarynnäkön iloiset päivät (Finland) [fi]
La ballata della città senza nome (Italy) [it]
La kermesse de l'Ouest (France) [fr]
Når guldfeberen raser (Denmark) [da]
Os Aventureiros do Ouro (Brazil) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic material.

Runtime:

158 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:A (original rating) | USA:TV-14 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-8 | Norway:16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (re-rated: 2001) | West Germany:16 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Baker, Oregon, USA

Company:

Malpaso Company, The

Trivia:

Only one number is sung by a trained singer -- "They Call the Wind Mariah" by Harve Presnell.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Soon after Ben, Pardner, and Mad Jack open their secret "gold mine" underneath No Name City, a young farmer is recruited to help dig. To emphasize the need for secrecy, Mad Jack threatens to shove a stick of dynamite in the farmer's mouth if he blabs. The film is set in 1849 or 1850, before California becomes a state. Dynamite wasn't yet invented (it was patented by Alfred Nobel in 1867).

Quotes:

Mad Jack Duncan: All right.
[grabs Jacob Woodling by the beard]
Mad Jack Duncan: What about it Mormons?
Sarah Woodling: [whispering] Jacob. We need every penny, Jacob. And I can't bear another day of those martyred looks. There. There it is again!
Elizabeth: This isn't a martyred look, Sarah. This look is puuuure - hatred.
Jacob Woodling: Quiet! Brigham Young has twenty seven wives and he hasn't had half the trouble with them that I've had with the two of you!
Elizabeth: Then simplify your life, Jacob. Sell me.
Jacob Woodling: But Elizabeth: you don't know what you'll get.
Elizabeth: I know what I've had.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Boy Meets World: My Best Friend's Girl (#3.1)" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Hand Me Down That Can Of Beans

Better On The Small Screen

One of the first Broadway musicals I ever saw was James Barton, Olga San

Juan and Tony Bavaar in Lerner and Loewe's PAINT YOUR WAGON. Mind you,

this was in 1951 (I was a mere child!). It took almost twenty years to

make the film version and when I saw it I was astounded that they even

called what came out PAINT YOUR WAGON!

In the first place the story is totally different. In the original Ben

Rumson is a single father. He sings "I Still See Eliza" about his dead

wife. (In the movie Clint Eastwood sings it leaning against a tree as a

song with no relation to the story at all.) In the Broadway play, Ben is

trying to raise a young and anxious daughter who falls in love with a

Mexican prospector. Yes there are prospectors and yes there are "Bawdy

women," but the heart of the original has been cut out for the movie.

All that's left in the screen version are some of the beautiful songs

from the show by Lerner and Loewe, (and some not so beautiful ones

written for the film by Andre Previn,) some characters with the same

name as those in the play and that's about it.

Needless to say I was very disappointed when I saw the film on a

reserved seat roadshow version in London in 1970. (I doubt if I have

looked at my watch more than at that show, except maybe for THE PERFECT

STORM and DUDLEY DOO-RIGHT.) Recently however, a friend gave me the DVD

of the film as a birthday gift and, wanting to hear at least a few of

the good songs, I popped it into the player last night. Surprise! The

film is not as bad as I had remembered. I think I know why. That this

time I am not expecting the Broadway play is a given, but mainly the

film just plays better on home video. On it's initial release, Lerner's

simple story got dwarfed by the 70mm projection and the booming sound.

Seen on a 32 inch screen (with surround sound), the film can be seen for

the almost chamber piece that Lerner conceived. All at once the

brilliance of Lee Marvin's performance shines through, an incredibly

young Clint Eastwood accounts himself well (and sings pleasantly!), and

the tragic Jean Seberg comes across as a far better actress than I had

imagined. Yes, the destruction of the mining camp is still ridiculous

and yes, Joshua Logan's direction is stultifyingly dull (as it was in

CAMELOT), but all in all the film is a surprising treat. If you hated

PAINT YOUR WAGON the first time, give it another chance. I think you

will be pleasantly surprised.