Despite the fact it had Gene Kelly (of all people) as director, this western comedy-drama is incredibly tired and stale. James Stewart plays a cowboy in the late 1800s who inherits an upscale brothel; Henry Fonda is Jimmy's talkative partner; Shirley Jones is the resident madam. Everyone does their best with the tepid material, although Stewart has rarely looked this drained. The spirit of the piece seems lost on Kelly, whose set-ups and comedic asides are charmless, accenting all the inherent western-genre clichés without adding anything fresh. Perhaps the script is the main culprit: screenwriter James Lee Barrett, working from the novel by Davis Grubb, must have been raised on old western serials, for his scenario is cluttered up with hammy folks and the type of movie-prostitutes who can't wait to jump into the sack. *1/2 from ****
Review of The Cheyenne Social Club
