A Rodgers and Hammerstein musical with a thinner than average plot. Aside from the ravishing Shirley Jones, this film has little to recommend it.
Mostly forgettable songs in an alleged tale of love and redemption...
Billy Bigelow is a drifter, carnival barker, and ladies' man...Julie Jordan, pretty, prim, and demure, is the target of his flirtations as the movie begins. These two people make the most mismatched "romantic couple" this side of the fatal Henry Higgins/Eliza Dolittle pairing...and despite their differences they end up married to each other, if for no other reason than spite and stubbornness (the song "If I Loved You" basically catalogs the reasons that the pairing forebodes imminent disaster). So, of course, in the spirit of soft-headed 50's romanticism, these completely incompatible people end up married, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE REFUSED TO EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE LOVE FOR EACH OTHER!
The now bored, unemployed, and out of circulation Billy takes his frustrations at no longer being the "Cock of the Walk" out by slapping the wife around occasionally, and belittling her in front of her friends. (How frigging heartwarming!) When encouraged by her friends to dump this dead weight, Julie replies with a "stand by your man" kind of song! Will true Love save the day here? (Gee, I wish there was a sarcasm font!) Next, Billy discovers that Julie is pregnant with his child, so, does Billy settle down to find reasonable employment? Of Course Not! Billy Bigelow's poor character and poorer decision making lead him into an attempted crime that was so ineptly executed that it had NO chance at success and leads directly to his death.
In the name of "Love" and "Responsibility", he has condemned both his widow and his child to a life of misery and ridicule as the spouse and child of a felon who met with justice! At the gates of Heaven (yeah, right, this guy rates a glimpse of heaven!), Billy is informed that he must undo the damage he has done to gain admittance.
In the 15 years since his death, his daughter has become a hellion as a form of defense against the life long ostracism she has faced as a consequence of Billy's actions...She plans to run away from home to become a carny and a tramp (a chip off the ol' block!).
Billy, returned to earth, and pretending to be a friend of her father's, tries to reason with the girl, but, damaged and resentful, she refuses any gift from him...His response is to smack her! (truly touching!) His daughter reports the incident to her mother, adding that the slap felt like a kiss! (Who writes this stuff? I guess it makes Julie pine for the good old days when she had a husband around to beat her too!) Anyway...we move on to the Daughter's High School Graduation...where the shame he has brought upon his family is demonstrated by townspeople's shunning his daughter (honestly...there is not ONE redeeming character in this whole mess!) with a refusal to even applaud her graduation.
Finally, the graduation speech is delivered by one of the heavenly characters (God, or for the purposes of this play, the "Starkeeper") in disguise. The speech is a moral dissertation that the graduates truly are neither helped or hindered by their parents successes or failures...Billy's big redemptive moment? Whispering to the daughter to "believe" this moralistic claptrap! Oh...and he finally whispers to his widow that he ALWAYS loved her! (shoot me now!...How Damn Heartwarming!) The show is brought to a close with a reprise of the entire cast singing the inspirational "Climb Every..." no wait!...Same song different words!..."You'll Never Walk Alone." The now "redeemed" Billy heads off for heavenly eternity! (What a HAPPY ENDING!)
Dark...depressing...misguided...romantic drivel...I can barely contain my contempt for the libretto on which this film is based.
R & H...churned out some clunkers...and somehow put a happy face on them...King and I, for instance, celebrates a brutal despot...South Pacific...racism lives!...Flower Drum Song...Illegal immigration and Loveless Arranged Marriages! (although they softened the ending of the source novel by omitting a character's suicide)...Pipe Dream...Love and Brothels! ...Carousel easily rivals the worst of the worst, and any redeeming qualities of film-making, music, singing, or choreography are completely sabotaged by the dreadful story with which they are mounted.
My Fair Lady or Music Man may have their flaws, but in this writer's opinion, are more entertaining than ANY play in the R&H catalog! But, as I said earlier, at least, Shirley Jones is still lovely to look at, and has a beautiful singing voice!
Mostly forgettable songs in an alleged tale of love and redemption...
Billy Bigelow is a drifter, carnival barker, and ladies' man...Julie Jordan, pretty, prim, and demure, is the target of his flirtations as the movie begins. These two people make the most mismatched "romantic couple" this side of the fatal Henry Higgins/Eliza Dolittle pairing...and despite their differences they end up married to each other, if for no other reason than spite and stubbornness (the song "If I Loved You" basically catalogs the reasons that the pairing forebodes imminent disaster). So, of course, in the spirit of soft-headed 50's romanticism, these completely incompatible people end up married, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE REFUSED TO EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE LOVE FOR EACH OTHER!
The now bored, unemployed, and out of circulation Billy takes his frustrations at no longer being the "Cock of the Walk" out by slapping the wife around occasionally, and belittling her in front of her friends. (How frigging heartwarming!) When encouraged by her friends to dump this dead weight, Julie replies with a "stand by your man" kind of song! Will true Love save the day here? (Gee, I wish there was a sarcasm font!) Next, Billy discovers that Julie is pregnant with his child, so, does Billy settle down to find reasonable employment? Of Course Not! Billy Bigelow's poor character and poorer decision making lead him into an attempted crime that was so ineptly executed that it had NO chance at success and leads directly to his death.
In the name of "Love" and "Responsibility", he has condemned both his widow and his child to a life of misery and ridicule as the spouse and child of a felon who met with justice! At the gates of Heaven (yeah, right, this guy rates a glimpse of heaven!), Billy is informed that he must undo the damage he has done to gain admittance.
In the 15 years since his death, his daughter has become a hellion as a form of defense against the life long ostracism she has faced as a consequence of Billy's actions...She plans to run away from home to become a carny and a tramp (a chip off the ol' block!).
Billy, returned to earth, and pretending to be a friend of her father's, tries to reason with the girl, but, damaged and resentful, she refuses any gift from him...His response is to smack her! (truly touching!) His daughter reports the incident to her mother, adding that the slap felt like a kiss! (Who writes this stuff? I guess it makes Julie pine for the good old days when she had a husband around to beat her too!) Anyway...we move on to the Daughter's High School Graduation...where the shame he has brought upon his family is demonstrated by townspeople's shunning his daughter (honestly...there is not ONE redeeming character in this whole mess!) with a refusal to even applaud her graduation.
Finally, the graduation speech is delivered by one of the heavenly characters (God, or for the purposes of this play, the "Starkeeper") in disguise. The speech is a moral dissertation that the graduates truly are neither helped or hindered by their parents successes or failures...Billy's big redemptive moment? Whispering to the daughter to "believe" this moralistic claptrap! Oh...and he finally whispers to his widow that he ALWAYS loved her! (shoot me now!...How Damn Heartwarming!) The show is brought to a close with a reprise of the entire cast singing the inspirational "Climb Every..." no wait!...Same song different words!..."You'll Never Walk Alone." The now "redeemed" Billy heads off for heavenly eternity! (What a HAPPY ENDING!)
Dark...depressing...misguided...romantic drivel...I can barely contain my contempt for the libretto on which this film is based.
R & H...churned out some clunkers...and somehow put a happy face on them...King and I, for instance, celebrates a brutal despot...South Pacific...racism lives!...Flower Drum Song...Illegal immigration and Loveless Arranged Marriages! (although they softened the ending of the source novel by omitting a character's suicide)...Pipe Dream...Love and Brothels! ...Carousel easily rivals the worst of the worst, and any redeeming qualities of film-making, music, singing, or choreography are completely sabotaged by the dreadful story with which they are mounted.
My Fair Lady or Music Man may have their flaws, but in this writer's opinion, are more entertaining than ANY play in the R&H catalog! But, as I said earlier, at least, Shirley Jones is still lovely to look at, and has a beautiful singing voice!