Texas-Show

The third and probably the last remake of State Fair is this one which came out in 1962 and starred current pop stars Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Ann-Margret, and Pamela Tiffin. The first three did their own singing, Anita Gordon's voice dubbed Tiffin. That continues a tradition from the second State Fair where Jeanne Crain's voice was also dubbed.

The Frake family changes states in this one though. The first two films had them in Iowa, but here they're Texans and they go to the State Fairgounds in Dallas. The change in states also necessitates a new song for the score with the parents played here by Tom Ewell and Alice Faye. The Little Things In Texas is done with grace and style by these two veteran performers. Alice who has aged gracefully into the mother role also has a solo where she gives her daughter Tiffin some sage advice about handling the new man in her life Bobby Darin. Never Say No To A Man, but definitely keep him guessing.

The main body of the score that Rodgers&Hammerstein wrote for the 1945 version is kept intact though. Again ironic that the Oscar winning song from the 1945 version is again dubbed. It Might As Well Be Spring comes out of the mouth of Tiffin as it did with Jeanne Crain. Maybe one day someone will sing it for real on screen.

My favorite song from the score is It's A Grand Night For Singing which is one of those numbers that just leaves you with a glow. It's sung by the entire cast, both generations who are just celebrating life and love at the State Fair. It's sung by the main players wherever they are at the moment in the case of Bobby Darin and Pamela Tiffin on the Ferris Wheel at the Fair, the same as Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain did in the 1945 version.

Recently I learned that Andrews was a good singer, but kept that fact from 20th Century Fox lest he be cast in silly musicals. So all we get of him is a few lines with Crain and the chorus pretty much drowning him out. However with a real singer in Bobby Darin that necessitated writing one good number for him. Richard Rodgers who did both the music and lyrics as he did for No Strings on Broadway wrote for Darin a rather plaintive ballad This Isn't Heaven which Bobby sings well.

With musical tastes changing I doubt we'll see another remake of State Fair. Where are the voices to sing the songs? So I would say take the advice that opening number, it's a great state fair, don't miss it don't even be late.

I see the reviews, I see the number ratings, I don't understand.

In my opinion this is an excellent movie. I'm not a movie critic, I don't have a degree in film arts or even drama. I'm just a retired high school math teacher. That said, I find so many things about this film to be so positive and endearing.

Pat Boone is great, Ann Margaret is beautiful and the the rest of the actors were so enjoyable. The songs and music are outstanding and best of all you can understand every word of every song. Yep, you guessed it, I'm an old guy, I'm 63 and I had the pleasure of seeing this film on its first run in the theater in Nashville, Tennessee. I loved it then and I loved it tonight after watching it for the first time in 40 years on the new DVD widescreen Cinemascope release. I still have the LP vinyl 33 1/3 RPM original movie soundtrack. Love it too.

Some critics seem to feel that everything is too polite, too sweet, too clean to be realistic, but I'll tell you, that's the way it was where I grew up 40 years ago. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did tonight. 10/10

I saw this film in the theater as a nine-year old and loved it. I saw the film again the other night on DVD and what do you know? I still loved it. The silliest criticism that I saw about this film concerned the location filming at a real Texas State Fair. This criticism offered the theory that the people at Fox couldn't afford to build proper sets for the film due to the financial drain of "Cleopatra", so they had to settle for cheaper location filming! The location filming and the wide-screen sweep of the fairgrounds are what add to the appeal of this film. Also, not one review that I read commented on the exciting auto racing sequences which were certainly well-staged. The five additional songs written by Richard Rodgers were lovely and in the tradition of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The performances were uniformly good, especially Ann-Margaret, whose first movie filmed this was. ("Pocket Full of Miracles" was released first but filmed second.)

I was in the 2nd grade at Lakewood Elementary and I can remember a man coming into our classroom and telling us he was going to make a movie at the State Fair and he needed kids to ride the merry-go-round, and who wanted to be in it? We all raised our hands. I ran all the way home from school and ran into the house shouting to my Mom that "I am going to be in a movie". And I was! Our job was to ride the merry-go-round and sing. We sat underneath a tent, while we were taught the words to the song (of course professional child singers were who you heard). I can name almost every one of the kids you see in the move, including me.

My Dad had to get me a social security number so I could get paid $25.00 per night for two nights. The cool thing is that my social security number is listed out of California. My Mom took me shopping and let me buy a doll with the money I made.

Oh, the memories! Our State Fair is a great State Fair, don't miss it, don't even be late. Its dollars to donuts that our State Fair is the best State Fair in our State! Vicki A.

I liked it, although it is not up to par with it's 1945's predecessor. The 1945 film was absolutely charming, and this one does fall short in some areas. The romances do not seem quite as fulfilling as in the earlier version, yet the musical numbers are something to gawk at.

Ann-Margret is stunning at the beginning of her career and practically steals the show. Pamela Tiffin is charming and surprisingly manages a southern accent very well, while the hopelessly miscast Pat Boone is giving it his all to be a Texas farm boy and it just doesn't seem to work out. However Bobby Darin is darling as a self - centered reporter who falls for Tiffin without realizing it. The remake uses all of the songs from the original musical, minus "I Owe Iowa" which was replaced with "The Little Things in Texas" due to the change in setting. Its new songs are very good, and while Margret's jazzy remake of "Isn't it Kinda Fun?" raised a few eyebrows, the musical direction is very well done and fully satisfying.

Really the only drawback to this production is in comparison with its two earlier versions. The love stories in the 1945 version were more complete, the acting a little more sincere, and the story more innocent. This 1962 version obviously had a much bigger budget to work with and it comes across in the musical numbers. It is a worthwhile production and a good movie.