La chica y el vaquero

Jean Arthur meets cowboy John Wayne in the 1943 comedy, "A Lady Takes a Chance." Arthur is Molly, a woman with plenty of suitors, though none is a prize, who takes a cross-country bus tour - conducted by Phil Silvers. While watching a rodeo, one of the riders falls on top of her. Turns out it's a fella named Duke (John Wayne). You can just see those pathetic guys at home flash before her eyes as she pulls Wayne toward her for a closer look. She misses her bus.

Given the current talk and late-night comic jokes about "Brokeback Mountain," this movie is extra fun. Wayne has no intention of marrying, though he loves to play the field, and accuses his rodeo partner Waco (Charles Winninger) of acting like "a wife." When Waco advises Molly to go back where she came from and forget about Duke, he sounds like a wife trying to get rid of a mistress, though he really wants to keep her from being hurt. But though Duke does a lot of flirting, Molly learns during a night in the desert that her big competition is Sammy, Duke's horse.

Jean Arthur is slightly miscast as Molly, though she was too wonderful an actress to ever come off as totally miscast. Someone like Betty Grable would have been more of a natural for the role than 40+ Arthur, but then, Arthur's talent helps her make the part her own and interesting besides. Her best scene is in the bar when she drinks cactus milk - hilarious. 27 years after his death, John Wayne is still considered one of the top 10 most popular stars, and with good reason. Tall, handsome, and rugged with a boyish smile, you can see why he'd make Arthur's heart go aflutter. He's usually not listed among favorite matinée idols because he made so many westerns, but make no mistake, Wayne was a hunk in his heyday.

This isn't your 21st century cowboy movie, but it makes for entertaining viewing just the same.

This is by no means one of the top films of Jean Arthur or John Wayne, but it is perfectly pleasing entertainment and shows what these two actors were able to achieve on the basis of a relatively poor script.

A lady who attracts suitors like flies meets a man who has women circling around him like bees to honey. Molly Truesdale, a young woman from Manhattan, takes a 14-day bus tour of the American West, where a rodeo cowboy is flipped from his horse and lands on her. Talk about meeting cute, and talk about offbeat casting. Pert and pretty comedienne, Jean Arthur, is the lady swatting away unwelcome men, while tall and tough John Wayne is Duke Hudkins, who wants to remain unattached and play the field. Actually, the two unlikely co-stars work quite well together, and Wayne's charm and Arthur's delightful voice and personality hold "A Lady Takes a Chance" together.

Burdened with a generic title that does not relate to the story, the film also suffers from Robert Ardrey's predictable screenplay, adapted from a Jo Swerling story. Despite a relatively short running time, the plot droops from time to time, and needless repetition in a hitchhiking sequence, reminiscent of "It Happened One Night," feels like padding. A few detours into a night sleeping outdoors on the prairie, the diagnosis and treatment of a sick horse, and a home-made dinner in a motel fall flat; howling coyotes are stale, horse pneumonia is boring, and the qualities of lamb chops irrelevant. However, Phil Silvers as Smiley Lambert, an overly enthusiastic tour guide on the bus, is a bright spot, although he has only two brief sequences. Silvers is much missed when off screen, and his presence would have enlivened the film immensely. Charles Winniger as Waco, Duke's sidekick, is diverting, as is Mary Field, a gossipy fellow tourist on the bus. Molly's trio of suitors, Grady Sutton, Hans Conried, and Grant Withers, illustrate why the unfortunate lady needs a long trip away from New York.

"A Lady Takes a Chance" depends too heavily on the chemistry and talents of the two unlikely co-stars. While the film is fitfully amusing, audience interest will depend on their desire to see John Wayne or Jean Arthur or the two together; fans of either or both will not be disappointed, but others who are looking for a hilarious screwball comedy may be disappointed.

Jean Arthur sparkles in this wartime comedy, as Molly Truesdale, a sweet, pretty salesgirl overwhelmed by 3 overzealous suitors! To get some peace and quiet, she takes a bus tour out west, a trip that sounded romantic in the travel brochures, but grows tedious, after monotonous days pass, and she has to fend off passes by the bus tour guide (Phil Silvers, in one of his many terrific comic relief roles of the '40s)!

Truesdale finally decides to combat her 'cabin fever' on the bus by attending a rodeo. She has a wonderful time, until one of the contestants literally falls into her lap! As the two disentangle themselves, she gets a good look at Duke Hudkins (John Wayne), and it's love at first sight!

Duke is the suitor she'd always dreamed of; handsome, virile, and 'all-man', and she begins a pursuit of the cowboy that is both uncharacteristic for her, and confusing for him! Despite warnings from his best friend, Waco (Charles Winninger) that this girl was after more than just a night of partying and passion, Duke invites Molly out, and the innocent city girl experiences her first evening of carousing! When, at evening's end, she puts the brakes on his amorous advances, he discovers she's not just another 'groupie', and that he's falling for her, too!

A romantic comedy of 'opposites' finding true love, 'A Lady Takes a Chance' benefits from the delightful performances of the two leads! Jean Arthur had a Meg Ryan-like quality of projecting both innocence and sexiness, and she makes Molly's transition from 'pursued' to 'pursuer' both believable, and understandable! John Wayne is equally good, sexy and easy-going, yet conveying Duke's confusion at the feelings he has for Molly, and his gradual realization that he'll have to 'take a chance', himself, to earn her love!

True, the tale follows your basic 'boy meets girl-boy loses girl-boy gets girl' scenario, but under the sure direction of pros William A. Seiter (who directed Astaire and Rogers in 'Roberta', and Shirley Temple, in 'Stowaway'), and Henry Hathaway (the legendary filmmaker who would direct Wayne's Oscar-winning performance in 'True Grit', 26 years later), the story has a freshness and charm that is unbeatable!

Whether you're a Wayne and Arthur fan, or you just love a romantic comedy with a happy ending, 'A Lady Takes a Chance' will bring a smile!

I thought I was going to see a John Wayne shoot-em-up western, but instead I got a fun black and white comedy. The only western action is in watching the rodeo scenes. John Wayne plays a total cowboy-- he is stuck in his cowboy ways and loves his horse more than anything else. Although John Wayne's character is prominent in the story, he is obviously not the lead. His character was there for Jean Arthur to play against. I will go as far as saying that the part of Duke Hudkins could have been played by another actor. Even without the John Wayne touch, the movie would have been just as good because of Jean Arthur as Molly Truesdale. It was a good role for Jean Arthur, and she made it the best it could be. This was her movie, and she got top billing.

I love her voice!