Green Grass of Wyoming

Mary O'Hara's trilogy, "My Friend Flicka," "Thunderhead," and "Green Grass of Wyoming" have been a treasured part of my life since I was a child. However, the three films made from them vary widely in quality, meaning specifically to their relationships to the books upon which they are based. "My Friend Flicka" is by far the best of the three, and "Thunderhead, Son of Flicka" (as it was renamed) was not bad, though each contains minor changes from the books. However, "Green Grass of Wyoming" is a total disappointment. The plot is changed so much that it bears almost no resemblance to its source. For instance, "Crown Jewel" is made into a harness horse instead of a "superb English Thoroughbred," as she is described in the book, and Burl Ives appears in a totally unnecessary role. Forget this film and go to your local library and read the book (if you can find it). This is one case in which the book is far better than the film!

For this third and final film in the saga of the McLaughlin family out west all the roles were recast from My Friend Flicka and Thunderhead, Son of Flicka. The McLaughlin family is now parents Lloyd Nolan and Geraldine Wall with son Robert Arthur and young Arthur is starting to notice girls. The girl he's noticing is Peggy Cummins a new neighbor who lives with garrulous Grandpa Charles Coburn who has a bit of a drinking problem. Coburn was once a big name in the harness racing sport, but has fallen on bad times.

The main problem that all of them are dealing with is white stallion Thunderhead who is giving out a mating call that all the mares from miles around are heeding. That includes a mare that Arthur has been raising for the harness racing circuit.

The usual plot situations involving kids and horses are present in Green Grass Of Wyoming. And we get a few musical numbers that fit in nicely with the country atmosphere of the film, courtesy of Burl Ives who plays the McLaughlin ranch hand.

Green Grass Of Wyoming is a nice family film that still holds up well for family viewing in this century.

Back in the sixties, when I was growing up in Lancaster, Ohio, I had heard that part of 1948's Green Grass of Wyoming was shot in Lancaster, because they wanted to film at a picturesque racetrack and grandstand setting for the harness racing scenes. I never saw the film until now, and I was delighted that it is true. On the site of the Fairfield County Fairgrounds, they filmed some wonderful action scenes. They even pronounced the name of the city correctly.

I did think, though, it was strange that the film has the two owners of two horses take them all the way from Wyoming to Lancaster, OH to race them.

A side note: the first shot of the race track and environs might look like an aerial shot, but it was taken from the top of Mt. Pleasant, a large mountain that rises above Lancaster, situated in the adjacent Rising Park. This mountain is a geological oddity in an area known for its rolling hills.

I found the movie enjoyable. It is a coming-of-age story about a young horse lover (Carey) and a neighbor boy (Kenny). Amidst the beautiful scenery of Wyoming and Utah, they raise horses, with hopes of owning a champion trotter.

I really enjoyed Peggy Cummin's portray of Carey. She has a beautiful voice and glows on screen.

It is also fun to see a young Burl Ives. He sings and narrates.

The highlights of the film for me were the action scenes involving animals. I have no idea how they got the horses (and other animals) to do what they did.

This is a sweet little film, in glorious technicolor, about kids and horses - a sequel to a sequel of "My Friend Flicka". but with a different cast. Robert Arthur is charming as the lead boy and Charles Coburn as his rival is excellent. But Peggy Cummins is wretched as the love interest - so saccharine! Lloyd Nolan is good as always, but Burl Ives is wasted (and sings a truly woeful song).

But the humans don't matter much because the horses steal the show. A beautiful white stallion is the star and the glorious black mare he kidnaps is the leading lady. Together they gallop through magnificent mountain scenery like salt and pepper against the green. The scene where he seduces her is intensely erotic, and when she becomes stuck in a bog their distress is completely believable. How they got the horses to do the things they do I'll never know (and I pray it was not cruel), but they are superb.

The majestic Technicolor landscapes photographed by Charles G. Clarke look on placidly as a good cast of humans is increasingly sidelined as this film concentrates on Thunderhead's developing romance with mare Crown Jewell (with the usual threats by local meanies to shoot him for his presumption). Anthropomorphic reaction shots of Thunderhead are occasionally edited in to suggest that he's actually responding to things that people have just said; most amusingly when he seems to be looking pleased with himself when they realise that his lady friend is now pregnant.

By this stage earlier suggestions of an equivalent romance developing between fresh-faced young Robert Arthur and Peggy Cummins following a tussle in the straw in their barn have been largely forgotten; and the Breen Office would certainly have taken a far less benign view had their relationship been depicted as going as far as the horses' had!