A Lady Takes a Chance

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.

A Lady Takes A Chance is a pleasant easygoing comedy about a young working class woman who saves and splurges for a bus tour out west. Jean Arthur as the vacationer gets a whole lot more than she bargains for in the form of rodeo cowboy John Wayne.

The Duke literally sweeps her off her feet after literally landing in her lap. Wayne gets introduced to Arthur when he gets tossed off a bucking bronco right into the front row section where she's seated. It's an interesting courtship because the Duke has a retinue of two others who are above her in his personal pecking order. Sidekick Charles Winninger and his horse Sammy.

In fact Sammy almost breaks the two of them up. Arthur takes a horse blanket meant for him to keep herself warm during a cold prarie night while they're camped out. Wayne has to teach her a bit about western etiquette.

A Lady Takes A Chance though it came out in 1943 had to be backdated to 1938. There were severe restrictions on travel at that time, the movie going public simply would not have bought a story that was current.

In a recent biography of Jean Arthur, Arthur was quoted as saying that she liked the movie and got along with John Wayne. She also says she wouldn't have had she known of his political views. Come to think of it, a whole bunch of Arthur's leading men, Gary Cooper, Joel McCrea, and James Stewart also didn't have views that would have meshed with hers.

Charles Winninger in his one and only appearance with Wayne does well in the sidekick role. Phil Silvers has a small role as a most obnoxious tour guide. I can't imagine going cross country listening to Phil Silvers shtick for a couple of weeks straight.

Jean, good thing you met up with Duke or you should have got your money back. But for the movie going public, A Lady Takes A Chance was well worth the price of admission.

I love Jean Arthur. That voice! Distinct... kinda nasal but not annoying... and intelligent yet unarrogant. And she's cute despite not being a traditional forgettable beauty.

John Wayne is relatively young here, still attractive and ungrizzled, and so he still makes for a good prince in this cowboy-meets-city girl fairytale. And the movie does start off that way - very charming and romantic - but of course it doesn't last, since what kind of a movie would it be if the boy and girl lived happily ever after after 15 minutes.

So it's too bad then that it goes downhill from there, when the couple starts encountering forced obstacle after forced obstacle and lame joke after lame joke. It's only by the grace of its charming stars that this movie rises a notch above mediocrity.

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!

This is a movie about two people who are the least likely to couple. Our girl Molly(Jean Arthur) is taking a cross the country bus tour to clear her head of men. Seems she has three of them! They just aren't her type though.

Bring in John Wayne as Duke Hudkins. A good looking rodeo rider that runs into our Molly and thinks she would be a great one night stand. That's what he thinks. She does like him alot. He is after all, a REAL man who is unlike the other men she has met in New York. Seems rodeo men are kind of scarce there. The Duke likes women, ALOT, and has no thought of settling down. That's what he thinks. Now Molly wants him bad. How to hog tie this cowboy is the question.

This movie is cute though with an quite impossible plot, but hey it's Hollywood. Not a classic like "Devil and Miss Jones", "Easy Living" or "More the Merrier", but a good film just the same.