Honky Tonk

MY absolute all time favorite Clark Gable movie is Honky Tonk. Gable's Candy Johnson is more perfect characterization for him than Rhett Butler was. This movie is in the pinnacle of Gable's career between Gone With The Wind and Carole Lombard's death.

Gable and Chill Wills are a pair old West con men who we first see actually conning their way out of a tar and feathering. They sneak aboard a train and Gable meets Lana Turner who he falls head over heels for. He soon finds out she's the daughter of a fellow grifter, Frank Morgan, who's the justice of the peace of the town they've arrived at. And the fun starts.

Lana Turner in the beginning of her career had a certain winsomeness that was very effective on the screen. You can see the same thing in another of her films with Gable, Homecoming. Supposedly Gable and she had a fling during this film and this was when Gable had that storybook marriage to Carole Lombard.

Gable and Turner get great support her with a cast that includes Frank Morgan, Chill Wills, Marjorie Main, Henry O'Neill, Claire Trevor, and Albert Dekker. The film begins with a con and actually ends with one as Gable cons the bad guys into giving up, I won't reveal how.

Finally I like this film because even though he gets the girl and even might be settling down, Gable is totally unrepentant about his past. Very unusual for 1941 Hollywood.