Red Garters

For a change of pace - If you sometimes enjoy watching a "slap-happy" musical from Hollywood's heyday - Then - "Red Garters" is a Technicolor dream-come-true that really kicks up its heels.

Released back in 1954 - "Red Garters" is a clean and wholesome Western spoof that is imaginatively presented in the stylized fashion of an extravagant Broadway musical production.

In this singin', dancin', and romancin' comedy - (singer) Rosemary Clooney certainly gets plenty of opportunity to belt out a number of tunes that were specially scored to showcase her excellent vocal talents.

All-in-all - "Red Garters" is a high-energy musical production that is sure to please.

I'd been interested in this musical for a long time in view of its famously stylized look – bright yellow scenery, disembodied sets – which, in hindsight, is still the film's major asset (though, curiously, it's taken for granted throughout and never once commented upon!). The cast is low-key but undeniably engaging: lovely Rosemary Clooney is delightful and surprisingly sensuous at times (although the title's promise of naughtiness is not carried through); Jack Carson is amusing as her loudmouth womanizing beau (atypically, he's the object of Clooney's affection throughout); Guy Mitchell is the gauche stranger hero looking for his crook brother's murderer – simply because the Code Of the West, whom everyone takes off his hat to (which, actually, reminds me of a very funny Tex Avery cartoon!), demands it – and who falls for Carson's sheltered ward; and Gene Barry(!) as the archetypal Latin lover who strikes up an unlikely partnership with Mitchell (while, naturally, having his own romantic complications over the daughter of a judge from out-of-town played by veteran Reginald Owen).

Frank Faylen – emerging as the real villain of the piece – is typically weaselly, while Buddy Ebsen appears briefly as a bartender (but who still gets his own specialty number and is involved in an amusing fade-out gag); besides, there's resistible (but not particularly intrusive) comedy relief courtesy of a squaw character. After a funny introduction, too, Mitchell's horse – who hates its own species and really thinks itself human! – is simply forgotten about for the rest of the film. There are a couple of nice spoofs of barroom brawls and duels, but rather too many ensemble dance routines which don't really add anything new to the fold. The songs, while not especially memorable, are nonetheless fine – ironic and intimate as the case may be…but the plot itself is rather blah. The whole, then, is somehow less than the sum of its parts – if still highly enjoyable, even endearing; in retrospect, it's a pity that RED GARTERS has been overshadowed by other contemporaneous Western musicals such as ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1950), CALAMITY JANE (1953) and OKLAHOMA! (1955).

Clooney, who also co-starred in WHITE Christmas (1954), later ballooned into a really fat lady and is nowadays perhaps best-known as George Clooney's aunt; for eclectic film buffs, however, she is also Mrs. Jose' Ferrer and Mrs. Dante Di Paolo (from Mario Bava's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE [1964]). Incidentally, George Marshall was the ideal director for this Western musical spoof – having previously directed DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939) and FANCY PANTS (1950), and later still the color remake of DESTRY (1954) and THE SHEEPMAN (1958).

Red Garters certainly is a peculiar movie. I liked it as a child (where I didn't understand all of it), and not so much as an adult. It's a novelty, to be sure. The best part of this is not the film but the soundtrack. Anyone liking the movie should have the original album. The songs were released on a 10" Columbia red-label LP. This is the best presentation of the music and it really flatters the movie. Don't know about the re-issues and CDs; they often "improve" the sound by adding or removing re-verb, or altering the mix. Find the 10" LP on e-Bay and get the best. As an example, the song "Dime and a Dollar" in the movie is sung as a throwaway, too fast and offhand. On the record, it's presented much slower, more in the cowboy-song rhythm that does it justice. All the songs on the album are better in this kind of way.

Its true, the plot is very thin. However this allows a viewer to focus on the dance numbers intricately woven into the rest of the film. Also, its star, who was, in fact at the peak of her first career, Rosemary Clooney,always helped lift the script when she comes on screen. Although the costumes are beautiful( designed by the famed Edith Head )the sets are bland, made that way to make it look like a smart Broadway production. The synopsis on the back of the cover is wrong, saying that Calaveras Kate tries to make Jason Carberry jealous with her involvement with Reb Randall. In fact, she tries to stop Reb and Rafael from killing each other and brings law and order to the county. Its a great movie, for all Rosie fans to experience...

One of the most uniques musicals ever made, Paramounts "Red Garters" with Rosmary Clooney, Guy Mitchell, Jack Carter and Gene Barry was made entirely on inside sets and the results are spectacular. Director George Marshall has surrounded his stars with splashes of colorful sand, trees and rock and a picture perfect all white town that has to be seen to be believed. The set design was nominated for an Academy Award and should have won hands down. The songs were written by Oscar winners Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. It's a rootin' tootin' western funfest made in Vistavision and it shows on your TV.