The Long, Long Trailer

This movie really needs to come out on DVD and sooooon!!!! it is one of the best funny movies out there. I have been seeing lucy movies and shows since i was a yourg boy. I love the classics, you did not need special effects for it to be a good movie. Don't get me wrong i love the new ones but the classics rule!! so i hope the Long,long Trailer comes out on DVD soon for everyone to enjoy. Those movies from yesteryear will always be king of movies. the stars can be compared with a lot of today starts if you look carefully at movie stars today. Kevin costner is our steve mc queen and so on. funny how life is reborn in different ways. Just need to look closer when we have our eyes open! thank you to who ever may care to be reading this.

"The Long, Long Trailer" was made in 1953--during the height of the success of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz with "I Love Lucy". Considering how popular the show was, it's certainly not surprising they'd take the characters and transport them to the big screen, though here they're called Nicky and Tacy.

The story begins with a frustrated Nicky finally finding his wife with the trailer. Apparently, he's been looking for days and they had a huge fight and Nicky tells the guy about to buy their trailer about all the problems it brought them.

Nicky and Tacy are engaged and just about to get married when she springs a huge surprise on him...she thinks they should live in a trailer. After all, Nicky's job takes him all over the country and she reasons it would be better than paying rent. Unfortunately, her 'inexpensive' investment of only $1700 ends up costing more than three times as much...not to mention having to get a larger car to tow that monstrosity. Nicky is clearly overwhelmed by all this...and Tacy is blissfully ignorant of the entire situation. What exactly will they have to go through...see the film and find out for yourself. Just be forewarned...the movie, at times, might just make you cringe.

In some ways, this is like watching an "I Love Lucy" film...with different names and story but quite similar nonetheless. Not a great film but an enjoyable one...and one that may just convince you NEVER to own a trailer!

I first saw this movie when I was 12 in the movie theater, I never forgot it over the years. It remains one of my all time favorites to this day. The scenes where Lucy falls out the door into the mud and when she is trying to fix their dinner in the trailer while Ricky drives are hysterical. Another of my favorites is when they are going up the mountain and Lucy knows she didn't get rid of the rocks Desi told her too and the mountain is sooooooo steep! I was in a situation once where we were traveling up a very high mountain with a steep incline on my side of the car and all I could think of was this movie and that scene. I was tickled to death when I could finally get my own copy to watch whenever I needed a good laugh. Lucy & Desi are great together.

Impulsive Tacy somehow convinces obliging husband-to-be Nicky that they should buy a trailer to live in after they marry. She has her heart set on one particular model that looks great in the ad, but when they find out how small it really is, they're ready to go back to the idea of the house. But then Tacy sees it - the long, long trailer!

The movie is really nothing more than an extended comedy skit in which Nicky, Tacy, and the long, long trailer travel from California to Colorado. It's very skillfully executed with nice variations in the pacing and some very tastefully applied restraint. The highlight of the movie is the going over the mountain scene, which starts off in very understated manner and slowly builds to hilarious crescendo as they climb to the top of the pass. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, playing their characters from "I Love Lucy", work perfectly together and make this movie a fun time for everyone.

"The Long, Long Trailer" is a thoroughly enjoyable "vehicle" for a nostalgic trip back to the talents of Desi and Lucy. Desi, eager to please, gives in to Lucy, as she dreams of, and schemes for, a life on wheels, only to find that soaring dreams can come crashing down to reality faster than rocks crashing down a mountainside. The result for the viewer is back and forth laughs and empathy.

The comedy centers on Desi and Lucy. But secondary characters are funny too. Marjorie Main is terrific as the too helpful mother hen. And the overly enthusiastic trailer brakes man is a hoot. "Trailer brakes first, trailer brakes first. These are your trailer blinker lights ... There's your trailer stop light. Now put your blinker lights on. Left. Right. Trailer brakes. Car brakes. Lights. Left. Right. Trailer brakes. Car brakes. OK, let's go". Funny stuff.

The film is mostly comedy, of course. But it also has tension. In the mountain scenes, cinematography and sound override script. Here, the visual perspective of depth and distance combine with sounds of falling rocks and screeching brakes to create a sense of apprehension. Truly, Director Vincente Minnelli knew how to make effective films.

Unlike the trailer, the film is somewhat lightweight. But there are times when you don't want to watch a movie with a ponderous plot or heavy-duty message with "meaning". Lucy and Desi's talent was comedy, not Shakespeare. "The Long, Long Trailer", fluff that it is, is good fluff. It is funny (dramatic too), absorbing, and cinematically well made. And with a breezy musical score, what more could you want?