A naive but stubborn cowboy falls in love with a saloon singer and tries to take her away against her will to get married and live on his ranch in Montana.A naive but stubborn cowboy falls in love with a saloon singer and tries to take her away against her will to get married and live on his ranch in Montana.A naive but stubborn cowboy falls in love with a saloon singer and tries to take her away against her will to get married and live on his ranch in Montana.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 9 nominations total
Max Showalter
- Life Magazine Reporter
- (as Casey Adams)
Linda Brace
- Evelyn
- (uncredited)
Mary Carroll
- Cashier
- (uncredited)
J.M. Dunlap
- Orville
- (uncredited)
Bess Flowers
- Elderly Passenger
- (uncredited)
Ed Fury
- Cowboy in Saloon
- (uncredited)
Buddy Heaton
- Clown
- (uncredited)
Fay L. Ivor
- Rodeo Usher
- (uncredited)
Richard Culvert Johnson
- Messenger
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Marilyn Monroe is so good here it's startling. Her Cherie (with the accent on the first syllable, remember) is one of the most lovable characters in the history of film. That the rest of the movie is rocky-going and her co-star is no match for her is unfortunate, but not fatal.
Apparently the director, Joshua Logan, was able to create a relatively peaceful environment where Monroe could completely "let go" and allow her natural fragility and sex appeal to take over. When she's on screen it's impossible to take your eyes off her, not just because she's beautiful (what starlet from the 1950's WASN'T beautiful?) but because she's laying bare her character's soul for the camera (and in the process much of her own soul as well). She isn't just reading lines with various inflections or doing bits of business like so many actors do, she's bringing the character to life.
Unforgettable is the moment where she finds herself perched on the shoulder of the crazy, lovestruck cowboy watching a parade and she's trying to pantomime to a friend in the crowd how she wound up up there. Or the way she keeps "shushing" the loud-talking bus driver so that he won't wake up the sleeping cowboy as she's planning her escape. Or the way she can't make eye contact or get her lazy backwoods accent (that is incredibly charming) to sound firm enough when she keeps trying to tell the cowboy to get lost. Her comic timing is just sublime and unteachable.
Don Murray's performance as the cowboy, criminally and inexplicably Oscar-nominated, is cloying, two-dimensional and geared for the stage, not the intimacy of film. He needs to provide some hint of vulnerabilty before he's humbled in the fist fight with the bus driver, but he is tragically not up to the task. His Beauregard is the kind of loud-mouthed, uncouth buffoon that only a greatly skilled comic actor can make sympathetic, and Murray simply doesn't know how to finesse the comic moments and make them work.
Monroe receives fine support from Arthur O'Connell as Beau's older, wiser friend Virgil Blessing, but this is her show all the way. She makes it a good movie, but one can't help imagining how much better it could have been had it been directed by someone like Kazan and co-starred possibly Rock Hudson.
Apparently the director, Joshua Logan, was able to create a relatively peaceful environment where Monroe could completely "let go" and allow her natural fragility and sex appeal to take over. When she's on screen it's impossible to take your eyes off her, not just because she's beautiful (what starlet from the 1950's WASN'T beautiful?) but because she's laying bare her character's soul for the camera (and in the process much of her own soul as well). She isn't just reading lines with various inflections or doing bits of business like so many actors do, she's bringing the character to life.
Unforgettable is the moment where she finds herself perched on the shoulder of the crazy, lovestruck cowboy watching a parade and she's trying to pantomime to a friend in the crowd how she wound up up there. Or the way she keeps "shushing" the loud-talking bus driver so that he won't wake up the sleeping cowboy as she's planning her escape. Or the way she can't make eye contact or get her lazy backwoods accent (that is incredibly charming) to sound firm enough when she keeps trying to tell the cowboy to get lost. Her comic timing is just sublime and unteachable.
Don Murray's performance as the cowboy, criminally and inexplicably Oscar-nominated, is cloying, two-dimensional and geared for the stage, not the intimacy of film. He needs to provide some hint of vulnerabilty before he's humbled in the fist fight with the bus driver, but he is tragically not up to the task. His Beauregard is the kind of loud-mouthed, uncouth buffoon that only a greatly skilled comic actor can make sympathetic, and Murray simply doesn't know how to finesse the comic moments and make them work.
Monroe receives fine support from Arthur O'Connell as Beau's older, wiser friend Virgil Blessing, but this is her show all the way. She makes it a good movie, but one can't help imagining how much better it could have been had it been directed by someone like Kazan and co-starred possibly Rock Hudson.
As much as it pains me to criticise Marilyn, I must say that her performance in Bus Stop was an embarrassment. Her quasi-Southern accent is like nails on a chalkboard, sounding more like a speech impediment than any accent. The love story is totally unconvincing. Beau, the simpleminded cowboy, treats Cherie (Marilyn) like nothing more than cattle to the very end, yet she still falls for him. However, it is Marilyn, and she comes across as sweet & lovely as she ever has. It's a must-have for Marilyn fans simply because she tries so hard in this film (even if she does fail miserably), but if you want to see Marilyn in a very different role than the dizzy blonde we all know her as, rent "Niagra" or "Don't Bother To Knock". She did have talent, contrary to what her detractors will have you believe, but don't rent Bus Stop expecting to find any evidence of it.
If you like young men with the social skills of a five year old, and young women with low self esteem, watch this film. The only relief is when the bus driver beats the cowboy up to stop him from pestering the poor young woman any further.
There are some comic moments in the film, but it's too frustrating watching Monroe's character treated like an animal. This is not the mood of the 1990s.
If you want to enjoy Marilyn Monroe, watch "Some Like It Hot". At least her character in that film has self-respect, even if she's no more than a likeable bimbo.
There are some comic moments in the film, but it's too frustrating watching Monroe's character treated like an animal. This is not the mood of the 1990s.
If you want to enjoy Marilyn Monroe, watch "Some Like It Hot". At least her character in that film has self-respect, even if she's no more than a likeable bimbo.
5kcla
The movie is based on a play that I haven't read so maybe I'm missing some of the subtext but as pure entertainment I wouldn't recommend this movie. The characters aren't well-defined and are little more than stereotypes, e.g. Grace, the sassy diner waitress, Cherie, the showgirl with a heart of gold. Marilyn Monroe plays the same type of character that she more or less played for her entire career, but she does it very well; she and Hope Lange provide the only good performances. Don Murray's unsophisticated cowboy was so obnoxious he practically ruined any enjoyment to be had from the movie. The supporting players are decent but that's all. It's a shame, this movie could have been pretty good if they had made one or two different casting decisions.
To the naysayers I say "you missed it" but I guess people either like MM or they do not. I was braced for the 50s-style corn, but not for the underlying sadness of Cherie, as rendered by Monroe, and in the end feel she did an incredibly good job with the role--not a false note anywhere.
An extra star (or two) for that very special performance.
An extra star (or two) for that very special performance.
Did you know
- TriviaMarilyn Monroe, who had seen and loved Kim Stanley's performance in the Broadway production of "Bus Stop", patterned her accent on Stanley's, as well as those accents she had heard during her own time in the South. Monroe worked diligently on the hillbilly twang, speaking quite differently than in her other movies, and subverted her natural singing talent to make it painfully clear that Chérie was not gifted in that department.
- GoofsAlthough several sequences were indeed filmed in Phoenix, Arizona, involving a 1956 rodeo and rodeo parade, non-rodeo scenes supposedly depicting downtown Phoenix and Cherie's boardinghouse were clearly shot elsewhere; no major thoroughfare in Phoenix has hilly terrain or Victorian-style buildings seen in film.
- Crazy creditsAnd Introducing / Don Murray
- ConnectionsEdited into Myra Breckinridge (1970)
- SoundtracksThe Bus Stop Song
(1956)
Written by Ken Darby
Sung in the opening credits off-screen by The Four Lads
Also partially sung by a guitar-playing Arthur O'Connell (uncredited) and the bus passengers
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Nunca fui santa
- Filming locations
- 13439 State Highway 75, Ketchum, ID 83340(Roadside Diner Exteriors - Building was moved and remodeled into a guest house just down from its original location at the time of filming.)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $2,200,000 (estimated)
- Runtime
- 1h 36m(96 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.55 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content