She Done Him Wrong (1933)

When we first meet Lou (Mae West) she is wearing a hat that looks like a giant Wooly Bear caterpillar. She is crass, she likes to invite men to "come up and see me anytime," and all the men want her. And she gives people the scariest looks.

This movie has it all: a saloon, an omnibus, giant hats, puffy petticoats, a whole lot of crooks, a very young Cary Grant with lots of eye make-up, and hard to understand accents. Lou sings in a saloon. She's having an affair with the owner, but Chick, a dangerous crook in prison, thinks she's waiting for him. Lou seems vaguely interested in every man who crosses her path, but she is becoming especially interested in Captain Cummings (CG), the mission director from next door. He's a different sort of man. Why he has any interest in Lou is more confusing. But he does.

When Chick breaks out of prison we get to worry momentarily about who Chick will knock off for revenge.   And we also wonder what has happened to the sweet young woman who tried to kill herself in the saloon because of a failed love affair. Last time we saw her the lady crook Rita was asking her, "Can you sing and dance? Have you ever heard of the Barbary Coast?" And who and where is the Hawk, a new detective in town everyone is worried about? And what do these crooks do? After 49 minutes I still wasn't sure what they were all trying to pull off. Lucky for me, someone else had more of an attention span for this movie and was able to decipher the intricacies of the plot:
http://www.doctormacro1.info/Movie%20Summaries/S/She%20Done%20Him%20Wrong.htm

Anyways, once I understood the plot points I'd missed, I was able to enjoy it when Rita caught her man assistant giving her diamond brooch to Lou and declaring his love...
...leading to more drama.

But do I really believe a Cary Grant character would fall for a Mae West character? Sorry. One star for brave hat wearing and drama. But I don't think I can give more stars to a movie that couldn't hold my attention or belief. Sorry again.

The Wild and the Innocent (1959)

This is a pretty corny little movie, yet very watchable. In technicolor or maybe colorized, it's way too bright and yellow-ish.

The gist of the story is this: Yancy, a young man raised by his trapper uncle and the uncle's Native American wife gets his first chance to go to town when his uncle is mauled by a bear. The boy shoots the bear and we learn that he is a great shot. This of course factors in later.

It's one of those pleasant movies when you watch an unaware person encounter dangerous situations but never be overcome by them. Entirely unrealistic - there is a touch of reality in the ending - but it doesn't really interfere with the lovely unreality.



On his way to town, Yancy meets a thief who tries to trade his own daughter to Yancy. Yancy won't take her, but she runs away and convinces him not to send her back to her father. After that she follows him around like a lost puppy. Sandra Dee is an adorable puppy.

Of course when they get to town, they are immediately caught up in the town drama - the saloon keeper, the cooch dancer, the madam, the sheriff - oh wait, the sheriff and the saloon keeper are the same slimy guy.

Anyhow, poor little puppy gets caught up in the evil saloon life and at first Yancy could care less as he chases the cooch dancer. It takes a long time before Yancy learns to appreciate that innocence, once lost, can never be regained. Of course by then it is almost too late for him and the poor little puppy.

It's really a very pleasant corny little movie, although I think I would have enjoyed it more if Yancy wasn't quite such a rube. Puppy is almost smarter than him, except that she can't see past her own affection for him to think for herself.

Anyhow it all comes out all right in the end - it's 1959 after all! Three stars - although I really shouldn't give so many stars to something so corny, there is just something charming about the whole thing. Also, I really should take a star away for Sandra Dee's messy hair, which is very carelessly messed and looks too obviously like it is trying to be messy without cutting any hair.