hyped garbage

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This rustic film, something not usually made by 20th Century Fox has come down in screen legend as the debut of Marilyn Monroe. She's very briefly seen paddling a canoe after church. As it turns out she's not the only tragic legend in Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! Natalie Wood who plays June Haver's little sister and a little miss fixit is also here.Young Lon McCallister quits his home and hearth leaving it to mean stepmother Anne Revere and her lugnut of a son Robert Karnes. Almost on a whim he buys a pair of mules who won't work for anyone else but him. Still he's in debt to miserly Tom Tully for them. And Tully is not a man to give anyone a break even with daughter June Haver falling for McCallister.The man who teaches McCallister about how to work and the dignity of the mule is Walter Brennan playing another of his rustic old timers with lots of wisdom. He also has a nice taste for booze which nearly costs McCallister his mules.Except for the Francis series, Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! is the only film I know that's about mules. And McCallister's two don't have quite the talents that Francis had. Incidentally the title is what Walter Brennan teaches McCallister to say if he wants his mules to give that 110%.McCallister and Haver make a nice young couple. Not the greatest of films but a worthy debut for a legend.

One reviewer referred to this old film as "bucolic," a term we rarely encounter these days. I have to agree that the setting is rural and somewhat tame about a young man, Lon McCalliser, who prefers mules over Natalie Wood. Well, she was only 10 years old at the time and June Haver was the primary female interest as I recall. Crusty old crackly voiced Walter Brennan was the old mentor in the film and the story really doesn't stir a great deal of memories, except it was about muleskinners and back in those days (I was 11 at the time), that was enough romance for me.Not a a bad old film, if you come across it on the late show. But, definitely bucolic.

First, the good news; this isn't a Red Skelton comedy, as one might fairly presume on the basis of its dismally uningratiating title.Second, the bad news (which turns out not really so bad after all), it's actually just another 40s Fox B-movie horsey drama.Thirdly, the factual news. Yes, this IS Marilyn Monroe's first screen performance with dialogue, albeit in this print consisting of a salute of "Hi!" to June Haver over and done with before the retina has any chance to pass muster over the event. Speculation and debate still seems to rage over whether or not alternate versions of this film, featuring alternate MM footage, exist (chiefly some business in a canoe, which certainly I did not see in this particular print).Lastly, the reality of the film itself and revelation of the title mystery. Homesteader half-brothers bicker tiresomely over mule raising and racing - yes, MULES. The title refers to the human call used to rouse them into action; but against the odds this is far from as asininely scripted as that synopsis would lead you to expect.Not that that is to concede much, but it must be remarked upon that the Technicolor production is endearingly mounted by Ernest Palmer (slumming inbetween 'big' projects), with verdance particularly resplendent in the farming sequences. On the thespian front, Revere does her Fox-standby bit as a resilient matriarch (despite being only in her mid 40s), in addition to 9-year-old Natalie Wood; churning out sarcastic aphorisms almost worthy of WC Fields, but totally unsmackable due to the precocious sagacity of her delivery.

No special effects, no musical numbers, no dance numbers, but a pleasant way to spend a rainy afternoon. The plot was predictable but acting was adequate and mostly realistic. Maybe not realistic results, but plot reinforced the attitude that hard work and honesty pay off in long run. Kindness to animals is nice sideline touch.