HONKY TONK
US, 1941, 105 minutes, Black and white.
Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Frank Morgan, Claire Trevor, Marjorie Main, Albert Dekker, Chill Wills.
Directed by Jack Conway.
Honky Tonk is an enjoyable Western comedy romance with a dash of seriousness especially as regards politics and political corruption. Clark Gable and Lana Turner were teamed very effectively - Gable soon after Gone with the Wind and before his war service, Lana Turner at the beginning of her career. Frank Morgan, just previously the Wizard of Oz, is very good as Judge Cotton. Claire Trevor is the saloon girl with the heart of gold, a role she was doing for many decades from Stage Coach to The Man Without a Star. Marjorie Main is also in effective support. While the setting in Nevada and the west, the film is an M.G.M. romantic comedy of the early forties, directed by Jack Conway who made such films as A Tale of Two Cities and Dragon Seed.
1. An enjoyable film? The impact of the stars, their style in their time, response to this style now?
2. The style of the title, the importance of the prologue about confidence tricksters and the focus on the sheep? The tone of the title and the reference to the piano?
3. Clark Gable and audience response to him at this period of his career, Lana Turner at the beginning of hers? How well do they mesh as a romantic team of the forties? Their particular styles and their blending? Toughness and glamour?
4. The importance of the Western setting, as a location for this kind of confidence tricksterism? for the building up of power in an American town? How well was the western setting used or was it merely as backdrop?
5. Clark Gable's personality and style? What kind of man was Candy Johnson? The initial introduction with the tar and feathering, his talking his way out of this, jumping trains, leading the Sniper with him? his amoral attitude towards life? His wanting to settle down? A man of action, swift magician techniques? The bond with Sniper and their working well together? The chance encounter with the judge and all that this would lead to? The confrontation with Elizabeth in the train, initial hostilities, his love but his being wary of her and her attitude towards marriage? The irony of his being tricked into marriage via drink? his charm with Mrs Varner, the building of the church? The clash with Brazos in the saloon and his taking the part of the people in the town, their support of him? The friendship with Gold Dust Kelson and her place in the Western saloon? The humour of his techniques in tricking the people with the tar end feathers, the bullet with Brazos? How did this style influence him as he rose in power in the town?
6. The portrait of Sniper, the sidekick, his personal style, his continued help and loyalty to Candy? Finally to Elizabeth?
7. The portrilt of the judge as an older con-man? The type of man that Candy might become? The Judge's love for Elizabeth and warding off Candy from her? His friendship with Candy but hostility to the marriage? His disillusionment with Candy's rise to power, drunken episode with the governor and the other politicians? His compromising his principles and yet his returning and the inevitable death? The bonds of his love with Elizabeth, her reassuring him that he wasn't completely selfish?
8. Elizabeth as heroine? Youth, glamour, toughness? Dealing with Candy on the train? The initial kisses and Mrs Varner's comment, her setting her sights on Candy and pursuing him? The confrontation with Gold Dust and its leading to her tricking him into marrying her? The build-up of the marriage, the pregnancy? The upset with the death of her father and her illness and loss of the baby? Her decision to leave after the disappointment of seeing him with Gold Dust? Her happiness at finding him again? An attractive but conventional heroine?
9. The portrait of an American town of Nevada, gold, the fighting, the power politics, the microcosm of what was happening in American politics? The hostility of the people towards the confidence tricksters, the governor and his attitude in sending in the militia, the siege? Candy and his arguing people out of the crisis situation?
10. How was the picture of Candy Johnson a symbol of what was, happening all over America - the confidence man, getting people's support, taking over, gangster techniques in protection, a wealthy and affluent way of life, political connections, the hostility of the people being saved? The film's presentation of this, critique? A humorous and romantic glance at the American heritage?
