PAINT YOUR WAGON

US, 1969, 164 minutes, Colour.
Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Jean Seberg, Harve Presnell, Ray Walston.
Directed by Joshua Logan.

Paint Your Wagon is Joshua Logan's film version of Lerner and Loewe's musical of the 50s. It took almost twenty years to put on the screen. Other well known Lerner and Loewe musicals are My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, Camelot, The Little Prince. Paint Your Wagon is very popular. It suffered the effects of Joshua Logan's very heavy-handed approach to musicals and this tended to swamp the effective performances of Lee Marvin. Jean Seberg and unexpected singing of Clint Eastwood as well as the beautiful photography and spectacular scenery. Paint Your Wagon and its success probably stands on its fine score and songs.

However, the theme is that of the West and it was a strange phenomenon to find people going to see the film where the hero was a hard drinking vagrant who blind drunk, bought a Morman's wife at an auction, then set up house and with his working partner formed a home triple. The hero invents a scheme for getting rich at his neighbours expense - and for comic relief introduced an innocent young man to wine, women and song. And the language... however this didn't seem to worry the general audience who at the same time were complaining bitterly about the vulgar realism of some of the more serious films. Paint Your Wagon highlights the inconsistencies of Hollywood as well as the inconsistencies of the popular response to films.

1. Was this an enjoyable musical comedy?

2. Was this something more than an ordinary musical comedy?

3. The credit sequences showed pioneer scenes? was this an important theme in the film?

4. The film showed the gold towns of California and the frontier life in great detail. Was this shown visually well? Was it shown in a convincing way? How?

5. Comment on the value and impact of the colour photography?

6. Did the songs contribute to the theme of the film and did they fit in well to the development of the film? Eg. the theme song, Paint Your Wagon, and the credits? Alisa? They Call The Wind Maria? Wandering Star? Talk to the Trees? No Name City? Gold Fever? Elizabeth's Song? And the various songs sung e.g. when the men were preparing for the arrival of the women, Ben's wedding?

7. What kind of man was Ben Rumson? Was he typical of the frontier man? Was he a good man? What values did he stand for? His explanation of himself to Pardner? Was he a wandering star? The way he related to Pardner. his love for Elizabeth, his love for the freedom of the frontier life? His decision
to leave at the end? Why? Was this the best for all?

8. Pardner: as a person, was Clint Eastwood convincing? In his singing? Pardner as a farmer and as a farming type? His admiration for Ben, his helping of Ben? The growth of his love for Elizabeth and his trying to do the proper thing? His being changed by the gold town? His final decision to stay? Was this the best decision?

9. Elizabeth: as a person? Her Mormon background, her being auctioned, her contract with Ben, her wanting a house, her establishing of the household? Her falling in love with Pardner? The triple arrangement at home ? what impression did this make on the audience? Was it justified according to frontier law? Her bout of respectability when the family turned up? The final decisions?

10. The other characters, typical frontier people? The gamblers the store owners, the saloon keepers, the prostitutes? The miners? The lack of women on the frontier? The farming people, their propriety. the attitudes of their son?

11. The Mormons, were they presented credibly? Your reaction to the auctioning of Elizabeth?

12. What value of law, order and respectability were held on these frontiers? What else was possible?

13. Was the parson credible ? as a parson, in his mission, in his singing?

14. Was the film too bawdy, for a family entertainment? Why?

15. Did the film uphold genuine values ? or with its bawdiness and respectability did it try to have the best of both worlds?

16. Even though this was only a musical comedy, did it give some insight into the background of last century's American history?