Ride ‘Em Cowboy (1942)
Well, Abbott and Costello abandoned the service comedies for a while and began to focus on different ideas for premises, in this case deciding to try their luck as cowboys out west. Hold That Ghost showed that they could work in different genres, so now that they’re doing something different like they did in Ghost and have more open space to work with, naturally this must mean that this was an improvement over the service comedies, right?...
...Not even close!
Dick Foran plays a writer who for publicity pretends to be a famous cowboy. After being saved by an actual cowgirl (Anne Gwynne), he decides to come to her ranch to actually learn how to be a cowboy and finds himself being entered into a rodeo in which lots of money is at stake for him to win.
So where do Abbott and Costello play into this? They happened to work at the same rodeo at the beginning that the main characters appeared at and although they do cause them to meet in the first place, Abbott and Costello really don’t know either of them all that well and only end up at the ranch with them by luck. This is literally Buck Privates all over again; Abbott and Costello feel like they were inserted into someone else’s underdeveloped film, though unlike Buck Privates, this does not have the advantage of featuring some of their strongest routines.
Yes, unfortunately, Abbott and Costello are not at their best here. That’s not to say they’re not giving any effort; they clearly are, it’s just that they don’t have much to work with. Take for example the poker scene. Sort of similar to the dice scene from Buck Privates, this sets up Costello to play a game that he claims to have never played before. They give him chips, threaten him if he cheats and it seems to be a good set-up...and then it ends. Yes, we don’t even get to see the game that they were building up so much because we have to interrupt it for more story. Other routines often have the same effect of not feeling fleshed out because Universal is trying to cram way too much in this film.
There are a lot of musical numbers in this that are constantly slowing the film down. One of the film’s novelty groups is an act called the Merry Macs, a group that would probably be entertaining if they were given better song material to work with. What’s especially disappointing about this is that Ella Fitzgerald appears in this and of all the musical numbers in this film, she only gets to take the lead on one. Although she does help out on one other song, the Merry Macs take the lead for the majority of it. This is the Queen of Jazz we’re talking about, and they couldn’t be bothered to come up with more songs for her! Outside of Fitzgerald’s one song, which had already been a hit prior to the making of the film, the music in this is pretty awful.
The romantic leads are as boring as expected, which is strange because Foran’s motivations are not all that bad. He mentions at one point that he has to keep his personality because otherwise hundreds of people who help market the character would lose their jobs. It’s an interesting dilemma from a writing standpoint, but neither Foran nor Gwynne are able to sell it in their acting. Foran shows no emotion when revealing this and Gwynne is not nearly as surprised as expected.
Ok, so are there any positives here? There are a few Abbott and Costello scenes that are worth watching, most notably Costello on the diving board, and I also really like the brief scene in which Foran has to convince Abbott and Costello to drive him. It’s not really a routine per se, but I found myself laughing a lot more at that than most of the other routines. The film also features one of my favorite Abbott and Costello routines, “Crazy House.” Although much like the rest of the film, it tends to rely too much on common Native American stereotypes, Costello’s reactions during this routine are always a joy to watch. Also, I think the car chase towards the end is decent.
Sadly, Ride ‘Em Cowboy is a pretty disappointing effort as a whole. This is an Abbott and Costello film that is worth skipping.
5 out of 10
...Not even close!
Dick Foran plays a writer who for publicity pretends to be a famous cowboy. After being saved by an actual cowgirl (Anne Gwynne), he decides to come to her ranch to actually learn how to be a cowboy and finds himself being entered into a rodeo in which lots of money is at stake for him to win.
So where do Abbott and Costello play into this? They happened to work at the same rodeo at the beginning that the main characters appeared at and although they do cause them to meet in the first place, Abbott and Costello really don’t know either of them all that well and only end up at the ranch with them by luck. This is literally Buck Privates all over again; Abbott and Costello feel like they were inserted into someone else’s underdeveloped film, though unlike Buck Privates, this does not have the advantage of featuring some of their strongest routines.
Yes, unfortunately, Abbott and Costello are not at their best here. That’s not to say they’re not giving any effort; they clearly are, it’s just that they don’t have much to work with. Take for example the poker scene. Sort of similar to the dice scene from Buck Privates, this sets up Costello to play a game that he claims to have never played before. They give him chips, threaten him if he cheats and it seems to be a good set-up...and then it ends. Yes, we don’t even get to see the game that they were building up so much because we have to interrupt it for more story. Other routines often have the same effect of not feeling fleshed out because Universal is trying to cram way too much in this film.
There are a lot of musical numbers in this that are constantly slowing the film down. One of the film’s novelty groups is an act called the Merry Macs, a group that would probably be entertaining if they were given better song material to work with. What’s especially disappointing about this is that Ella Fitzgerald appears in this and of all the musical numbers in this film, she only gets to take the lead on one. Although she does help out on one other song, the Merry Macs take the lead for the majority of it. This is the Queen of Jazz we’re talking about, and they couldn’t be bothered to come up with more songs for her! Outside of Fitzgerald’s one song, which had already been a hit prior to the making of the film, the music in this is pretty awful.
The romantic leads are as boring as expected, which is strange because Foran’s motivations are not all that bad. He mentions at one point that he has to keep his personality because otherwise hundreds of people who help market the character would lose their jobs. It’s an interesting dilemma from a writing standpoint, but neither Foran nor Gwynne are able to sell it in their acting. Foran shows no emotion when revealing this and Gwynne is not nearly as surprised as expected.
Ok, so are there any positives here? There are a few Abbott and Costello scenes that are worth watching, most notably Costello on the diving board, and I also really like the brief scene in which Foran has to convince Abbott and Costello to drive him. It’s not really a routine per se, but I found myself laughing a lot more at that than most of the other routines. The film also features one of my favorite Abbott and Costello routines, “Crazy House.” Although much like the rest of the film, it tends to rely too much on common Native American stereotypes, Costello’s reactions during this routine are always a joy to watch. Also, I think the car chase towards the end is decent.
Sadly, Ride ‘Em Cowboy is a pretty disappointing effort as a whole. This is an Abbott and Costello film that is worth skipping.
5 out of 10
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