Feb 12, 2008

Sobbin' Women

I'm about to admit to something as a man with a staunch record of strict heterosexuality.

I love musicals!

Well, some musicals. I'm a big fan of the old Rodgers and Hammerstein kinda stuff. Oklahoma, South Pacific, Meet Me in St. Louis (not a R&H production), etc... I've never really liked West Side Story. Too much fucking drama in that one. And Baz Luhrmann can suck my balls, but only if he asks me really nice.

Nope. I like me a little camp in my musicals. And there may not be any musical out there with as much camp value as my favorite. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

This one has it all. Here's a brief plot synopsis. In mid-19th century Oregon, a mountain man heads into town to buy some feed, some farm equipment, and...oh yeah...get himself a wife. He actually convinces the lovely Jane Powell to marry him after a courting period of, oh, 3 or 4 hours. He then takes her back to his cabin where she discovers that he lives with six adult brothers, and she has to take care of them all. Not sexually. That would be a different movie. After the boys realize what a goll-durned great thing it is to have a woman around they decide to head into town and kidnap the gals they want. Just like the Romans did to the Sabine women in days of yore. Wackiness ensues.

Wow. Reading that back makes it seem like kidnapping them was not a good thing, huh?

Well, the boys lucked out. Because after being stranded with them in the mountains over the winter, each girl just happened to fall in love with the man who kidnapped them. Phew! See...good things happen to good kidnappers. It all worked out in the end for our mountain men/criminals.

Here's a clip showing the oldest brother (Howard Keel) convincing the boys to kidnap their prey by referencing Plutarch's Life of Romulus. Ah, those wacky Romans!



One more thing: The censors weren't too happy about the line in the song "Lonesome Polecat" where the brothers lament "A man can't sleep when he sleeps with sheep". By not showing any sheep in the same shot as the brothers, the film-makers were able to get away with it. Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!! Genius!

8 comments:

Slyde said...

"a staunch record of strict heterosexuality"?

Sir, i'd like to call you out on that record. It's spotty at best....

Verdant Earl said...

First off...am I allowed to say "staunch" and "strict" in the same sentence?

Secondly, wooooo-gaaaaahhhhh!!!!!

i am the diva said...

i loves me some Seven Brides for Seven Brothers!! i just watched it again in January when i was sick... it's a great film. however, i usually fastforward/skip the Lonesome polecat song, cuz it's lame. lol.

and i'm also here to tag you - unfortunately.

tag baby: 7 random or weird things about the yourself
The rules are as follows:

# Link to the person who tagged you
# Post the rules on your blog.
# Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
# Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
# Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.

Bruce Johnson said...

I love musicals as well!!! Although this was never one of my favorites. Never really cared for Howard Keel and the songs in this film aren't that memorable, the dancing sure is hot though!

Give me "Paint Your Wagon" or "South Pacific" for some toe tappin memorable show tunes.

elizabeth said...

I am your biggest fan. (Next to yer gal... and Slyde of course)

Elise said...

i love Seven Brides for Seven Brothers!

I love the ending when all of their fathers come to get them and they hear the baby crying. All the girls shout out "Its mine!"

I want to get married in June because of that film!

If you liked that check out "By the light of the silvery moon"

xx

Verdant Earl said...

Diva - My father used to love the lameness of "Lonesome Polecat". It always made him laugh.

Lotus - Keel did "Kismet" right after this one. That was truly bad, but we did get to see Jack Elam as an Arab.

Liz - aw shucks, ma'am.

Elise - I've seen it! The Doris Day version right?

Anonymous said...

OMG! We love 7 Brides for 7 Brothers around here (and by here I mostly mean my sis Tina). We have it on DVD which here is HIGH praise. I had no idea YouTube was so with it concerning us cool kids. lol