Review of Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick

No, this is not the kindly grandfather from the Pepperidge Farm's Cookie Commercial, but there is no more appropriate way to describe this precursor to "Green Acres" or "The Beverly Hillbillies". The film is a reverse sort of "The Egg and I" where country folk venture to the big city to find a new life and deal with a couple of con-artists. Who better to star than Alan Young who later conversed with a talking horse? (Mr. Ed) His lovely lady friend is none other than the future queen of the 70's talk show, Dinah Shore, a bit older and wiser after an earlier movie bomb ("Belle of the Yukon"), if still not Sarah Bernhardt. Young has a hysterical sequence in a nightclub where chorus girls dress him up as a baby for their big number ("I'd Like To Baby You") while Shore and her "Ma Kettle" like aunt (Minerva Urecal) have all sorts of adventures as well. This will never be classified as a rival to "Oklahoma!" or "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" as far as home-spun musicals are concerned. Most of the songs by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans are sweet but forgettable, although Shore is lovely singing them. Robert Merrill and Adele Jergens are your typical big city slicker con-artists, while Young's naiveté sometimes gets too unbelievable. So if you put aside your cynicism, you can enjoy the corn. At least, unlike Judy Garland in "Summer Stock", they didn't let the city folk put on a Broadway show in their barn!