It is rather ironic that Judy Garland's feature film debut would NOT be on a picture from her home studio, MGM, but when she was loaned out to rival studio Twentieth Century-Fox. However, apart from the novelty of seeing a young Judy in the film, there is not a lot to recommend this sub-par musical.
The film begins with the Yale administrators discussing an important topic--which college will play their football team in an upcoming game. They decide on powerhouse University of Texas, but due to a stupid mistake, tiny Texas State is instead offered this prestigious game. This comes at a very opportune time, as the horrible team of Texas State has a new coach (Jack Haley) and he wants to make a name for himself. But there are two problems--the team hasn't won a game in two years and the coach's wife (Patsy Kelly) is a buffoon and she ends up breaking the star player's leg! So, to try to make amends, this annoying woman goes on a cross-country trek trying to find a star for their team. Her search ends up in a watermelon patch--with melon-slinging Amos Dodd (Stu Erwin*) being offered a scholarship to play for Texas State even though they have no idea if he even finished or even attended high school! He's hesitant but his kid-sister (Garland*) insists and comes along to college with him. Can this hayseed somehow help the team to be able to take on Yale and not embarrass themselves?
This film is jam-packed full of songs--mostly bad songs. Even if you love songs, you may find some of them hard to take--particularly those of a strange and very old-looking college quartet, The Yacht Club Boys. Their songs, to put it bluntly, are third-rate and it's obvious the studio really saw this more as a B-movie** than anything else. The humor is generally very broad and corny. Subtle the film ain't---and this can also be said about much of the acting. Erwin is more a caricature than anything else and Kelly is as Kelly usually is--brash, loud and, well, LOUD! So, we have one character who is a lot like Uncle Jed from "The Beverly Hillbillies" and another who seems to be performing specifically for the hard of hearing, as she screams many of her lines!
In addition to being a poor film, it brings us an incredibly cynical message that when it comes to small schools, they must cheat in order to keep up with the big colleges! And cheating is what Texas State does repeatedly as Dodd isn't even eligible to play though he does through some creative cheating! I know that the reviews for this film are all rather positive--some even giving it a 10. I find this inexplicable, as I have seen hundreds of better musicals--hundreds! Aside from Garland's amazing singing and a few cute moments, the film is lame through and through. It is something no one would remember or want to remember except because of her appearance...as well as when Texas State punts the ball on 2nd down (pay attention...they really do this in the big game with Yale).
*College movies of the 1930s, 40s and 50s OFTEN featured college students who were practically old enough to be on social security! In this film, most of the students appear to be in their 30s--and Erwin is 33! And, in an odd twist, his 'sister' is only 14!
**Yes, I know a true B-movie is only about 60 minutes in length--not 93 minutes like this one. However, the film is full of second and third-tier actors, bad writing, bad music and the studio seemed to have little faith in the film.
The film begins with the Yale administrators discussing an important topic--which college will play their football team in an upcoming game. They decide on powerhouse University of Texas, but due to a stupid mistake, tiny Texas State is instead offered this prestigious game. This comes at a very opportune time, as the horrible team of Texas State has a new coach (Jack Haley) and he wants to make a name for himself. But there are two problems--the team hasn't won a game in two years and the coach's wife (Patsy Kelly) is a buffoon and she ends up breaking the star player's leg! So, to try to make amends, this annoying woman goes on a cross-country trek trying to find a star for their team. Her search ends up in a watermelon patch--with melon-slinging Amos Dodd (Stu Erwin*) being offered a scholarship to play for Texas State even though they have no idea if he even finished or even attended high school! He's hesitant but his kid-sister (Garland*) insists and comes along to college with him. Can this hayseed somehow help the team to be able to take on Yale and not embarrass themselves?
This film is jam-packed full of songs--mostly bad songs. Even if you love songs, you may find some of them hard to take--particularly those of a strange and very old-looking college quartet, The Yacht Club Boys. Their songs, to put it bluntly, are third-rate and it's obvious the studio really saw this more as a B-movie** than anything else. The humor is generally very broad and corny. Subtle the film ain't---and this can also be said about much of the acting. Erwin is more a caricature than anything else and Kelly is as Kelly usually is--brash, loud and, well, LOUD! So, we have one character who is a lot like Uncle Jed from "The Beverly Hillbillies" and another who seems to be performing specifically for the hard of hearing, as she screams many of her lines!
In addition to being a poor film, it brings us an incredibly cynical message that when it comes to small schools, they must cheat in order to keep up with the big colleges! And cheating is what Texas State does repeatedly as Dodd isn't even eligible to play though he does through some creative cheating! I know that the reviews for this film are all rather positive--some even giving it a 10. I find this inexplicable, as I have seen hundreds of better musicals--hundreds! Aside from Garland's amazing singing and a few cute moments, the film is lame through and through. It is something no one would remember or want to remember except because of her appearance...as well as when Texas State punts the ball on 2nd down (pay attention...they really do this in the big game with Yale).
*College movies of the 1930s, 40s and 50s OFTEN featured college students who were practically old enough to be on social security! In this film, most of the students appear to be in their 30s--and Erwin is 33! And, in an odd twist, his 'sister' is only 14!
**Yes, I know a true B-movie is only about 60 minutes in length--not 93 minutes like this one. However, the film is full of second and third-tier actors, bad writing, bad music and the studio seemed to have little faith in the film.