Review of The Second Time Around

In this 1961 film, Debbie Reynolds plays a young widow(Lucretia Rogers) with 2 half grown children living with her mother in law in NYC. However, she wants to show that she can support her family on her own. An alternative is to find a suitable replacement husband. Given her beauty, this should not be difficult in NYC. However, apparently, she wants a complete change in scenery, and accepts an offer by an old friend to come work for him in the small town of Charleyville , AZ. The only problem is that when she gets there, he's deceased. There aren't many jobs for a greenhorn self supporting woman from the East. Very fortunately, she makes the acquaintance of Aggie Gates(Thelma Ritter), who runs a small nearby ranch. She offers to give Debbie a try as a ranch hand. Reluctantly, Debbie agrees for a trial period. Of course, she encounters unexpected problems, and finds the work day long and arduous. She falls off the roof repairing some shingles, and falls into a muddy quagmire dealing with a calf. However, at the end of the month, Aggie let her continue.........Almost immediately, Debbie locks horns with the reigning chauvinistic sheriff(Ken Scott, as Sheriff Burns). When she suggested that he was a public servant, and hence accountable by the public, he though that was hilarious, especially coming from a woman. Many citizens didn't trust Burns, and were game to replace him with, Debbie, as outlandish as that sounds. I'm not aware of any woman who was a sheriff in the old west. Probably, legally they were excluded, except in those states and territories where they had been granted civil rights, such as voting. Soon after Debbie arrived, the territory of Arizona became the 48th state, and granted women the right to vote. Hence, probably, legally, Debbie could become sheriff. In any case, the citizens of the county voted to recall Burns, and stage a new election, which Debbie handily won. Incidentally, today, there are quite a few women across the US serving as sheriff........ Her first act was to charge saloon owner Dan Jones(Steve Forrest) with operating an illegal gambling establishment. She immediately put him in jail. Steve claimed she did this out of spite for his caper that made a fool of her. He planted several sizable gold nuggets in a stream, and told her there were rumors of gold being found in that river. It turned out that his idea was to lure her out in the wilderness, and get her in the mood to make love. But, rancher Pat Collins, also in competition to land Debbie, smelled a rat and came riding out to where they were, wanting to fight Dan, whom he correctly accused of planting the gold nuggets. Debbie was livid. and didn't want to speak to Dan until she charged him with a crime. But, Dan would save the damsel when she was abducted by ex-sheriff Burns and his outlaw gang. He was in jail when this happened, but was let out by the deputy, to spearhead a rescue plan, involving the other townies , some of whose stores had been robbed by the gang. After the recue, she would come to forgive Dan, and even kiss and hug him at the end: quite a dramatic turnaround! He told her he felt awkward kissing the sheriff, so she threw away her sheriff badge, with the implication that she hoped he would support her. Not mentioned, is the fact that Dan was still on the books for his illegal gambling charge, and the status of his saloon was in limbo.........Incidentally, Pat Collins , Dan's rival, lived with his mother on a ranch, and was Aggie's choice for a husband for Debbie, since she didn't like Dan's business. However, he seemed too tied to his mother's apron strings.........Apparently, this film did poorly at the box office. There are currently only 8 reviewers at this site for it, compared to more than a hundred for Debbie's favorite: "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", released a few years later. But, I don't see why the present flick is not rated higher. It's fun!.......I saw the film at Encore Westerns. It's also out on a DVD.