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Paint Your Wagon Customer Reviews (19 - 21 of 30 Reviews)

Beautifully balanced Musical Western
Moreoften than not, this movie these days is billed as a Clint Eastwood picture, and although he is the chief supporting actor, make no mistake this is Lee Marvins vehicle, through and through. Like others I first saw this at a tender age, yet even now still find myself watching it with great affection, and humming along to great songs like "They Call the Wind Maria". The power of this picture is the flexibility of the acting, the premise is quite simple, a wandering clutch of gold panners in 1800 something Californian wilderness, set up a small town to cater to the wild proclivities of the all male population. Jean Seberg as the second wife of a travelling Mormon turns the place on it's head, and is "sold" to Lee Marvin as a legal claim, much to the chagrin of the envious locals, including his partner, played by Eastwood. There is a strange melancholy to the back story of Marvins character which is elevated by some raucous singing, almost slapstick comedy scenes, and dry humour throughout. Although catagorized as a "Musical" you never really feel that way, and it's more of a comedy/action western that just has some great music and songs. Lee Marvins drainpipe rasping actually got him a No1 record with "Wandrin Star", and Eastwood's vocal input is enjoyable, albeit quaintly misplaced. It's interesting to note that Eastwood demanded a high fee at the time for fear that these singing poppinjay parts of his character, might irreperably damage his tough man image. There are some wonderful cameos from a host of well knowns, including an Almost psychotic Ray Walston as "Mad Jack Duncan", and few will forget Lee Marvins tutoring of the young Horton Finney (Tom Ligon), in the ways of the World. Not a short picture at 166 mins but worth it - a funny, sad, uplifting and at times bittersweet good old fashioned romp through the old west, Hollywood style. Well directed, written and crammed with talent. One of my all time favorites. Enjoy!

Misunderstood
If you like Dirty Harry/Clint Eastwood westerns, I suggest staying away from this movie because you're probably used to lines like, "Go ahead, make my day." You probably can't imagine (or if you could, the thought would make you sick) a young and likeable Clint Eastwood who plays a guitar and sings love songs with an orchestra back-up, in a funny musical!

Maybe I'm wrong, but prove it.

Anyway, I liked it, and it's hard not to like this movie. It's funny! The lines are good. Joshua Logan directed it, a director with a great reputation.

The sound effects and music track sounds exceptional for a movie made so long ago, and this movie is a spectacle. For 1969, the music score is great. It's a Lerner and Loewe musical. The music score gets the complete workup. This was only a few years after "Gigi" and "My Fair Lady" won the best picture Oscar, and one can tell the effort and budget really shows in this movie.

The comedy actually works. It's about the California gold rush. 164 minutes, with an intermission too.

Here are two lines that made me laugh:
Two drunks talking, "What's a 'fornicater'?"
"I don't know, I'm not a religeous man."

The movie they tried to ruin
"Paint Your Wagon" is almost a textbook case in how to ruin a film version of halfway decent musical. Take a minor Lerner & Lowe hit, blow it up all out of proportion, cast three non-singers for the main leads, and remove most traces of the whimsy and irony that made this moderately popular in the first place. That the result is STILL somewhat entertaining is almost a miracle. A lot of the credit has to go Lee Marvin, who plays his trademark drunken Westerner to the hilt. But Clint Eastwood and Jean Seberg are bland to the point of nonexistence. A standout (he's hard to miss) is Harve Presnell, an actual singer who belts out the movie's big hit, "They Call the Wind Maria" then promptly disappears. There's a lot of "what-in-the-world-were-they-thinking?" in this one. But it's still worth a couple hours of your time.

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