While you certainly can't rank it among The Duke's best, how can you not love a film that teams John Wayne with Oliver Hardy? Like a lot of motion pictures of its era, The Fighting Kentuckian is a hodge podge of comedy, music, moralizing, romance, action and general good humor meant to satisfy the proverbial audience of everyone from 8 to 80. This isn't a great looking black and white movie and Vera Ralston may be the least impressive leading lady ever to share the screen with Wayne, but the story develops a surprising amount of nuance and complexity as it goes along. This thing would almost stand the test of time on its own. With two Hollywood legends leading the way, this 1949 production easily remains enjoyable all these decades later.
In the aftermath of Waterloo, the defeated officers of Napoleon's army were exiled from France and granted land by the U.S. government in the Alabama territory. The French men and woman held closely to their customs and established a thriving community called Demopolis. While on a visit to Mobile to meet her wealthy fiancée, the daughter of the leading French general (Vera Ralston) meets a member of the Kentucky militia marching their way back home from 5 years of war. John Breen (John Wayne) is enthralled with the young woman and, along with his portly sidekick Willie Paine (Oliver Hardy), Breen decides to stay in Alabama and win her hand. But her fiancée, the determined and ethically dubious Blake Randolph (John Howard), and his even more unscrupulous partner (Grant Withers) not only aim to foil Breen's courtship but have a dastardly plan for the whole French settlement.
It's hard to describe The Fighting Kentuckian in modern terms because it was made before genre stratification and audience fragmentation. It's impossible to imagine someone making a Western drama today that has this much broad comedy and this many people singing and also grapples with an outsider's impotence against the needs of a community and the differences between a hero, a villain and an ordinary man. A lot of the film's style will seem simplistic to jaded eyes, but the substance is a good bit more subtle than most mainstream, mass market movies now.
Ultimately, though, The Fighting Kentuckian teams John Wayne with Oliver Hardy and each shines separately and together like only stars of the Golden Age can. When I rented this, I only saw Wayne's image on the DVD and didn't even know it also starred Hardy until I got home and watched it. The two of them are delightful, with Hardy playing a part that's more than just comic relief to The Duke.
Again, I wouldn't exactly call this a great movie. It was a good flick for its era that is carried into the watchable present by two great movie stars. If you're a fan of either Wayne or Hardy or just want to get a taste of why so many are, give this film a gander.
In the aftermath of Waterloo, the defeated officers of Napoleon's army were exiled from France and granted land by the U.S. government in the Alabama territory. The French men and woman held closely to their customs and established a thriving community called Demopolis. While on a visit to Mobile to meet her wealthy fiancée, the daughter of the leading French general (Vera Ralston) meets a member of the Kentucky militia marching their way back home from 5 years of war. John Breen (John Wayne) is enthralled with the young woman and, along with his portly sidekick Willie Paine (Oliver Hardy), Breen decides to stay in Alabama and win her hand. But her fiancée, the determined and ethically dubious Blake Randolph (John Howard), and his even more unscrupulous partner (Grant Withers) not only aim to foil Breen's courtship but have a dastardly plan for the whole French settlement.
It's hard to describe The Fighting Kentuckian in modern terms because it was made before genre stratification and audience fragmentation. It's impossible to imagine someone making a Western drama today that has this much broad comedy and this many people singing and also grapples with an outsider's impotence against the needs of a community and the differences between a hero, a villain and an ordinary man. A lot of the film's style will seem simplistic to jaded eyes, but the substance is a good bit more subtle than most mainstream, mass market movies now.
Ultimately, though, The Fighting Kentuckian teams John Wayne with Oliver Hardy and each shines separately and together like only stars of the Golden Age can. When I rented this, I only saw Wayne's image on the DVD and didn't even know it also starred Hardy until I got home and watched it. The two of them are delightful, with Hardy playing a part that's more than just comic relief to The Duke.
Again, I wouldn't exactly call this a great movie. It was a good flick for its era that is carried into the watchable present by two great movie stars. If you're a fan of either Wayne or Hardy or just want to get a taste of why so many are, give this film a gander.