Hollywood or Bust (1956)

Director:

Frank Tashlin

Writer:

Erna Lazarus (writer)

Release Date:

6 December 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A singer who can't pay his bookie joins a nerdy, star-struck movie fan and his Great Dane in a cross-country convertible ride to Hollywood.

Plot Keywords:

Raffle | Grand Canyon | Craps | Gangster | Natural Wipe

Cast

Dean Martin	...	Steve Wiley
Jerry Lewis	...	Malcolm Smith
Pat Crowley	...	Terry Roberts
Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom	...	Bookie Benny (as Maxie Rosenbloom)
Anita Ekberg	...	Actress Anita
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Valerie Allen	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Adelle August	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Drew Cahill	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Kathryn Card	...	Old Lady (uncredited)
Minta Durfee	...	Miss Pettywood (uncredited)
Joe Gray	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Hotel Extra (uncredited)
Gretchen Houser	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Richard Karlan	...	Sammy Ross (uncredited)
Claudia Martin	...	11 Year Old Girl (uncredited)
Deana Martin	...	7 Year Old Girl (uncredited)
Gail Martin	...	9 Year Old Girl (uncredited)
Jack McElroy	...	Stupid Sam (uncredited)
Del Moore	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Wendell Niles	...	Himself - the Emcee (uncredited)
Ralph Peters	...	Truck driver who yells "Sunday Driver!' (uncredited)
Suzanne Ridgeway	...	Extra at Craps Table (uncredited)
Tracey Roberts	...	Redhead (uncredited)
Michael Ross	...	Paramount Studio Gate Guard (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre	...	Crap Table Stickman (uncredited)
Willard Waterman	...	Manager Neville (uncredited)
Ben Welden	...	Boss (uncredited)
Ross Westlake	...	Sheep-haired woman in balcony (uncredited)
Sandra White	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Frank Wilcox	...	Director (uncredited)
Chief Yowlachie	...	Chief Running Water (uncredited)

Directed by
Frank Tashlin

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Erna Lazarus		writer

Produced by
Paul Nathan	....	associate producer
Hal B. Wallis	....	producer

Cinematography by
Daniel L. Fapp		(as Daniel Fapp)

Film Editing by
Howard A. Smith		(as Howard Smith)

Art Direction by
Henry Bumstead
Hal Pereira

Set Decoration by
Fay Babcock		(as Faye Babcock)
Sam Comer

Costume Design by
Edith Head

Makeup Department
Wally Westmore	....	makeup supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
James A. Rosenberger	....	assistant director (as James Rosenberger)
William Watson	....	second unit director
Gary Nelson	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Gene Garvin	....	sound recordist
Hugo Grenzbach	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Farciot Edouart	....	process photography
John P. Fulton	....	special photographic effects

Camera and Electrical Department
W. Wallace Kelley	....	photographer: second unit (as Wallace Kelley)
Murray Young	....	key grip (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Richard Mueller	....	color consultant: Technicolor

Music Department
Norman Luboff	....	music arranger: vocals, "It Looks Like Love", "A Day in the Country", "Let's Be Friendly", "The Wild and Wooly West" and "Hollywood or Bust" (songs titles uncredted)
Charles O'Curran	....	musical numbers creator and stager
Walter Scharf	....	conductor
Walter Scharf	....	music arranger

Other crew
Rudy Makoul	....	dialogue coach

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1956) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Home Video (1990) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Beginner's Luck (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Boulder Dam, Nevada, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

When they arrive in Hollywood, Anita Ekberg is starring in a movie where she plays Napoleon's lover. That same year, Ekberg was featured in War and Peace (1956), another Paramount release, which included Napoleon as a character.

Quotes:

Steve Wiley: [to Malcolm] I'm thinkin' of somethin'. I’m thinkin' of double homicide - one for each of your heads!

Movie Connections:

References The Rainmaker (1956)

Soundtrack:

Hollywood or Bust

A very funny satire on Hollywood by Frank Tashlin

"Hollywood or Bust" was the last Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin musical comedies and a very good one. Although it is not as bracingly innovative and riotous as Tashlin's "Artists and Models", I kept laughing throughout.

Some hilarious and enjoyable scenes come to mind: The opening moments in the movie theater where Lewis is ruining a woman's hair with popcorn; the rousing musical number "A Day in the Country" (Martin and Lewis in a car) which is Tashlin's homage to the "Beyond the Blue Horizon" number in Lubitsch's 1930 musical "Monte Carlo"; and there is Lewis' imitation of Rudolph Valentino's "Blood and the Sand".

Sure it can be silly and puerile at times, but it's a lot of fun.

Worth seeing.