9/10
A Wonderfully Wry Film Comedy
3 January 2007
Initially, I thought that "Callaway Went Thataway" was going to be a well-intentioned, cornball/hokey 1950's film. What a delight to find that the film is a charming comedy, leavened with a wickedly mordant wit. Stars Dorothy McGuire, Howard Keel and Fred MacMurray (playing against his usual good-guy, Steve Douglas - "My Three Sons" type) are all superb. Of course, the Hollywood nightclub scene, in which Howard Keel's character, cowboy Stretch Barnes, has absolutely no idea at all who the unbelievably-stunning Elizabeth Taylor and the uber-macho Clark Gable are, is uproariously funny! As previous posters have pointed out, look for such future, noteworthy television comedic actors as Hugh Beaumont (Ward Cleaver of "Leave It to Beaver"), Natalie Schaeffer (Mrs. "Lovey" Howell of "Gilligan's Island") and a remarkably then-ectomorphic John Banner (Sgt. Schultz of "Hogan's Heroes") to appear in the film. "Callaway Went Thataway" is a gem that will not fail to delight and amuse you.
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