THE PALEFACE (1948)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Comedy / Western

Director: Norman McLeod

Cast: Bob Hope / Jane Russell / Robert Armstrong

Plot

Calamity Jane reluctantly accepts a job working in secret for the feds to uncover a gun smuggling ring.  Wanting to pose as a common pioneer woman on a wagon train, she marries cowardly and bungling dentist “Painless” Peter Potter.

What I Liked

Bob Hope carries this otherwise dismal attempt at comedy on his back.  He successfully plays off of the common notions of the American Western hero by playing a fool and a coward caught in the type of situations we’re used to seeing involve men like John Wayne or the Lone Ranger.  Bolstered by Hope's shamelessly goofball cut-ups, Painless Potter’s buffoonery provides some amusement in a movie that has not aged well.

What I Didn’t Like

My source book points out that “The Paleface” is too silly to take its racist depictions of Native Americans and historical inaccuracies seriously, and generally speaking it is correct.  One can no more criticize these elements of a film this goofy than one can criticize similar racism and stupidity in the “Hot Shots” or “Scary Movie” franchises.  The filmmakers could be said to be spoofing the very same elements that appear in serious films of those genres.  Besides, it is clear that all of it is done in fun and no harm is meant whatsoever.  But I do wonder if today’s Native Americans feel the same way when they watch Hope goof around over a pile of “Injun” corpses.

Anyway, my dislike of this movie had little to do with its political incorrectness.  I was more offended by the fact that the movie just wasn’t all that funny.  The jokes just do not stand the test of time.  Sure there was a silly line that made me smirk here and there (“Rigor mortis, here I come!” or “Brave men run in my family”).  But overall this movie does not deserve a spot among the 1001 elite.  I’m pretty sure that this movie was picked to compliment Hope’s status as one of the premier film comedians of his era and, since this is (unfortunately) one of his best, it was (also unfortunately) squeezed in.  Shit, I’m not even a Jane Russell fan.  The woman couldn’t act worth a damn and if she’s what passed for a sex symbol in the forties, I’m sure glad I live in the days of Salma Hayek and Scarlett Johansson.

Most Memorable Scene

When Potter mistakes Jane’s dead-eye shooting for his own, he soon transforms himself into a puff-chested Dude and swaggers into a local saloon.  What happens next you can probably already guess and it leads to a wonderful parody of the standard Western duel.  Hope is perfect here; maybe because he’s allowed to just do his thing without much interference from other actors or annoying constraints like plot.

My Rating: 1.5 out of 5