Son of Paleface | | Cast : | Bob Hope, Jane Russell | | Director : | Frank Tashlin | | Studio : | Brentwood Communications | | Format : | Color | | Released Date : | July 14, 1952 | | DVD Released Date : | November 21, 2000 | | Language : | English (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | NR (Not Rated) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | December 29, 2004 | | Summary | One of Ol' Slope-Nose's best, and Jane Russell - WOW! | Content
 | "Son of Paleface" was my introduction to Jane Russell, who really burns up the screen in her role as the saloon girl/outlaw leader - and it's a great Bob Hope flick too. A worthy sequel to "The Paleface", it pairs Hope with Russell and the duo of Roy Rogers (a good straight man who ends up as the third point in the movie's love triangle) and Trigger. Lots of music - including a reprise of the Oscar-winner "Buttons and Bows" - and sight gags! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 19, 2004 | | Summary | Hope at his Best! | Content
| Quite seriously (in a manner of speaking!) this is the best of all of Bob Hope's movies. Although the Road To.. films are classics and will forever feature in the Comedy Hall of Fame, this little-known gem is a real riot! This probably comes closest to Road to Utopia in terms of zaniness.
A sequel-of-sorts to the hugely inferior The Paleface, this movie lays it's cards on the table from the very beginning as we are introduced to the titular 'hero' through a very witty narration ("This girl has just the kind of lips I like to kiss - one on top and one on the bottom") that includes the almost obligatory Bing Crosby cameo. Following this is a few minutes of plot development (and, strangely, this film has more plot than most straight westerns) before Junior Potter (Hope) bursts into town. Great one-liners abound ("I'm an innocent man and if you have any justice in you, you'll accept my bribe") but the real beauty of the film is the surreal, almost cartoon-like direction. Of course the direction has every right to be cartoon-like - it's directed by Frank Tashlin who started in Hollywood directing Porky Pig! Wild action includes Hope's reaction to a Micky Finn, Hope's attempts to blend in with his cowboy costume, Hope and Trigger sharing a bed and talk (tastefully done!) and a crazy chase finale involving banana skins!
Supporting players Jane Russell, Roy Rogers and, of course, Trigger do extremely well in the shadow of Hope who pulls out all of the stops for a career-best performance. The songs, including Buttons and Bows with a twist, are great and the script, apart from the few straight seems which are kept to a minimum, compares well with the Marx Brothers at their best.
Don't believe me - watch it and see for yourself! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 12, 2004 | | Summary | Son of Paleface | Content
| SON OF PALEFACE is a sequel, of sorts, to Bob Hope's 1948 hit PALEFACE. It reunites Hope with Jane Russell (Calamity Jane in the previous movie, Mike `The Torch' Delroy in this one.) Singing cowboy Roy Rogers rounds out the lead roster as Federal Agent Roy Barton.
Hope plays Peter `Junior' Potter Jr., a recent Harvard grad who travels west to claim his inheritance. Russell plays a masked bandit and Rogers the Fed investigating a series of stagecoach holdups. There's a search for a cache of gold hidden by Junior's father but beyond that the plot doesn't get in the way much at all. If it did, you'd wonder how the masked Torch is able to keep her identity a secret. Yeah, she's wearing a mask, but the hip-hugging jeans and tight blouse she wears when a-robbing make it kind of obvious who it is under the mask.
Not that it matters much. The plot is just thick enough, thank you. Russell and Rogers play it straight and provide Hope with strong foils to play against. By 1952, when SON OF PALEFACE was made, Bob Hope had the blustering coward schtick down cold. Teamed here was director and former Warner Brothers animator Frank Tashlin things get a little wacky. Non sequiturs, snappy one-liners and mugging close-ups are the rule here. Tashlin throws in some very cartoon-y gags, as well. Hope drinks an impossibly tall drink in a bar. After a moment the pipe he's smoking straightens out and spits fire. The H on his Harvard shirt curls. The pipe curls and his nose is caught in the bowl. Smoke hisses out of Hope's ears. His head spins rapidly, then his body. His head sinks into his coat and his hat covers the neck hole. Russell lifts the hat and peeks in....
You get the idea. It's all good family fun with just a scene or two that might zoom past the uninitiated. For instance, when Hope drives his roadster across the desert two vultures perch on the rumble seat. At one point Hope turns on them and says "Hey! Martin and Lewis! Beat it!" Fortunately, the visual and verbal gags come at such a rapid-fire rate we aren't forced to mull over such mysterious references. Before we're given a chance to think about it Hope has driven through an ice-rink desert mirage and the vultures have changed into penguins.
SON OF PALEFACE is one of those rare movies that will appeal to almost everybody and offend almost nobody. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 26, 2004 | | Summary | Funny stuff | Content
| I like this film quite a bit. I always liked Bob Hope as a kid and this film is pretty funny. I didn't buy this one for Bob though, I LOVE Jane Russell and had the hots for her as a kid. This film is a good fun family film that is pretty silly. If in a silly mood check this film out! |
| Rating | | | Date | April 26, 2004 | | Summary | Silly fun | Content
| I've never seen the original film but used to catch this one alot on tv when I was a kid. I am a HUGE Jane Russell fan and enjoy the silly humor presented here in this film but truly got it for Jane Russell. She looks good in the film and that is a very dim witted reason to REALLY enjoy this film but it's the truth. I think its a good silly romp for the whole family and for anyone who can laugh at Bob hope. It was alot funnier as a kid of course but it's good if in a silly mood. |
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