''Two Guys from Texas'' is a 1948 American made

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

-themed

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

film starring longtime song-and-dance partners Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson. Directed by David Butler, it was written by Allen Boretz and I.A.L. Diamond, and features Dorothy Malone and Penny Edwards in support. The picture was a follow-up to Morgan and Carson's previous 'road film', 1946's '' Two Guys from Milwaukee'', one of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

' efforts to capture some of the appeal of Paramount's highly successful

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

and

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

Road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

'' pictures.

Plot

Down-on-their-luck song-and-dance duo Steve Carroll and Danny Foster run out of gas in what seems like the middle of the Texas wilderness. Fortunately, a tony dude ranch is a short walk ahead. A chance meeting with an old friend, singer Maggie Reed, gets the boys a job there. With their auto stolen and empty wallets, the two settle into ranch life as "house performers", sharing the stage there with Maggie. Danny and the pretty, perky blonde appear to have an eye for one-another. Inveterate womanizer Steve immediately puts his best moves on knockout ranch owner Joan Winston. Danny has an uncontrollable fear of animals, which keeps cropping up everywhere he goes: big, small, live or stuffed, they all throw him into a panic. Steve sets up Danny with Dr. Straeger to get some analysis. Maggie warns Joan that Steve's a lothario, and not to fall for his tricks. Still, she does...hard enough to end up in a stressful tug-of-war with her emotions. Meanwhile, a stout and homely middle-aged Indian woman keeps getting hold of Danny by the arm and trying to drag him off for "romance". He is lucky each time to escape. Unfortunately for Steve, Straeger's prescription for Danny is that he must steal away one of Steve's girlfriends, as his fear of animals is merely a displaced fear of women. Danny sets himself to it, and makes surprising headway first time out with Joan. One good kiss from her - that leads to a few from him - is enough: he's ''cured!'' But now has a new itch that needs scratching. Along the way a couple of crooks staying at the ranch use the duo's stolen car for a getaway in a robbery, framing the songmen. Jailed, Steven and Danny escape, and set to clearing themselves. This isn't easy, because the town sheriff, tall, handsome Tex Bennett, is Joan's beau; lathered up by Steve's advances toward her, he's hot on their trail. The next day is the Big Rodeo, and the bandits press their luck by attempting to hold up its box office. Just evading Tex and his clambering posse, Danny ends up trapped atop a bucking bronco - and setting a new world's record for riding one. Before Tex can round Steve up, he spots the bandits and captures them in the act single-handedly. The townfolks' money is saved, and everything simmers down. Realizing he's been bested, Tex gracefully bows out and surrenders Joan to Steve. Danny immediately turns to Maggie, expecting they can pick up where at least she had left off. Nothing doing! She's fallen for the gentlemanly hunk wearing the badge and pledged herself to him. Left out, with no fear either of animals or women, Danny is crestfallen. Once again the persistent silo-sized squaw appears, tugging him by the arm. This time she manages to hang on, pointing him toward her gorgeous young daughter posing alluringly nearby, all curves and pouty lips. In the blink of an eye Danny's in a clinch and the two are smooching up a storm. Credits roll before censors have to intervene.

Cast

* Dennis Morgan as Steve Carroll * Jack Carson as Danny Foster * Dorothy Malone as Joan Winston * Penny Edwards as Maggie Reed * Forrest Tucker as 'Tex' Bennett * Joan Rudolph as Mrs. Karen Walkers * Fred Clark as Dr. Jack Straeger * Gerald Mohr as Link Jessup *

John Alvin John Henry Alvin (November 24, 1948 – February 6, 2008) was an American cinematic artist and painter who illustrated many movie posters. Alvin created posters and key art for more than 135 films, beginning with the poster for Mel Brooks's '' ...

as Jim Crocker * Andrew Tombes as The Texan * Monte Blue as Pete Nash * The Philharmonica Trio as Specialty Act *Petra Silva as large American Indian woman.

Production

Bugs Bunny cameo

The film is noted today for featuring an

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

of hit

cartoon character

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

, voiced by Mel Blanc.

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (; August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons ...

, the studio's leading animation director, was assigned to direct an animated dream sequence in which Bugs gives some advice to a lovelorn

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

of Jack Carson. Bugs would later have a similar cameo in 1949's '' My Dream Is Yours'', also starring Carson, and one at the end of the 1972

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

hit '' What's Up, Doc?'', though the latter was stock footage rather than newly-created. Animation historians have noted the similarities between the animated dream sequence in this film and the ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' cartoon '' Swooner Crooner'' (1944). The latter, directed by Friz Freleng's

colleague Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues, especially among peers, for example a fellow member of the same profession. Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and, at least in theory, respect each other's abilities t ...

Frank Tashlin Frank Tashlin (born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972), also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash, was an American animator and filmmaker. He was best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' ...

, concerned

Porky Pig Porky Pig is a cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created man ...

trying to reacquire the female chickens of his

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

from a

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

-esque

rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

, who is driving the chicks away from the farm. The same year ''Two Guys from Texas'' was released, animation director Art Davis parodied the film's title with a '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon called '' Two Gophers from Texas'', starring Mac & Tosh, better known as

The Goofy Gophers ''The Goofy Gophers'' is a 1947 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Bob Clampett and Arthur Davis (animator), Arthur Davis. The short was released on January 25, 1947, and is the first appearance of the Goofy Gophers. Plot An anthro ...

. The title was spoofed yet again for Freleng's 1956 cartoon ''Two Crows from Tacos''.

Reception

Box office

The film cost an estimated $2 million, and earned $2,350,000 in rentals in the US according to ''Variety''."Top Grossers of 1948", ''Variety'' 5 January 1949 p 46
/ref> According to Warner Bros records, the film earned $2,566,000 domestically and $397,000 foreign.

Critical

References

External links

* * * {{David Butler 1948 films 1948 musical comedy films 1940s Western (genre) comedy films American musical comedy films Bugs Bunny films Films directed by David Butler Films shot in California Films scored by Ray Heindorf Films set in Texas Films with screenplays by I. A. L. Diamond Warner Bros. films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films English-language musical comedy films English-language Western (genre) comedy films