Two Guys from Texas

Warner Brothers seem to have made a concerted attempt to groom Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan as their studio's version of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, with Morgan as the Bing-like handsome affable crooner and Carson as the Bob-like egotistical braggart. Although Carson and Morgan display real chemistry together, they simply aren't in Hope and Crosby's league. (Jack Carson's facial moles might be part of the problem.) Typically, Warners musicals lacked the production values of Paramount's splashy 'Road' films -- I can't recall a single truly great Warners musical, except for 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' (plus some later Warners adaptations of musicals that originated on Broadway) -- and the scripts and songs of the Carson/Morgan films are usually far inferior to Hope's and Crosby's material.

'Two Guys from Texas' is likely the best of the Carson/Morgan teamings, and it's a delightful musical comedy ... profiting from an elaborate animation sequence that seems inspired by the animation in MGM's 'Anchors Aweigh'. Dennis and Jack play a couple of vaudevillains who are motoring through Texas. Dennis sings a tune about tumbleweeds in front of some bad rear-projection. They run afoul of some hold-up men and land up at a dude ranch where they attract the attention of two young ladies: pretty Dorothy Malone (very sexy in a Dorothy Lamour wig), who fancies handsome Dennis, and the rather less pretty Penny Edwards, who fancies Jack. Apparently unaware of his facial moles, Jack wonders why he isn't as successful with the fair sex as Dennis, and this leads him to consult a local doctor (splendidly played by veteran character actor Fred Clark). The wind-up gag involving Clark's character is hilarious.

Jack Carson's character is lumbered with a ridiculous handicap -- he's afraid of animals: ALL animals -- and some unfortunate dialogue, even telling the doctor that sometimes he wishes he was a girl. Hmm...

The script is largely by I.A.L. Diamond (best known for his Billy Wilder collaborations) and Allen Boretz of 'Room Service' fame. I laughed at one very clever dialogue scene on a cutaway set. Carson and Morgan have checked into the dude ranch and are sharing one room, while the two women are in the room next door over with a partition between. The men are conversing in one room while the women are talking in the other, but the two conversations interleave so that the dialogue takes on an entirely new meaning. Ingenious and hilarious! Less impressive is the torch song "Hankerin'".

The best song here (by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne) is a comic duet for the two men, 'I Wanna Be a Cowboy in the Movies', but the song that gets the most attention is Morgan's romantic ballad 'Ev'ry Day I Love You Just a Little Bit More'. This is reprised in the animation sequence, done in standard Warners toon style by Fritz Freleng of the Termite Terrace gang. We see a cartoon version of Dennis Morgan crooning to some swooning she-sheep in bobby socks and saddle shoes, while a cartoon version of Jack Carson gets some advice on sexual politics from Bugs Bunny before he's chased by a large ugly Red Indian woman. This is a reprise of an unfunny running gag from the live-action scenes, in which Carson is pursued by Lilly Christine as the unattractive Red Indian who speaks Spanish. ('Oye, muy bonita!') For some reason, the cartoon versions of Morgan and Carson in this sequence don't look nearly as good as the cartoon versions of other showbiz figures in 'What's Up, Doc?' and other Warners toons.

'Two Guys from Texas' is deftly directed by David Butler, formerly a handsome silent-screen actor who found his true metier behind the camera, but whose directorial career is woefully underrated. I'll rate this very enjoyable froth 8 out of 10. I wish that the other Carson/Morgan teamings were nearly as good as this one.

Two stumbling tenderfoots get stranded in big state Texas, where they meet up with a sheriff even bigger than they are, and luckily, meet two extra-pretty gals who furnish-- surprise, surprise-- romantic subplots.

Great Technicolor. The producers go out of their way to lavish on the carnival colors. But why can't big studio Warner Bros. do better rear projection, especially with Carson on a bucking bronco. Too bad since the production is otherwise fairly polished. So, how long will it take our two eastern tenderfoots (Morgan & Carson) to learn sprawling Texas ways. Bragging about the state's bigness flies about as fast and furious as Carson's patented mugging. It's all in good humor, of course, even the swipe at a gangster-type plot. But what about those two Texas gals. Wow, I'm heading for Dallas right away. Maybe there're Dorothy Malone and Penny Edwards look-alikes still there. I'm especially impressed with the sparkling Edwards. Looks like she could qualify for A-picture, Betty Hutton-type roles. Then too, the script works in some humorous running gags, one of which really pays off for Carson in the end. It all adds up to a highly entertaining comedy-musical of the sort they unhappily don't make anymore.

Steve Carroll (Dennis Morgan) and Danny Foster (Jack Carson) are a couple of song and dance men who get stranded in Texas when they run out of gas. They reconnect with their friend Maggie Reed (Penny Edwards). Danny has a debilitating fear of animals. Steve courts Joan Winston (Dorothy Malone).

This apparently is an attempt to copy Crosby and Hope. The guys are no Crosby and Hope. I wasn't going to watch this but I really wanted to see the animated section. The comedy is broad. The animal fear is stupid and not that funny. The songs are not catchy although some are somewhat fun. As for the animated section, Bugs makes a surprise cameo. For that alone, I'm willing to sit through the rest of this movie.

Bing Crosby and Bob Hope and their "Road" pictures were some of the hottest properties around during the 1940s and it seems that the Warner studio was trying to recreate the magic with Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan in their shared pictures. Unfortunately it did not work. One of the things that made the "Road" pictures so much fun was the obvious friendship and chemistry between Bing and Bob. A large part of the dialog in their films was ad-libbed, something that Jack and Dennis either could not do or were not allowed to do. No, the songs are not all that memorable and, no, Dennis Morgan doesn't have as good a voice as Bing, but while the songs are forgettable they are still pleasant. Jack Carson was a good actor and a fair comedian, but he was never as funny as Bob Hope. The story here is pretty predictable and Jack's total phobia about animals (and the easy way he gets over it) is slightly silly but even with its shortcomings this film is fun and worth at least one watching. I just recently saw it again on TCM and enjoyed it a lot.

I have been a huge fan of Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson for some time now.Any other fan should really see this movie.It had so many songs and "Music In the land" is great.The supporting cast was great and it was and always will be a highly entertaining musical!