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MovieMail's Review
Released in this country as Tammy (and well known for its lilting Livingston/Evans title song), this is a charming curio, reminiscent of a gentler cinematic age. Tammy (Debbie Reynolds, playing much younger than her age, but getting away with it -- just) and her Grandpa (Walter Brennan in entertaining larger-than-life form) find Peter Brent (Leslie Nielsen, after Forbidden Planet but before Naked Gun), alone and passed out near their Mississippi home. They give him shelter and nursing - with inevitable romantic results. Undemanding and diverting fare.
Debbie Reynolds is the winsome lead in this bright 1950s romantic comedy from Joseph Pevney. Top-flight actors and some wonderful tunes only add to the fun, says Rick Burin.
"I hear the cottonwoods whisperin' above; Tammy, Tammy, Tammy’s in love,” coos Debbie Reynolds as the camera moves over the rooms that rule a young boy’s life in Terence Davies’ The Long Day Closes. If you've ever wondered who inspired such misty-eyed devotion in the songstress and lent a heady sense of yearning to that key passage in British cinema, the answer can now be revealed. Leslie Nielsen. Yes, he's the wannabe tomato mogul who wins Reynolds' heart in the bright romantic comedy that introduced the song to the world.
Tammy (Reynolds) is a sheltered young woman living on a houseboat in the Mississippi swamps with grandpa Walter Brennan, a lay preacher peddling corn liquor on the side. Fishing downed flyer Nielsen from the swamp one day, the pair nurse him back to health, and Tammy becomes smitten. But Nielsen is soon on his way and it takes Brennan’s incarceration to thrust Tammy into high society, and into the arms of her square-jawed hero.
The fish-out-of-water set-up is pleasant, balanced by a genuinely touching romance. And has there ever been a more enchanting screen presence than Reynolds, with her wide-open face, soft ‘r’s and cartoonish sensibility? Her apparent guilelessness suits Tammy's talent for offbeat observation, while her distinctive voice lends an affecting homeliness to both her dialogue and song. The Tammy number, performed by Reynolds as she gazes tenderly from her window, is three minutes of pure elation. Debbie’s comic smarts are also on display: witness the hilarious way she puckers up for the initially uninterested Nielsen, or deadpans expertly while talking sex with professor Sidney Blackmer.
Veteran Blackmer, effectively cast against type as Nielsen's sympathetic father, is one of a league of top-flight golden age players offering support, including King Kong screamer Fay Wray, three-time Oscar-winner Brennan, John Ford regular Mildred Natwick and Louise Beavers. Nielsen is surprisingly effective as a romantic lead, while there's frequent comic relief from an unfailingly amusing goat.
This is an entertaining, affecting romantic comedy, boasting a simply lovely lead performance, and with an unequivocally fantastic pop song at its centre.
A classic musical romance, Tammy and the Bachelo sees Tammy (Debbie Reynolds) and her Grandpa (Walter Brennan) find Peter Brent (Leslie Nielsen) alone and unconscious near their Mississippi home. They take him in and restore him to health, but when Grandpa is arrested for bootlegging, Tammy is forced to leave their riverside shack and goes to stay with Peter and his family in luxurious new surroundings. But will Tammy ever feel at home in high society, and how will she cope with the first stirrings of love?
This beloved romantic comedy (originally released in the UK as Tammy) was a huge hit on its original release, along with its chart-topping title song.
