Bus Stop
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Movie Reviews of Bus Stop
Movie Review: Histrionic Acting and Not That Funny
Summary: 2 Stars
"Bus Stop" was made in 1956 and the best part is watching the bus start off from a Montana ranch. The movie is over 50 years old and did not have the feel of meeting expectations. I had heard Don Murray was up for an Oscar and that Marilyn won a Golden Globe for this. My expectations were high, especially since I had just seen Marilyn in "Some Like It Hot" and lifted with laughter between her, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.
However, "Bus Stop", the movie, treaded water, and personalities were over the top. I cringed at the histrionic personality of Cherie (Marilyn Monroe) and the "aw gee" cowboy buck named "Bo"(Don Murray) that treats Cherie like a calf to lasso and haul back to his ranch in Montana.
The story centers around Bo, the young rancher, rodeo rider who falls in love with a "been round the block" cafe singer, Cherie. He wants to marry her the minute he sees her and after the rodeo forces her on the bus back to his Montana Ranch. Cheri tries to escape this ardent admirer but he just does not give up. The only part I laughed at was when he promised her new kitchen appliances, washer and a sink. It was the only laugh I had. Marilyn is OK in this movie, her acting is fair-she is trying hard to make it funny - and the close up glamour shots show off her shimmering golden beauty, but that is not enough to hold one's interest. Bus Stop also stretches the mind about the "Phoenix" location - if anyone knows Phoenix, that is not Phoenix.
Movie Review: A wretched adaptation of a great play
Summary: 2 Stars
Yes Monroe gives one of her greatest performances (the other being in THE MISFITS). However, after directing two different productions of the William Inge's excellent character driven play of the same title, I must say that I cannot objectively judge this wretched adaptation.Gone is all of Inge's carefull character sketches and complex study of human nature. BUS STOP as a story has never been solely star vehicle. Cherie is but a small part of an ensemble cast. Gone in this film version is Dr. Lyman and his resurrection in the hands of the neophyte Elma. Gone too is the sexual dynamics of bus driver Carl and the lonely Grace. The setting change from Kansas to Idaho loses so much of the midwestern heart that drives Inge's central narrative.
Again, the film is worth watching for Monroe's fine star making performance, but if anyone has read, scene or produced the heart-breakingly beautiful original play, the movie adaptation just doesn't add up.
Movie Review: Will the Real Marilyn Please Stand Up?
Summary: 2 Stars
Everytime I watch a Marilyn Monroe movie I think "maybe this one will be different," but time and time again she is cast in the same role of the befuddled blonde that the studios molded for her. A time or two, such as in How to Marry a Millionaire, Marilyn seemed to strike gold with her penchant for humor, but those moments are rare, and you won't find them in this film.
Cherie spends the entire movie fretting over her lot in life with a high-pitched whine, and her cowboy lover hollars and brawls until you want to knock them both over the head.
The supporting cast isn't too exciting either, and costume design is stingy. Marilyn goes back and forth between a fishnet horror and a leather skirt throughout the entire movie.
The only parts of the movie I really enjoyed were the rodeo footage and the scene where Beau finally gets the tar beat out of him by a fellow traveler.
Movie Review: Incredibly bad
Summary: 1 Stars
I watched this yesterday and I'm still in shock. Monroe began to ripen as a dramatic actress just mere days (it seems) before she died. For sheer hilarity and dramatic weight, she never surpassed her role in "Some like it hot". For dramatic power she was very impressive and powerful in "The Misfits". This film, earlier in her career has been hailed as an early dramatic performace.
I am not familiar with the play from whence this film came from. I just watched it and took it for what it appeared. I found Don Murray's characterization of the cowboy to be a negative distraction, largely because instead of a real person he came across as a living comic-book character. There was not a moment when he was on the screen except for his quiet moments of remorse at the end, when he was not sounding like a lunatic. Other commentators have noted that this over the top performance was supposed to be this way, deliberatly to be funny. Well, in my time, at the end of 2006, this type of behaviour looks stupid, ridiculous and unbelievable. Further, Murray spends almost every second in the film shouting at the top of his lungs as if this is the way most cowboys fresh off the farm act when hitting the big city for the first time. Ahhhhh, no: I don't think so. The director (Logan) must have encouraged him to act this way and for me it makes him look like an imbecile. Honestly, his acting just made me so uncomfortable from the beginning to the end I wish I could have stopped the film.
Then we have Monroe. She looked as she always does, beautiful. But, I did notice that she kept changing the inflection of her voice, as if not quite yet sure of how to morph from a blonde-bombshell-dimwit into a real person, a dramatic presence. She just comes in and out of the "place" and it strikes me now as quite a fascinating moment in her career, almost at the cusp of breaking out into better acting. Her attempts at an accent come and go and if we were not so distracted by what she looked like we'd take closer note of it. Her skin looked so white next to the cowboy that she almost looked sickly. The best moments were when she was staring into a mirror (very well set up shot) and the doubts and fears that crossed her face felt every bit as real as one could imagine.
All in all I was shocked at how bad the film looked, given the age in which we live. The cartoonish characterization that Murray gives just looks ridiculous and hence hard to relate to. I just could not imagine any cowboy acting like a wild baboon on steroids. Sorry, but this just made me cringe. You compare a great dramatic effort like "The Misfits" and the contrast makes everything clear. If Joshua Logan wanted to make a drama here then he destroyed it with the creation of a character right out of the comic "Bizarro". This film just does not age well.
Movie Review: What's the point of this movie?
Summary: 1 Stars
I have to agree with "Keialove". I can't figure out why everybody loves this thing. It's based on a play by William Inge, but in my opinion it never should have made it to the stage, much less screen. The story is about a woman (MM) who resists the advances of an obnoxious cowboy played by Don Murray, but in the end she realizes that she really loves him. Yeah, sure. She's so lonely, she'll go off with anybody. It's boring and overrated.