Charles Herold (cherold) I liked this movie when I saw it decades ago, before I knew anything about rape culture. Monroe gives her best performance playing an insecure, untalented, sweetly vulnerable singer with dreams of Hollywood. The film is breezily shot and contains solid performances by character actors Arthur O'Connell and Eileen Heckart. And unlike almost everyone here on IMDb, I found Don Murray's antics reasonably entertaining.Watching this again many years later, I'm far more horrified by the story. Once upon a time, movies about boorish men aggressively, even violently, pursuing women, were so common that you never gave it much thought, but I no longer can see the romance in that. Bo's behavior is not just boorish but downright criminal, and even in the fifties it's hard to believe it would be seen, as every character in the movie does, as basically just bad manners.The movie feeds into the idea that you can force a woman to love you by making Monroe ambivalent throughout. This is not unconvincing, because she is established as someone who has been badly treated, but it would make far more sense as a dark drama than as a light romantic comedy.The movie also might work better if the actors were younger. Murray is a 27-year-old man playing a 21-year-old man who acts like a 15-year-old, and Monroe is a 30-year-old woman playing someone whose naivety would be more appropriate to a teenager.My girlfriend, who was curious about Marilyn, was horrified by this movie. But I told her if you want to see a non-sexist Marilyn Monroe movie you are destined to be disappointed.Honestly, if I just turn off the part of my brain that says kidnapping women and forcing them to marry you is a bad thing, I can still enjoy this movie. But in an age where I've heard too many stories of women being harassed and attacked and treated like toys, that's a part of my brain I can no longer turn off.

dougdoepke No need to recap the plot. This is a badly flawed movie, despite "That Old Black Magic", though the magic clearly works for Monroe as she croons out the tune. It's clear that as an actress she's most comfortable with musical numbers, where her sparkle really gels. The basic problem, as I see it, is with the script. There really isn't much story; as a result, something has to be added to hold audience interest besides budding super-star Marilyn. Apparently, colorful character was encouraged to pick up the slack. It looks like TCF found their answer in Murray's ear-splitting version of a Montana cowboy. I guess rural Montana doesn't have any grade schools where basic civility is taught. No need to belabor his maddening effect since others have made the same point at some length. Nonetheless, Murray's witless hollering of every line takes down the entire film. Nor does Monroe's squeaky southern accent that sort of comes and goes help. Nor is the over-extended final scene, where both actors revert to something more normal, enough to compensate for all the gaudiness that's gone before.All in all, the movie's worth a 3, mainly for its excellent Technicolor staging, Monroe's singing, and the catchy title tune that was a chart-topper at the time. But beware the movie's moral, which seems to be a version of "All some people need in order to straighten out is a good beating"!(In passing—Despite his misfire here, Murray was an excellent actor. Catch his carefully shaded performance in A Hatful of Rain (1957) or in The Bachelor Party (1957) to sample his true potential.)

utgard14 You know how sometimes you watch a movie and you know it was based on a play? Well this is that kind of movie. I went into it unaware of its origins and could peg it right away. The dialogue and performances are overly theatrical and loud, very much like stage acting. Not realistic in the least. Just terrible acting, especially from the two leads. Marilyn's acting is praised a lot by people who inexplicably enjoy this movie. I guess I see why -- she is stepping outside of her comfort zone and portraying a character unlike anything else she had done up to this point. However, I can't really compliment her performance. Her accent is terrible, for starters. Obviously translating such a broad stage character to film is difficult but not impossible. The performance isn't subtle but, then again, not many in this movie are. Marilyn's makeup is also atrocious. I guess the character is supposed to be pale (why I don't know) so they cover her in makeup in some scenes to make her appear more pale. It's gross really.The worst part of the movie is Don Murray's Bo. He is insufferable to a degree words can't convey. I don't remember the last time I loathed a character as much as this one. He acts like an animal. He even eats raw meat! He barks at people and thinks he can just force them to do whatever he wants. He's completely unappealing as a human being. I recently watched the Joan Crawford "classic" Trog and let me tell you that troglodyte has more class and humanity than this...thing...Murray plays. Also this is supposed to be at least partly a comedy. Where was the humor? All of that obnoxiousness from Bo? Spit on that! The part in the end where he supposedly learns his lesson, or at least one of them, seemed forced and inauthentic. As with Marilyn, it's tempting to blame all of this on the story and how the characters are written. But I'm not giving the actors a free pass like that. A good actor could have brought some subtlety and humanity to these cardboard roles. But neither lead does that. They just play their parts like the worst community theatre hacks out there. If you're a Marilyn fan, you'll probably want to see this to judge for yourself. But be forewarned there's little of her charm, sex appeal, or personality on display here. Everybody else I can't stress enough how much you should avoid this rubbish.

gslzll3 I've read that many people consider this to be Marilyn Monroe's best performance. Although I don't agree that it's her best, she certainly did a great job with what she had to work with. In fact, I think she is really the only reason to watch this disappointing film.The story is obviously dated, but even in 1957 it seems like it would have come across as ridiculous. The script is mediocre at best and doesn't offer enough lightheartedness for a comedy. Don Murray, whom I haven't seen in any other pictures that I can think of, is too loud and quite obnoxious; really causing a person to want to plug their ears rather than listen to him any longer. He yells throughout most of the picture and his character is simply to dim-witted to be believable.Overall I was really let down by this film. Don't see it unless you like absurd, dumb, not very funny comedies.