TownRootGuy And Eastwood belting out sappy love songs is an 11! This is a must see show. It has outstanding tunes, a great cast AND you will shake with laughter in your golden calf, ankle, thigh and upper half.If you're looking for something different, here it is. I mean, here it is! It's really all about the soundtrack for me but you have to see the show at least once. I can watch this every year but I can listen to the soundtrack daily.

russellalancampbell The film has its detractors because of its running time and the quality of the singing from non-singing actors such as Eastwood and Marvin. Nevertheless, I always find a lot to enjoy when I watch the film. Strangely, when I saw the stage version of PYW, I was quite bored by the story and the songs which were sung by "better" voices but with a lot less character. I am sure Josh Logan knew that Lee Marvin's voice was not the note perfect baritone expected in a stage performance but it was the voice of a dishevelled and disillusioned yet crustily resilient gold prospector of the Californian gold rush.I love Marvin's work in virtually every film he did - although I think at times he hammed it up just a little too much in this film. For most of PYW though, his comic timing is perfect and his wryly philosophical "arias" are funny with the ring of a human truth.Perhaps my enjoyment of PYW is increased by my interest in gold rushes. Many of the key elements of gold fields life and gold diggers although perhaps not faithfully reproduced are nevertheless explored. Solid citizens like Eastwood's Pardner are transformed against their better judgement by gold fever into opportunistic and greedy scramblers for gold. Egalitarianism of the gold fields. People from all backgrounds and nations lived together as equals - except for the Chinese who were always the outsiders on the field. Women were scarce and men did come from miles away just to see a woman. Men often fainted at the sight of a woman on the fields. Who wouldn't have walked a mile or two to see Jean Seberg? And, of course, prostitution flourished.I am still thrilled at the moment that Harve Presnell steps up into frame and hits the line "Way out west.." Logan was right to get a real singer to do the one song that truly needed a powerful voice. The drama and pathos of the song is helped by the chorus of miners dolefully singing as the rain and wind exacerbates their alienation from the comforts of home and of female companionship. "They Call the Wind Mariah" in this film is a gem of sound and vision.I also love the scene in which Ben attempts to corrupt Horton, the young newcomer from a pious apple farming family, who unexpectedly and hilariously takes to drinking, cigar smoking and finally sex like a duck to water.Paint Your Wagon is not a classic but it is fun and has some excellent moments. Enjoy the good parts and try to forgive some of its excesses.

David Allen "Paint Your Wagon" (1968) was the last major movie to depict pioneer Westerners as heroes....and despised by the Left for that reason.It was one of two big budget movies of the 1960's made when glorification of the pioneers and the Old West became "socially and politically" "incorrect" according to the lights of the political and social left which dominated the 60's, and decreed social and cultural standards for at least the next 50 years (to the present time...this is written in 2013).The other famous, well done, big budget movie where the main characters were clean cut heroes was "How The West Was Won" (1962)."Paint Your Wagon" (1968) is an excellent movie, well done by any standards usually applied to movies artistically.The movie experimented, successfully, with non-singers singing main songs the way normal people with adequate, but not trained or "performance" voices usually sing.Alan Jay Lerner, lyricist, screenplay writer, and producer of the movie had good luck with "non-singers" in lead roles performing songs in MY FAIR LADY (1956) when Rex Harrison was hired for the stage version of that show, and won a Best Actor Academy Award for the movie version in 1964."Throaty" singing which isn't "even" is NOT necessarily bad singing, and MY FAIR LADY (1956) proved that. "Paint Your Wagon" (1968) singing is OK, enjoyable, and advances the story, perhaps better than show stopping vocalizing of the operatic "Howard Keel" variety.Alan Jay Lerner was the guiding force behind this much maligned movie.He was a great artist, and the "Paint Your Wagon" (1968) movie shows that.Attacks on the movie, and defamation of it made retrospectively are not justified.The visual part of it was shot in Oregon, and it is breathtaking.The story about unequipped, uneducated pioneers trying (and failing) to set up a Utopian place for themselves mirrored the 60's and efforts and ultimate failures of the counterculture's efforts to "do something different." The 60's were not a complete failure in all ways, and at all times. Some of it worked, for a while.Same is true in the setting and with the people shown in the well acted, well scripted "Paint Your Wagon" (1968) movie.It was a big budget "road show" movie first shown in limited "road show" movie house venues in big cities in late 1968, then later released in the normal way to normal theaters.Many other "road show" movies also didn't do well (or as well as hoped....not the same thing as "didn't do well") during this period.The times, they were a changing....at high speed, and the world was never the same again when the dust lifted.The America which entered the 1960's was not the same as the America which entered the 1970's...... and the profound changes over the 10 years between 1960 and 1970 probably exceeded those which took place over any other decade of USA history. For better or for worse, the decade really was a time of profound revolution which disowned important values of the past. All this affected the movies, and the way movies like "Paint Your Wagon" (1968) were treated and assessed by movie historians.Revisionist history written by Left sympathetic social historians defamed it, accused it of being a famous failure.But it wasn't and isn't.It was put together by one of the performing arts giants of the 20th century...Alan Jay Lerner.The main actors were among the most important movie stars of the century....the two male leads were both Academy Award winners (Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood).Lead actress Jean Seberg was a gifted actress....and was good in this movie.The technical part of the movie, the photography, the editing, the sound presentation, the direction........all were and are good.Like Citizen Kane (1941), "Paint Your Wagon" (1968) was a good movie not honored by movie historians for decades........The reasons have little to do with it's actual merit as a film and work of cinematic art.See it often! You won't regret it.----------- Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor.

TheLittleSongbird I love musicals, but I honestly didn't know what to make of this film. Out of the Joshua Logan-directed musical movies, this film is my least favourite. It does have some nice photography, costumes and sets, and the score and songs are very pleasant and hummable. Out of the cast, Ray Walston and Harve Presnell(who actually has the best songs) come off best, and the chorale work directed by Roger Wagner is some of the finest ever heard in a musical. However, Joshua Logan's direction didn't work, I personally found it too stage-bound and smug. Also the dialogue doesn't convince, the film is too long and the story is forgettable and has one too many silly moments. The acting is nothing special, and while the singing isn't amazing it was passable. Lee Marvin's rendition of Wandrin' Star is listenable, and some of his comedy is a nice touch. Wasn't sure about Clint Eastwood though, I was perplexed at his casting initially and after hearing his singing my opinion hasn't changed. In conclusion, if I had to make an honest summary of this film, I would say worth watching for the music, chorale work and production values if little else. 5/10 Bethany Cox