Tammy and the Bachelor

This film (not reviewed on rottentomatoes.com) apparently launched Debbie Reynolds's career. I've seen her in several great movies that came out previous to it, though, including Susan Slept Here and The Tender Trap. I certainly prefer the former of these to the latter, but both seemed in a similar vein with less attractive leading men.

Leslie Nielsen's a babe. I say that with the utmost respect for his extensive and widely varied career, and despite (maybe because of?) his amusing role in the Sci-Fi/Shakespearean Forbidden Planet (1957, a year AFTER Tammy and the Bachelor, according to IMDB, but 1956, same year, according to rottentomatoes (who, incidentally, give Forbidden Planet a shocking 95%)), seen unfortunately as a precursor to Star Trek's Captain Kirk. Oddly, both actors (Nielsen and Shatner) seem to have turned to comedy in their advancing years.

I think the only real smudge I must give this movie comes from its musical leanings. After having seen Songcatcher (Aidan Quinn, Emmy Rossum, Janet McTeer), Debbie Reynolds's primitive attempts at the sophisticated sounds of white, southern singing seems to move in correct directions, but still land squarely on popular music of the period. Where Emmy Rossum's voice catches the essence of Appalacian folk singing, Debbie Reynolds's voice emerges sounding well-trained and ready for an LP, rather than raw, the way it would sound if she'd spent her first seventeen years practically alone on a houseboat near Louisiana. Minus points for lack of realism.

The character Tammy is also disturbingly young. Her emotional development, though well-founded, doesn't seem to have progressed far enough for her to react any better than a ten-year-old, though she does take her few social gaffes in a very stable stride. That her beau currently sees a woman who appears nearer thirty-five, does nothing to alleviate the slight ick factor brought on by the age difference. I say this as someone who can watch Harold and Maude without blinking, so, you know, I'm going to lose this particular point.

See the movie, if you like nostalgia. It's cute. It's classic. It ends well.

The sequel, Tammy and the Doctor, stars Sandra Dee and Peter Fonda. It's in my queue for next weekend, so we'll see how that goes. Like most sequels, I expect little of it.