Moviecut—The Ballad of Josie

source: The Ballad of Josie

The Ballad of Josie

What was she thinking making a western in the late 60s. Boring and pointless story. This was meant for the big screen? Bonanza had more interesting storylines.

Today I have seen again this kind of a western comedy after several years. Now, after watching much more bad movies like this, I found this star-vehicle not funny. Sooner embarrassing, for example the scene when Miss Day is disturbing a meeting of the cattlemen. She comes in and drinks two brandy to demonstrate that she is hardboiled like George Kennedy. Or Peter Graves, off course. Oh boy, after five minutes she is completely drunken, just by two glasses of liquor. So we see, and Doris too: It's a man's world, and women have to respect men's opinion, shut up, wear skirts and kiss at last a big strong, guy like Peter Graves. Long winded, unfunny, boring, without any surprising scenes or comical dialogues: director Andrew V. McLaglen put on better movies, for example "McLintock!" or the great and outstanding pacifistic civil-war-western "Shenandoah". Don't waste your time!

I can now say I have seen EVERY Doris Day movie she ever made. I was in no rush to see THE BALLAD OF JOSIE because of the generally bad reviews. (And the snide Women's Lib jabs here are very unfair and wrong-headed!) So on a VERY rainy evening when it appeared on cable, I thought I'd give it a go. It started off slow with a seemingly endless eulogy of Doris's no-good husband by Andy Devine, but it took off after that. Certainly not one of her better films, but absolutely not her worst (CAPRICE and STARLIFT are tied for that "honor"). but she is really very good -- as usual. I rooted for her/Josie every step of the way. I recommend it -- especially since the tide has changed in the past 50+ years and viewers will see some fresh topicality in it in 2019.

It is a shame that the writing is so poor, with just a little bit of work this could have been a very good movie. The supporting cast was very strong and went out of there way to do the best they could but the lines were very poor. It was a Doris Day comedy so one doesn't expect a deep movie but with the cast they had , with a little bit of work it could have been a very cute good Doris Day film. However, it turned out to be one of her poorer films. I would love to ask the writers the reason they turned out such sloppy work, they are professionals and I know they put the time in. I am sure they know who the actors are and wonder why they felt they could do such a poor job here.

This was a great western. Doris did a wonderful job as a widow in a man's world trying to take a stand. All the veteran actors supporting her in a strong story made it easy to watch. Peter Graves was a handsome well turned out leading man. As always Doris made the movie work and she was beautiful.

A light hearted comedy based on both the range wars of the 1800's and the eternal battle between man and woman. If you're nostalgic for movies without a moral or a lesson, no violence and just plain fun, then this oldie but goo die is for you. Doris Day comes across as a spunky but humorous woman, trying to make her way in a man's world, and her antics are at times, almost classic slapstick. Peter Graves and George Kennedy offer wonderful foils against Doris Day, and even William Talman gets into the mood with more than a few bright quips. The characters of Klugg and Bratsch afford their own dry humor as they sit, observe and bet and comment on the activities of the other characters. The tone of the movie itself is upbeat and fun, and if you like light hearted family fare, then you could do a lot worse than spending an evening with this older flick.

Josie tackles the west in the time before women had a say. It's a good and fun movie.