Moviecut—The Magnificent Dope

source: The Magnificent Dope

The Magnificent Dope

This movie contains some incredibly racist lines. It was obviously aimed at southern belief system. I wouldn't let my kids watch it. Lynn Bari makes remarks about Louise Beavers making a cake with her "lilly white hands". Louise Beavers basically says she can't read. Then during the actual party scene Don Ameche sings in a pseudo black voice. On the other side the movie does have some very fun scenes but some of the lines are not funny and unnecessary to the plot of the movie. The clothing in this movie is fabulous. Lyn Bari's outfits are quite fashionable. I don't think she ever looked better in a movie. Henry Fonda, Don Ameche and Everett Horton play their usual excellent comedic roles. Good for a quick laugh.

It will be evident, that any attentive viewer of this movie, will have a thoughtful review of their own past. Moreover, it will cause one to ponder on the concept, "Why have I been going the way that I have been." Slow Down !!! ... Take it easy. There are many people that are in such a rush to get somewhere that they will never get there. Some folks, run Smack-Dab into their destiny on the same road they use to get away from it.

SPOILERS Magnificent Dope is a fun caper. Claire (Lynn Bari) works for a newspaper, and they hold a contest to find the biggest failure. They find Tad Page (Henry Fonda), but he turns out to be more than they bargained for. They bring him back to New York, where Dwight (Don Ameche) wants to make use of him for his own evil purposes. Of course, things get wacky when they have to keep Tad from finding out to whom Claire is already engaged. You'll also see Edward Horton, (from all the Fractured Fairy Tales, and of course all those Fred Astaire films). Fun cast. Moves right along. It's quite predictable, but you'll have fun along the way. The main players had all been in the biz for many years when this was made, so everything falls right into place. Fonda had just won his Oscar for "Grapes of Wrath", so he was certainly a good choice to put in this one. Directed by Walter Lang, who had started in the silents. Lots of fun. The actors look like they are having a fun time too!

Yet he is, in this movie, a charming and sly country vs city tale. Fonda is the title character. He is chosen as a prime loser who can take Don Ameche's positive thinking course: If he can come through it, the cynical Ameche and his sidekicks reason, anyone can. And others will try. Edward Everett Horton is one of these sidekicks, as is Bari, his mink-wearing secretary. Fonda is from rural Vermont and teaches everyone in New York a thing or two himself. He wins over a famous financier, who promptly retires to enjoy life. He shows all and sundry how to relax. And he pines for Bari. It's a cute idea, which twists and turns several times before its ending. The premise resembles a far less cynical and cruel "Curtain Call" -- which is an infinitely better, less conflicted, movie.

Very clever comedy where Don Ameche taps Henry Fonda as the nation's biggest failure and lures him to New York where he will have him take his course on being assertive. Lynn Bari shed her usual image of a cunning, devious woman to play Ameche's secretary and fiancé who ultimately falls for the Fonda character. Fonda gives a good performance as the simple, kind person who believes in relaxation and the simpler things of life. The shenanigans that are pulled to prevent Fonda from learning about Ameche's relationship with Bari and coaxing him to remain in New York and take the course are well staged.

Here we have Henry Fonda playing a lazy guy who is happy to just drift through life. When he answers an advert that earns him $500 and puts him in touch with Don Ameche, we learn that Fonda's character is not someone you can change by arguing with them, but rather by showing them how they should live. It follows the pattern: tell me and I'll forget; show me and I'll remember; demonstrate and I'll buy. If you want to motivate people you cannot do it by arguing with them you have to show and demonstrate to them the right way to do things. We don't have enough role models in daily experience, but we have loads of people who want to change us by criticising us. It's a nice touch when Fonda sees a man eating dinner by himself and he goes over to offer friendship. Realistic you couldn't do that today, but it shows Fonda had his heart in the right place.

Peter Gibbons, meet Thadeus "call me Tad" Page. Selling life insurance may have been the 1940's equivalent of a cubicle job, but in any case Tad Page doesn't take to it much better than Peter Gibbons did in "Office Space", and they both appreciate fishing. Henry Fonda is the perfect personality for demonstrating the value of well-timed laziness. Don Ameche was either Alexander Graham Bell or a pleasant schemer in his films (until "Trading Places" at least) and his Dwight Dawson-ambitious-man-with-a-gimmick is nicely drawn here. I also appreciated the subtle manner in which the tune "Lazy Bones" was woven unobtrusively into the background during Fonda's scenes. Watch for it on TCM; worth your time.