So much average

One of my all time favorites.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Songs (all rendered by Burl Ives): "Way Down Yonder in the Paw-Paw Patch"; "I Wish I Were Single Again"; "A Little Stranger". Sound recording: Bernard Freericks and Harry M. Leonard. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Robert Bassler.Copyright 16 May 1948 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 9 June 1948. U.S. release: 20 April 1948. U.K. release: 21 February 1949. Australian release: 26 August 1948. Lengths: 8,166 feet, 90½ minutes (Australia); 89 minutes (U.S.A.); 85 minutes (U.K.).SYNOPSIS: Two Wyoming ranchers vie for honors at a trotting-race.NOTES: Clarke was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Color Cinematography (won by Joan of Arc). Green Grass of Wyoming is a sequel to Thunderhead, Son of Flicka (which itself is a sequel to My Friend Flicka).COMMENT: Third and final film in the Flicka series. Oddly enough, most of the main technicians from Thunderhead re-unite for this effort but this time the players are completely different. Even the Swedish man-of-all-work has been changed to an American Gus that will accommodate Burl Ives who is virtually repeating his characterization from Will James' Smoky (on which Bassler, King, Clarke and De Maggio also worked).There is a reason for the complete change of cast in that the McLaughlins are no longer the center of attention but are forced to share the limelight with two new characters played by Charles Coburn and Peggy Cummins. Just as well, for Master Arthur is no substitute for Roddy McDowall and even Lloyd Nolan fits indifferently into Preston Foster's shoes. Mr Ives, however, is a vastly more entertaining Gus - even if he has little to do in the action (his part in the climax is limited to a single camera set-up spliced into the proceedings at regular intervals). He does have two or three songs (wish there were more!) which he puts across with his usual delightful artistry.Charles Coburn plays what is virtually the lead role with ingratiating sympathy, but Peggy Cummins seems slightly ill-at-ease and miscast. She does her best, but her accent is all wrong too (even if the script does give her an Irish mother). Lloyd Nolan manages little more than to rattle off his lines but Will Wright is surprisingly effective in a much larger role than he is normally assigned. He does his own riding too - as does Coburn (except of course in the long shots of the race where it is skillfully doubled).Mr King's direction is a couple of notches above his usual pedestrian level, the locations are nothing short of breathtaking, and the film packs in more incident than Flicka and Thunderhead combined. The climactic race with its ingeniously suspenseful three heats is especially exciting (even if it does fall short of the thrilling conclusion of Home in Indiana}.Technical credits are Fox smooth. Mockridge has now mastered Alfred Newman's Flicka themes and although they are not as robustly delivered, they are more pleasantly and deftly handled than in Thunderhead. Which brings us to the one feature not mentioned till now: the horses. Animal and horse-lovers will find plenty to rejoice about. The picture even ends with an albino foal promising yet another sequel - although this did not eventuate. (Aside from the Flicka trilogy, the only other novel I have for Mrs Sture-Vasa is "The Catch Colt", published in 1978.)

A lovely film, you get happy seeing it, and it's easy going an. The two horses that have the lead roles in the movie are adorable beautiful (stallion is white, and the mare bang black). My personal benefit was Beaver Greenway (Charles Coburn) fine acting together with his granddaughter, and exceptionally adorable Carey Greenways (played by Peggy Cummins), which is absolutely phenomenal in the manner she treats his grandfather.This film will apparently be Marilyn Monroe's sixth film, where she will be one of the dancers in a brief scene in the middle of the movie, but I could not see her. For those who like horses, is a must movie to watch ;-)

When I see horses, I see either a form of transportation or wonder if they taste like beef. I do NOT get misty-eyed or attach any emotional importance to them. Now don't assume I am a jerk--a lot of guys just don't get all sentimental about horses. Had the main characters been dogs or perhaps cute little orphans, then I might have been more interested. The bottom line is that I don't love horses and the only reason I saw this film was because it had Charles Coburn in it. Now DON'T give me a negative rating just because I feel this way--many people aren't sentimental about them and so I am warning these types of people to stay away from the film.Now if you think about the wind blowing in your hair every time you see a horse or cry because you remember reading stories such as "Stormy" or "Misty of Chincoteague", then this movie is for you! You'll get a huge dose of beautiful horses and you'll get to see them running majestically in the Wyoming hills as well racing in the most exciting sport known to mankind, trotting!!! Wow. Horses,...lots and lots of beautiful horses!!Okay, now depending on which group you are in, the rest of the plot may or may not be very important. The film begins at the ranch where Charles Coburn and his lovely granddaughter live. Playing somewhat against type, Coburn is a surly drunk. The surliness is pure Coburn, but the drunk part is pretty unusual. And, in this case, he's particularly surly because his prize horse ran off with a wild horse (Thunderhead). Much of the movie, Coburn plots on putting a bullet in Thunderhead, but eventually he and the other renegade horses are caught and none of them are turned into dog food (yay).A more prominent plot that unfolds just a bit later is about a neighbor and their son's seemingly bone-headed decision to buy a new horse while he's away in the city. However, you know based on the type movie it is that this new and very spirited horse will one day prove itself--you just know it.I really don't want to discuss the plot much more--partly because I'd hate to spoil it and partly because I just don't feel like it (after all, I am not a horse movie fan). My only real reason for watching it was for Coburn and in hindsight, it wasn't worth it. This is especially true because towards the end, a very old and fat Coburn is entered in the biggest trotting race in the country (as a jockey, not as a horse) and this just seemed ridiculous! Now I must say that it really looked like Coburn was driving, so they did a good job of faking it, but just who would believe that a 71 year-old man who probably weighed close to 300 pounds would be a jockey?!?Regardless of the silliness of this casting decision, the movie is competently made--just not all that interesting unless you absolutely adore horses. At least the film was professionally made and I could respect its production values--unlike MISTY, which I think was made for a budget just over $49.95.

This is a sweet little film, in glorious technicolor, about kids and horses - a sequel to a sequel of "My Friend Flicka". but with a different cast. Robert Arthur is charming as the lead boy and Charles Coburn as his rival is excellent. But Peggy Cummins is wretched as the love interest - so saccharine! Lloyd Nolan is good as always, but Burl Ives is wasted (and sings a truly woeful song).But the humans don't matter much because the horses steal the show. A beautiful white stallion is the star and the glorious black mare he kidnaps is the leading lady. Together they gallop through magnificent mountain scenery like salt and pepper against the green. The scene where he seduces her is intensely erotic, and when she becomes stuck in a bog their distress is completely believable. How they got the horses to do the things they do I'll never know (and I pray it was not cruel), but they are superb.