As Good As It Gets

A Masterpiece!

A different way of telling a story

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

When you have as leads scene stealers like Frank Morgan and Guy Kibbee in the leads of a film it makes viewing something like Henry Goes Arizona a must. Frank Morgan is in the title role. Morgan is an unemployed old actor who gets word that his brother died and left him his Arizona ranch and a niece he never knew about, Virginia Weidler. But upon getting there the place is in hock with liens for back taxes and run by the crooked foreman Douglas Fowley for his own nefarious purposes and those of his real boss crooked lawyer Porter Hall.Guy Kibbee is the avuncular town judge, sympathetic to Morgan and Weidler and helps when he can. Add to that Slim Summerville as the sheriff with some interesting ideas concerning penology and you have a dream film for character actors. I always like it when occasionally the big studios like MGM do not cast their leads and allow their character players to strut their stuff in their own. Morgan, Kibbee, Summerville, and Porter Hall. That is one great quadrifecta.

If you enjoy the performances of character actor Frank Morgan (the wizard in "The Wizard Of Oz") you'll enjoy this short (a little over an hour) B film. Morgan plays an easterner who inherits a ranch in Arizona, where they plan to cheat him out of his property...by killing him if necessary (just as they did the previous owner...his half-brother). Sounds pretty serious, but it's done for laughs. Morgan is at his best playing the rather cowardly easterner.You'll recognize a few cast members, though you may only be able to put a name to Guy Kibbee. Delightful, as always, is child actress Virginia Weidler.The film is pleasantly funny, and worth a watch.

I saw this movie recently on Turner and i enjoyed it very much. Frank Morgan was a talented actor and here he is at his best. The actress who played the little girl was truly great, a gifted talent.There are some funny scenes like the one where Morgan tries to mount a horse by himself. After many tries he rides off barely hanging on. I think i smiled the most at this silly part. Still, the film is more of a character driven comedy that is mostly sweet and sentimental rather than hilarious. It reminded me somewhat of an episode of the Andy Griffith show. Another funny bit that has the sheriff and a prisoner sort of breaking out of jail together was very much like Barney and Otis doing their thing. This one is short and doesn't take time for adding a romantic interest for Morgan's character but that really wasn't necessary. This film was pretty well written but the cast make the movie. Guy Kibbee also does a fine job as a drunken but good intentioned lawyer. Overall a delightful old movie and for me, an enjoyable time spent watching. 1939 was certainly a great year for Hollywood!!

This film is just pure delight. If you want a serious flick on the world's problems, this isn't one of them. Half of it doesn't even make sense, which is a great part of its easy charm. Is this really Arizona in 1939, or did the director even bother checking out the place? It really doesn't matter. If Frank Morgan was half as nice a man in real life as he is in this picture, then I wish I had known him. Young Virginia Weidler is a delight. Morgan's comedic timing ought to be studied in film schools. He can move from yes to no and back to yes on a dime. The first scenes in the film when, as an out of work actor, he's offered a vaudeville job as the target of a drunken sharpshooter, is a masterpiece of fast dialog and twisting body language. Nobody ever dithered like Frank Morgan. Thanks to TCM for showing it and don't miss it the next time.