Good start, but then it gets ruined

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This "It Happened One Night" on wheels suffers from the casting of the comparatively dull James Ellison opposite the hitting-sparks-on-all- cylinders Lucille Ball in her first number one leading star role at RKO. Ellison looks a bit like Joel McCrea. In fact, McCrea would actually have made the ideal leading man for this picture. He is not only so much more charismatic but has exactly the right screen personality that would have paired perfectly with Lucy's. On the other hand, Ellison is always outclassed. We know how the picture is sure to end almost right from the start. The script has no suspense. True, it could have been made a good deal more amusing if the writers had been game to tackle the plot in a more satiric fashion. The two lead characters needed to be far more personable and individual, but still satiric and even exotic. But for some reason, while Lucy Ball has the right go-for-it approach, Ellison and the rest of the cast, plus the writers and director Garson Kanin keep holding back and playing safe. Available on an excellent Warner Archive DVD.

This odd little movie sets out to prove that any white American male, randomly selected off the street, can easily outsmart a team consisting of a foreigner, a woman and a black person.Lucille Ball's recently-deceased father insists, in his will, that she must marry a "plain American" to inherit his fortune. So she offers money to various "plain American" men on the street in return for agreeing to marry her, and finally one accepts. After she marries the man, Ball sets off for Reno in the company of the foreign husband she really wants to marry and her black "yowza, ma'am" chauffeur, to get a divorce and collect her father's inheritance. But our smug and somewhat smarmy "plain American" blocks her at every turn, which includes forcibly putting her over his shoulder and kidnapping her, soaking her with a hose, and locking her in a trailer while driving recklessly through rough terrain, until she flees in panic and is nearly raped by two passers-by. Yeah, quite a laugh riot, all right.But on the plus side, being saved from a near-rape seems to cause Lucille Ball to fall in love with the "plain American." So there you go.The phrase "mighty white of you" makes its appearance just minutes into the film, and a string of "yowzas" emerge from the black guy a little bit later. While I promise you I'm in no way a member of the Politically Correct squad, the whole movie made me cringe, and really prevented any enjoyment I may have gotten from it. Were things that much different in 1938? Maybe so, but I'm glad we've moved to where we are now.

Rich girl Lucille Ball pulls up in her huge car alongside a WPA ditch-digging project. She offers handsome laborer James Ellison $1000 to marry her, after which she immediately ditches him and goes off to a ritzy party. Lucy is actually kind of obnoxious….will she learn her lesson before the end of the picture? Not a lot of surprises in this mild comedy, but Lucy is fun to watch, Ellison is fine as the dogged and resourceful leading man, and Lee Bowman is hilarious as Lucy's goofy-accented South American fiancé.We learn early on that Lucy's father's will requires her to marry a "plain American"—thus her rush to marry and get her money. When Ellison figures out that she's married him only to quickly divorce him, he vows to divorce her first, and from there on it's a race to Reno.Besides its human cast, the picture stars a dog named Mike in a funny role, and also a little streamlined camper-trailer that Ellison pulls behind his car. The camper is at the center of much of the film's action, including a scene where Lucy sets it on fire in a harebrained attempt to escape.No classic, I guess, but it's fast-paced and and has some solid laughs. --Oh, and a clever ending featuring a preacher and family piling into the car....

heiress lucille ball has to marry a 'plain American' to get her inheritance. already engaged to fortune hunter boyfriend lee bowman(is he really a count, who knows)she engages road worker james ellison, who is prepared to marry her for a certain summe of money...not an unusual plot for a 30's screwball comedy..one of few early films with lucille ball that i saw, i didn't expect a laughing riot (never liked her later TV persona much)but i was pleasantly surprised by this one.the plot is funny and has a good tempo, lucille gives a good performance as an hysterical heiress, james ellison is a delight(never noticed him in any other movies though)and overall this movie amused me enough to catch it a second time..(which isn't that easy since its not commercially available) recommended