Mae West is the lovely and curvy Flower Belle Lee, booted out of the town of Little Bend for her dalliance with a masked bandit.
On the train bound for the West, Flower Belle turns the head of Cuthbert Twillie (W.C. Fields). She takes one looks at his satchel full of money and senses a chance for riches and regained respectability.
After convincing a man pretending to be a preacher to marry them, Flower Belle lands in Greasewood City with her new husband.
She has no intention of allowing him to consummate their marriage, especially after discovering the money in that satchel isn’t real.
But that won’t stop him from trying, even as Flower Belle flirts with local newspaper editor Wayne Carter (Dick Foran), business tycoon Jeff Badger (Joseph Calleia), plus the masked bandit whenever he summons.
Then town leaders pin a sheriff’s badge on Twillie, which isn’t exactly the badge of honor one would imagine.
After all, Greasewood City sheriffs have a very short life span. And that’s even when they don’t dress up like a masked bandit to win a woman’s affections.
Mae West as Flower Belle Lee, sensing a new opportunity aboard a westbound train in My Little Chickadee (1940)
W.C. Fields as Cuthbert Twillie, eager to make an impression on lovely Flower Belle Lee in My Little Chickadee (1940)
Review:
So-so Western comedy with the focus less on wild west action than the trademark comedy of the two stars.
All these years later, West comes off the best, even at age 47, batting her eyes and spouting double-entendres in that sultry voice of hers.
It’s one of her kisses that reveals the identity of the masked bandit. She grabs six-shooters on a pair of occasions to restore order.
And, in one of the film’s best scenes, she gets all the misbehaving schoolboys to sit up and pay attention when she struts into the classroom.
Margaret Hamilton is also a hoot, nearly stealing the show as the nosy Mrs. Gideon. The year before, she played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
The stars co-wrote the script, but didn’t get along. In AMC’s introduction to the movie, it’s said Edward Cline felt more like a referee than a director during filming.
This marked the first pairing of Fields and West on film and it would never happen again.
Joseph Calleia as Jeff Badger, aka the masked bandit, in My Little Chickadee (1940)
Dick Foran as Wayne Carter, the newspaper editor who believes in the future of Greasewood City in My Little Chickadee (1940)
Directed by:
Edward F. Cline
Cast:
Mae West … Flower Belle Lee
W.C. Fields … Cuthbert Twillie
Joseph Calleia … Jeff Badger
Dick Foran … Wayne Carter
Ruth Donnelly … Aunt Lou
Margaret Hamilton … Mrs. Gideon
Donald Meek … Amos Budge
Fuzzy Knight … Cousin Zeb
Willard Robertson … Uncle John
George Moran … Milton
Fay Adler … Mrs. “Pygmy” Allen
Also with: Jackie Searl, Gene Austin, Russell Hall, Otto Heimel
Runtime: 82 min.
Margaret Hamilton as Mrs. Gideon, offering up her opinion yet again in My Little Chickadee (1940)
Donald Meek as Amos Budget, the pretend preacher who marries the stars in My Little Chickadee (1940)
Memorable lines:
Judge: “Young lady, are you showing contempt for this court?”
Flower Belle Lee: “No. I’m trying my best to hide it.”
Flower Belle Lee, after examining Cuthberg’s business card: “Novelties and notions? What kind of notions you got?”
Cuthbert Twillie: “You’d be surprised. Some are old. Some are new.”
Flower Belle Lee to Cuthbert: “I’ll ask the questions. You find the answers.”
Jeff Badger: “Oh, you’re from Chicago?”
Flower Belle Lee: “Yeah, every bit of me.”
Flower Belle Lee to Wayne Carter: “Oh, I see, you’re a man of ideals. I guess I better go, while you still got ’em.”
Wayne Carter: “Aren’t you forgetting you’re married?”
Flower Belle: “I’m doing my best.”
Cuthbert Twillie: “A thing worth having is worth cheating for.”
Joseph Calleia as Jeff Badger, under the spell of Flower Belle Lee (Mae West) in My Little Chickadee (1940)
George Moran as Milton, Twillie’s Indian companion in My Little Chickadee (1940)
Fay Adler as Mrs. ‘Pygmy’ Allen, the woman who can’t hold her liquor in My Little Chickadee (1940)
W.C. Fields as Cuthbert Twillie, tipping his hat like the gentleman he isn’t in My Little Chickadee (1940)
Mae West as Flower Belle Lee, turning heads with her curves and her flirting in My Little Chickadee (1940)
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