Son of Paleface (1952)

Bob Hope plays Junior Potter, the Harvard-educated son of “Painless” Peter Potter, the renowned Indian fighter introduced to viewers in the 1948 film, “The Paleface.”

Well, “Painless” has passed on, and Junior heads West to claim his inheritance, supposedly a chest full of gold. Only when he rides into Sawbuck Pass in his horseless carriage, he finds the chest his daddy left behind is empty and lots of folks around town who want the money his daddy owed them.

He also finds a pretty saloon owner named Mike (Jane Russell), who happens to be the richest gal in town. He figures if he hooks up with her, he’ll be able to pay off the debts and have a little fun in the process.

What he doesn’t know is that Mike earned her small fortune robbing stagecoaches as the Black Torch. And if she’s interested in him, it’s because of the gold everyone this he’s inherited.

Meanwhile, a federal agent (Roy Rogers) has been sent West to stop the thievery. And, just for good measure, the local Indians are after the Son of Paleface for a wrong his daddy did to them many years prior.

They all converge in the ghost town of Sterling City, where Junior’s father might have stashed his gold, according to a note left in the hollow bottom of that chest.

Review:

The plot matters little. It merely helps string together the jokes that keep coming and coming in this sequel to the phenomenally successful 1948 film, “The Paleface,” which also starred Bob Hope and Jane Russell.

Director Frank Tashlin was a cartoonist at one point in his career, which explains the way some of the scenes are played. Among the best sight gags: Hope’s reaction when he takes a big swig of his daddy’s favorite drink at the Dirty Shame Saloon and the results when Mike catches him peeking at her through a keyhole while she’s bathing.

And, just like the original, this film ends with a delightful chase sequence as Jane and Bob flee the Indians in his horseless carriage. For gimmicks, Roy’s guitar doubles as a rifle and Jane’s Black Torch gang hides out underneath a bridge, in a cave they can only access when part of the structure drops down into a drawbridge of sorts.

Trigger — billed as the smartest horse in the movies in the opening credits — provides one of the film’s most memorable moments: The horse and Hope share a bed, and wrestle for the covers. There are couple catchy tunes, too, like “Buttons and Bows” and “What a Night for a Wing Ding.”

Jane looks especially curvy in her all-black outlaw attire. The cast also includes Bill Williams as her jealous lover, Paul Burns as “Painless'” old partner and Lloyd Corrigan as a snake-oil salesman and Roy’s undercover comrade.

Directed by:
Frank Tashlin

Cast:
Bob Hope … Junior Potter
Janes Russell … Mike Delroy
Roy Rogers … Roy Barton
Bill Williams … Kirk
Lloyd Corrigan … Doc Lovejoy
Paul Burns … Ebenezer Hawkins
Douglas Dumbrille … Sheriff McIntyre
Harry von Zell … Mr. Stoner
Iron Eyes Cody … Chief Yellow Cloud
William “Wee Willie” Davis … Blacksmith
Charles Cooley … Charley

Runtime: 95 min.

Songs:
“Buttons and Bows,” by Roy and Jane
“Four Legged Friend,” by Bob and Roy
“Wing-Ding Tonight,” by Bob and Jane
“Am I in Love,” from Bob and Jane
“California Rose,” by Roy

Memorable lines:

Junior Potter: “He (his father ‘Painless’ Potter) won the West. If he won it, he did it with loaded dice.”

Mike Delroy to a fellow gang member: “Don’t worry about Mr. Potter. As soon as I get him under a full moon, I’m empty his father’s chest.”

Mike Delroy: “My friends call me Mike.”
Potter: “That’s a pretty masculine handle for such a feminine pot of goodies. Mind if I take pot luck?”

Ebenezer Hawkins: “Don’t forget, this is the West, where men are men.”
Junior Potter: “That’s what she (Mike Delroy) likes about me — I’m a novelty.”