The Gal Who Took the West (1949)

Charles Coburn is Gen. O’Hara, who has built an opera house to bring some culture to the Arizona empire he’s created.

Next step: Hiring an opera singer at the handsome fee of $10,000 to anoint that opera house.

Gen. O’Hara is expecting a heavyset older woman to arrive from the East. After all, isn’t that what all opera singers look like?

Instead, he winds up with a fetching beauty named Lillian Marlowe (Yvonne De Carlo). And winds up wishing he’d ordered a baritone.

Lillian immediately turns the heads of both of Gen. O’Hara’s already feuding grandsons, Lee (Scott Brady) and Grant (John Russell).

And after extending so much energy for so many years to keep them from harming one another, he now fears Lillian will be the spark that ignites the feud beyond all control.

Lillian’s not so worried. A woman with multiple suitors is always in control, she assures the general.

But these feuding cousins are more difficult to control than even she suspects.

Review:

A fun little comedy Western told flashback style as a reporter named Andrews researches the O’Hara family history.

And in a neat device, three old-timers tell three different tales of Lillian’s arrival in town, one portraying her as a frail beauty, one as a woman with a drinking problem and one as a schemer after the O’Hara fortune.

The film benefits from splendid performances from Charles Coburn as the elder O’Hara and De Carlo as the saloon singer who passes herself off as an opera star.

The latter impresses in a pair of song and dance numbers, with performances of “Clancy Lowered the Boom” and “Frankie and Johnny.”

The ending is a bit weak. But getting there is lots of fun.

Directed by:
Frederick De Cordova

Cast:
Yvonne DeCarlo … Lily Muldoon
Charles Coburn … Gen. O’Hara
Scott Brady … Lee O’Hara
John Russell … Grant O’Hara
Mryna Dell .. Nancy
John Litel … Col. Luther Logan
James Todd … Douglas Andrews
Edward Earle … Nolan
James Mullican … Hawley (elderly)
Robert R. Stephenson … Ted
Houseley Stevenson … Ted (elderly)
Robin Short … Bartender
Russell Simpson … Bartender (elderly)
John Litel … Col. Logan
James Todd … Douglas Andrews

Runtime: 84 min.

Memorable lines:

Old timer: “The O’Hara’s, you say? Knew them like I knew the underwear I wore for 30 years.”

Gen. O’Hara: “Ms. Marlowe, I’m ordering you …”
Lil: “You’ll find out, general, that you can’t order love around.”

Gen. O’Hara: “I should have been dead years ago. But something always seems to be coming up between thoe two (Lee and Grant). I just can’t afford the luxury of dying.”

Gen. O’Hara, after both feuding cousins fall for the opera singer he brings to town: “Somehow, I wish I had sent for a baritone.”

Lily: “What do you suggest I do?”
Gen. O’Hara: “Hope for the best, expect the worst and settle for anything in between.”

Grant: “This is my side of the town and I told you to stay out of it.”
Lee: “You talk so much, I can’t remember half of what you say.”

Gen. O’Hara, upon Lillian’s suggestion that she attempt to control the cousins: “Ms. Marlowe, I don’t know what sort of men you’ve been dealing with in the East, or what success you’ve had with these methods …
Lillian: “Men are men, general, north, south, east or west.”
O’Hara: “I appreciate your attempt to help. But I give you my word that if either of my grandsons agrees to conduct himself according to rules layed down by any girl, they won’t have to kill each other, I’ll do it for them.”

Myrna Dell as Nancy, the saloon singer who works for Grant O’Hara in The Gal Who Took the West (1949)

Yvonne De Carlo as Lillian Marlowe, threatening to undress and feign assault in The Gal Who Took the West (1949)

John Litel as Col. Luther Logan works with Gen. O’Hara (Charles Coburn) to keep the peace in The Gal Who Took the West (1949)

John Russell as Grant O’Hara and Scott Brady as Lee O’Hara, feuding cousins vying for the same gal in The Gal Who Took the West (1949)