Al Capp's yokel comic strip comes to the screen via the Broadway musical hit, keeping most of the stage talent intact, with Dee Dee Wood 'adapting' Michael Kidd's original choreography (one of the strangest movie credits I've seen). The hill-folk who live in Dogpatch, apparently the most useless city in the U.S.A., don't seem to fret much after the governor arrives to say their town has been selected as the next Atom Bomb test site; no, they're all revved up over Sadie Hawkins Day, when the single gals get their pick of the bachelor men. Quick-thinking "Mammy" Yokum (Billie Hayes, who has enough energy for three people and continually points to the heavens) hopes to thwart the politicos by putting Dogpatch on the map with her homemade muscle-growing tonic, an orange-colored elixir which raises the interest of the dastardly General Bullmoose. Elaborate production design (shot completely on Paramount's sound stages) almost makes up for the lack of good songs and the ragtag story, which drags on far too long. The performances are variable, with Stubby Kaye and Bern Hoffman doing the best work (Hoffman's Earthquake McGoon is treated rather badly by his own people, yet he appears to be the most efficient feller in the bunch!). Leslie Parrish is a lovely Daisy Mae, though she never gets a strong scene, while Hayes and Joe E. Marks do everything but the Rumba as the Yokums. Not bad by any means, yet the lack of funny tunes, amusing patter and a really tasty story makes the film only a sub-par musical entry. ** from ****
Review of Li'l Abner
