Review of The Cowboy and the Lady

An unusual light romantic comedy, in which a sheltered, bored rich girl(Merle Oberon as Mary) becomes enamored of a rodeo rider from a Montana ranch(Gary Cooper, as Stretch), who happens to be staying in Palm Beach for a few days of rodeoing. Its implausibility serves as the basis for a situation comedy. Mary gets herself in hot water claiming she's a house maid, like her 2 friends, who are bona fide maids in her house. For this outing, they are also her dating coaches and chaperons. Furthermore, as instructed, she thinks up a hard luck story to gain his sympathy. Namely, she moved away from her family because her shiftless drunk father often beat her. Nonetheless, she supports her 4 younger sisters with her maid job. She figured she could get away with this big fib, since probably she wouldn't ever see her date again. But, it comes back to haunt her, because soon she would be married to this handsome cowboy, and he definitely expected his wife to be a 'work horse', not a 'show horse'. Furthermore, she wanted to keep her impulsive marriage a secrete from her father as long as possible, as she knew he wouldn't go for a common cowboy as a son-in-law, which also might stir up some negative press just when he was running for president. Furthermore, she now had conflicting demands on her, to serve as hostess for her father's political cronies, or to accompany her new husband to his ranch in Montana, so he can finish building their house and get back to his cowboying. She decides he father's needs come first, thus she returned from Galveston to Palm Beach 'for a few days', which turns into a week or so. Coop gets impatient. He travels to Mary's mansion, and barges in at just the wrong time, when the guests are eating with Mary and her father. Coop quickly surmises that Mary is no maid, but rather part of a rich family. He now saw her as a 'show horse', which he despised. He told the VIPs what he thought of them, as a class, sarcastically inviting them to come to his ranch and see how 'real people' treated each other. He then takes a train to his ranch. But, Mary, her father, and Uncle Hannibal took an early flight to his ranch, thus preceding him, making themselves comfortable in Ma Hawkins' ranch house. Coop was stunned to hear Mary's father had suddenly withdrawn as a candidate, deciding Mary's happiness was more important, and Coop's take on life was the better one. Also, Mary was already learning to cook like Ma, baking Coop's favorite cake.

Both Patsy and Mabel were sometimes added to films to provide some light comedy as quirky women....Harry Davenport, as Uncle Hannibal, provided some humor, as well as sage advice and a shoulder for Mary to cry on. He was her first 'date' in quite a while, at age 72! Yes, she seemed best suited to older men....Emma Dunn, as Ma Hamilton, provides a model for what Coop hopes Mary will become: a work horse. She could be quite bossy if you were in her way, or didn't do things her way: a serious, yet also humorous, bundle of energy....Walter Brennan and Fuzzy Knight were Coop's rodeo and ranch partners. Fuzzy also sang a bit(as did Coop).

I haven't mentioned that Merle and Coop provide some physical humor in getting used to city or ranch life. The most notable example occurs when Coop was rehearsing where we wanted various pieces of furniture in his future house. He pretends he's speaking to Mary, and sitting in her chair. Eventually, the onlookers come in and pretend they are sitting in imaginary chairs, until Ma Hawkins happens along and breaks up the spell.

See this moderately interesting film on YouTube.