Paint Your Wagon has often been sited as an example of a big-budget film that lost its way. The problem for the film was that it was released at a time that the traditional Hollywood musical was dying. Motion pictures such as Bonnie and Clyde and Midnight Cowboy were ushering in the age of dramatic realism. However, with the film's release now more than forty years in the past, it holds up amazingly well and is thoroughly entertaining.
The film follows the life of two gold mining partners (Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood) who find themselves in love with the same woman (Jean Seberg). The twist is that she is in love with both men. The solution is that Seberg's character marries and lives with both of them. This unusual family is made possible by the fact that they find themselves in a rough gold mining camp in the California wilderness. Eventually, the tri-marriage breaks down due to a variety of circumstances and one of the husband leaves and one stays.
The often-dismissed production values of the film now look amazing. Alan Jay Lerner shot much of the film outside of Baker City, Oregon in the wilderness. The town, No Name City, was recreated to scale. Indeed, no studio would green-light this kind of big-budget musical film today. One of the things that make it so special is that a modern audience is seeing something that could not be produced in the present.
Along with the production values, the music is exceptional. There are no throw-away songs, and against the backdrop of the Oregon wilderness they come alive. When it was released Marvin's and Eastwood's voices were ridiculed. Once again, the passing of time has led to audiences that don't expect the perfect pitch-and-tone musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Their voices sound like that of a couple of gold miner's.
No matter the age group, this is a film that is worth seeing. Undoubtedly it will be a pleasant surprise for young and old.
The film follows the life of two gold mining partners (Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood) who find themselves in love with the same woman (Jean Seberg). The twist is that she is in love with both men. The solution is that Seberg's character marries and lives with both of them. This unusual family is made possible by the fact that they find themselves in a rough gold mining camp in the California wilderness. Eventually, the tri-marriage breaks down due to a variety of circumstances and one of the husband leaves and one stays.
The often-dismissed production values of the film now look amazing. Alan Jay Lerner shot much of the film outside of Baker City, Oregon in the wilderness. The town, No Name City, was recreated to scale. Indeed, no studio would green-light this kind of big-budget musical film today. One of the things that make it so special is that a modern audience is seeing something that could not be produced in the present.
Along with the production values, the music is exceptional. There are no throw-away songs, and against the backdrop of the Oregon wilderness they come alive. When it was released Marvin's and Eastwood's voices were ridiculed. Once again, the passing of time has led to audiences that don't expect the perfect pitch-and-tone musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Their voices sound like that of a couple of gold miner's.
No matter the age group, this is a film that is worth seeing. Undoubtedly it will be a pleasant surprise for young and old.