There's a lot of fun in this movie, including players Walter Brennan, Buddy Ebsen, Lesley Ann Warren, and a very early appearance by Goldie Hawn, and a fine concluding musical number. However the pacing is erratic -- caused, no doubt, from its initial expansion from something intended from the Disney TV show to a theatrical release, then extensive cutting, reportedly because the management of Radio City Music Hall insisted it be cut by a third; camerawork that suggested extensive cribbing from THE SOUND OF MUSIC; and a libretto by the usually delightful Sherman twins that sounds like they were largely cribbing from OKLAHOMA! Only two or three of their songs are fist-rate, and the rest are carried by charm and orchestration. Walt Disney's death fifteen months before its release couldn't have helped.
The story centers around the family of Buddy Ebsen and Janet Blair, who pull up stakes to move to the Dakotas during the election of 1888, while the territories were applying for statehood. Considering the bitterness of the election -- if you think 2016 was bad, you have no idea! -- it's a sweet-tempered affair, more a fable than a serious story.
The story centers around the family of Buddy Ebsen and Janet Blair, who pull up stakes to move to the Dakotas during the election of 1888, while the territories were applying for statehood. Considering the bitterness of the election -- if you think 2016 was bad, you have no idea! -- it's a sweet-tempered affair, more a fable than a serious story.