Professional pollster Pete Marshall gets more than he bargained for when he heads deep into the Ozarks to investigate the disappearances of several of his colleagues.Professional pollster Pete Marshall gets more than he bargained for when he heads deep into the Ozarks to investigate the disappearances of several of his colleagues.Professional pollster Pete Marshall gets more than he bargained for when he heads deep into the Ozarks to investigate the disappearances of several of his colleagues.
Harry Allen
- Old Deaf Townsman
- (uncredited)
Walter Baldwin
- Vic Hardy
- (uncredited)
Jimmie Dundee
- Hardy Sympathizer
- (uncredited)
Tom Fadden
- Sheriff Murdock
- (uncredited)
James Flavin
- Police Officer
- (uncredited)
Francis Ford
- Lee - Old Townsman
- (uncredited)
Joel Friedkin
- Little Man
- (uncredited)
Arthur Hunnicutt
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
Jerry James
- F.B.I. Man
- (uncredited)
Si Jenks
- 80-Year-Old Townsman
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe theme music for NPR's "All Things Considered" is identical to the melody of the nonsense song that is sung several times in this film ("Mares Eat Oats and Does Eat Oats").
- GoofsIn Elany's first scene, as she enters her grandmother's room, we see her clutching a leather briefcase. The close-up shot of the briefcase shows an embossed globe on the front, with "Trotter Poll" written above it, and "Hector P. Smedley" written below it, in large letters. As the camera changes from close-up to medium shot, the briefcase still has the globe, but now the lettering is missing.
- Quotes
Pete Marshall: On horse flies is / In comb bees is / On chest knob is / In knob keys is
[singsong child's chant that solves the mystery]
- ConnectionsFeatured in Auto Focus (2002)
Featured review
"It's like looking for a needle in a slaughterhouse."
Classic comedy starring Fred MacMurray as a pollster who shows up at a hillbilly family's house looking for another pollster who went missing in the area. He finds himself knee-deep in trouble with the hillbillies, who are a clan of criminals looking for some money that only their dying grandmother knows the location of -- and she only wants to tell Fred. Things get even more crazy when Helen Walker shows up, claiming to be the Bonnie Parker-esque member of the family who recently escaped from prison.
It's a very funny movie with MacMurray in rare form as the poor guy who stumbles into a weird situation and can't wait to get out of it. The bit where he pretends to talk to a ghost to fool the dumb twins is priceless. At one point in the movie there's a clever gag where MacMurray's character comes upon an idea involving an organ because he saw the same bit in The Ghost Breakers, which was another Paramount comedy directed by George Marshall. Another great scene has MacMurray doing his version of Dorf decades before Tim Conway. Helen Walker is lovely and does a fine job but her part is mostly a straight one with few laughs. Marjorie Main is wonderful as a sort of dark version of her famous Ma Kettle character. Peter Whitney is lots of fun playing a set of dimwitted but violent twins. The rest of the cast includes Porter Hall, Jean Heather, Barbara Pepper, and a scene-stealing Mabel Paige as the grandmother. It's a good comedy with a terrific cast. Probably could've trimmed ten minutes in the middle but it doesn't hurt the pace too much. Definitely worth a look.
It's a very funny movie with MacMurray in rare form as the poor guy who stumbles into a weird situation and can't wait to get out of it. The bit where he pretends to talk to a ghost to fool the dumb twins is priceless. At one point in the movie there's a clever gag where MacMurray's character comes upon an idea involving an organ because he saw the same bit in The Ghost Breakers, which was another Paramount comedy directed by George Marshall. Another great scene has MacMurray doing his version of Dorf decades before Tim Conway. Helen Walker is lovely and does a fine job but her part is mostly a straight one with few laughs. Marjorie Main is wonderful as a sort of dark version of her famous Ma Kettle character. Peter Whitney is lots of fun playing a set of dimwitted but violent twins. The rest of the cast includes Porter Hall, Jean Heather, Barbara Pepper, and a scene-stealing Mabel Paige as the grandmother. It's a good comedy with a terrific cast. Probably could've trimmed ten minutes in the middle but it doesn't hurt the pace too much. Definitely worth a look.
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- utgard14
- Jan 21, 2016
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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