Honky Tonk *** (1941, Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Frank Morgan, Claire Trevor, Marjorie Main, Albert Dekker, Henry O’Neill, Chill Wills) – Classic Movie Review 6699

MGM’s pleasant 1941 hit comedy Western film Honky Tonk teams Clark Gable as smooth-talking gambler-conman ‘Candy’ Johnson and Lana Turner as cute good girl Liz Cotton. 

Director Jack Conway’s pleasant, rambling 1941 MGM comedy Western Honky Tonk is set in Nevada. It was a huge hit, costing only $899,000 and grossing $8,676,400 worldwide, $6,306,740 of that in America.

Honky Tonk teams the two great MGM stars Clark Gable as a smooth-talking gambler-conman called ‘Candy’ Johnson and Lana Turner as a cute good girl called Liz Cotton, daughter of alcoholic, bent law-giver, Judge Cotton (Frank Morgan). Johnson becomes the corrupt boss of Yellow Creek, but Judge Cotton tries to put matters right.

Conway ensures that there is enough easy-going action, adventure, romance and kisses to please the fans of both stars. Gable and Turner are a very effective team, with plenty of sizzling chemistry. They proved a hit team with the public, and this is the first of their four pairings at MGM, followed by Somewhere I’ll Find You (1942), Homecoming (1948), and Betrayed (1954).

Honky Tonk also stars Claire Trevor, Marjorie Main, Albert Dekker, Henry O’Neill and Chill Wills.

Supposedly torrid in its day, Honky Tonk was reported to have upset Gable’s wife, Carole Lombard, who asked production head Louis B Mayer to tell Turner that Gable was off limits. But then Lombard made surprise visits to the set and was there for the stars’ bedroom scene, intimidating Turner so much that she locked herself in dressing room. When she finally came out, Lombard had vanished.

Turner always denied rumours that she was having an affair with Gable and said the only time they ever saw each other socially was after Lombard’s death. When Mayer told her to have dinner with Gable at his home, she found him a lonely, broken man.

MGM advertised it as ‘another Boom Town (1940) but better’ – an earlier hit for Gable.

Clark Gable and Lana Turner in Honky Tonk (1941).

Honky Tonk is directed by Jack Conway, runs 104 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by Marguerite Roberts and John Sanford, is shot in black and white by Harold Rosson, is produced by Pandro S Berman and scored by Franz Waxman.

Also in the cast are Betty Blythe, John Maxwell, Morgan Wallace, Douglas Wood, Hooper Atchley, Harry J Worth, Lew Harvey, Veda Ann Borg, Dorothy Granger, Sheila Darcy, Cy Kendall, Erville Alderson, John Farrell, Don Barclay, Ray Teal, Esther Muir, Francis X Bushman, Russell Hicks and Syd Saylor.

Turner was only 20 at the time and was a rising star after Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Ziegfeld Girl, with MGM wanting her to replace the late Jean Harlow. But Turner was nervous and blundered when reading lines. Gable, 20 years older, said: ‘She couldn’t read lines. She didn’t make them mean anything; it was obvious she was an amateur.’

The cast are Clark Gable as ‘Candy’ Johnson, Lana Turner as Elizabeth Cotton, Frank Morgan as Judge Cotton, Claire Trevor as ‘Gold Dust’ Nelson, Marjorie Main as Mrs Varner, Albert Dekker as Brazos Hearn, Henry O’Neill as Daniel Wells, Chill Wills as The Sniper, Veda Ann Borg as Pearl, Douglas Wood as Governor Wilson, Betty Blythe as Mrs. Wilson, Harry J Worth as Harry Gates, Lew Harvey as Blackie, John Maxwell, Morgan Wallace, Hooper Atchley, Harry J Worth, Dorothy Granger, Sheila Darcy, Cy Kendall, Erville Alderson, John Farrell, Don Barclay, Ray Teal, Esther Muir, Francis X Bushman, Russell Hicks and Syd Saylor.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6699

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Clark Gable and Lana Turner in Honky Tonk (1941).