BUS STOP, a 1956 “drama” starring Marilyn Monroe, has probably given me the most trouble of any movie I’ve watched this month so far. I didn’t particularly like it, because both the premise and the main character are annoying, which makes things difficult.
Despite top billing, Monroe actually plays second fiddle (unfortunately) to newcomer at the time Don Murray, who stars as a backwards cowboy who has no experience with women. Traveling by bus from Montana to Phoenix, AZ to compete in a big rodeo, Murray’s informed by his mentor, an older cowboy (Arthur O’Connell) that it’s about time he finally hooked up.
This is where Monroe comes in as a singer and dancer at a small café in Phoenix, not far from the rodeo grounds, where Murray sets eyes on her and immediately falls in love with her.
We’ve already seen that Murray is a bit of a hothead. Everywhere he goes, he gets in fights with people over bullshit that doesn’t really matter. This is why he’s so annoying, and Monroe immediately picks up on it and, to her credit, even though she thinks he’s a hunk, she’s like, “No way, get away from me, you’re annoying.”
Okay, so this all makes sense except for the fact that the movie seems to think we should be rooting for Murray and Monroe to eventually hook up. I guess this means Murray will learn his lesson and come around and stop acting like such an asshole, but until he does we have to sit through scene after scene of him pursuing Monroe to the point of even kidnapping her and taking her on the bus back to Montana with him, claiming she’s going to marry him whether she wants to or not. I mean, by this time, I’m hoping Monroe escapes, not that they end up happily ever after.
It’s funny, watching this film it occurred to me that even though Monroe wasn’t a great actress (though she’s fine) or a great singer (though she’s fine) and even though what seems to be her attempt at a southern accent is laughable, she is still the most riveting thing on screen and the only redeemable part of this movie. I’m not just talking about her looks, either – she’s the only person involved here who has any charisma or presence. It’s clear here, maybe even more so than in some of her better movies, that she’s way above and beyond the material and simply a natural star.
Probably the best thing about Monroe is that it always looks like she’s having fun. She may not have been, I know she didn’t have the happiest of times behind the scenes, but she seems to be. Everything looks like a laugh to her and she’s naturally funny, even if the material isn’t. It suits her character, here, and keeps the movie from becoming completely creepy and stalkery by at least implying that Monroe isn’t deathly afraid of Murray and actually views him as a little bit of a joke.
All that said, the happy ending is a downer, ironically, and I wanted more for Monroe’s character than this dickhead played by Murray. I didn’t notice as I was watching the movie that it was directed by Joshua Logan, but reading up on it afterwards I realized he was the director of the equally dreadful PICNIC, which I found puzzling and hard to a couple Romancefests ago. Figures.
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