Hollywood or Bust (1956)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Frank Tashlin

Writer:

Erna Lazarus (writer)

Release Date:

6 December 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

A COAST TO COAST FUN TOOT! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A singer who can't pay his bookie joins a nerdy, star-struck movie fan and his Great Dane in a cross-country convertible ride to Hollywood.

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Great Dane | Gambler | Bookie | Convertible

Cast

Dean Martin	...	Steve Wiley
Jerry Lewis	...	Malcolm Smith
Pat Crowley	...	Terry Roberts
Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom	...	Bookie Benny (as Maxie Rosenbloom)
Anita Ekberg	...	Actress Anita
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Valerie Allen	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Adelle August	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Drew Cahill	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Kathryn Card	...	Old Lady (uncredited)
Minta Durfee	...	Miss Pettywood (uncredited)
Joe Gray	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Hotel Extra (uncredited)
Gretchen Houser	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Richard Karlan	...	Sammy Ross (uncredited)
Claudia Martin	...	11 Year Old Girl (uncredited)
Deana Martin	...	7 Year Old Girl (uncredited)
Gail Martin	...	9 Year Old Girl (uncredited)
Jack McElroy	...	Stupid Sam (uncredited)
Del Moore	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Wendell Niles	...	Himself - the Emcee (uncredited)
Ralph Peters	...	Truck driver who yells "Sunday Driver!' (uncredited)
Suzanne Ridgeway	...	Extra at Craps Table (uncredited)
Tracey Roberts	...	Redhead (uncredited)
Michael Ross	...	Paramount Studio Gate Guard (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre	...	Crap Table Stickman (uncredited)
Willard Waterman	...	Manager Neville (uncredited)
Ben Welden	...	Boss (uncredited)
Ross Westlake	...	Sheep-haired woman in balcony (uncredited)
Sandra White	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Frank Wilcox	...	Director (uncredited)
Chief Yowlachie	...	Chief Running Water (uncredited)

Directed by
Frank Tashlin

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Erna Lazarus		writer

Produced by
Paul Nathan	....	associate producer
Hal B. Wallis	....	producer

Cinematography by
Daniel L. Fapp		(as Daniel Fapp)

Film Editing by
Howard A. Smith		(as Howard Smith)

Art Direction by
Henry Bumstead
Hal Pereira

Set Decoration by
Fay Babcock		(as Faye Babcock)
Sam Comer

Costume Design by
Edith Head

Makeup Department
Wally Westmore	....	makeup supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
James A. Rosenberger	....	assistant director (as James Rosenberger)
William Watson	....	second unit director
Gary Nelson	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Gene Garvin	....	sound recordist
Hugo Grenzbach	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Farciot Edouart	....	process photography
John P. Fulton	....	special photographic effects

Camera and Electrical Department
W. Wallace Kelley	....	photographer: second unit (as Wallace Kelley)
Murray Young	....	key grip (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Richard Mueller	....	color consultant: Technicolor

Music Department
Norman Luboff	....	music arranger: vocals, "It Looks Like Love", "A Day in the Country", "Let's Be Friendly", "The Wild and Wooly West" and "Hollywood or Bust" (songs titles uncredted)
Charles O'Curran	....	musical numbers creator and stager
Walter Scharf	....	conductor
Walter Scharf	....	music arranger

Other crew
Rudy Makoul	....	dialogue coach

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1956) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Home Video (1990) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Beginner's Luck (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Boulder Dam, Nevada, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The last film that Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis did together before breaking up as a comedy team.

Quotes:

Steve Wiley: [watching Malcolm blow on the dice] Don't drown 'em - just make snake eyes!

Movie Connections:

References Strategic Air Command (1955)

Soundtrack:

A Day in the Country

The boys sign off with unbridled joy.

Malcolm Smith loves the movies and especially Anita Ekberg. Getting one of his lucky feelings, Malcolm buys a ream of raffle tickets to win a car. Sure enough he wins, but so does gigolo gambler Steve Wiley, who not unsurprisingly has won by less than honourable means. Refusing to give out two cars, the promotion merely tells the men that they will have to share the car. Much to Steve's annoyance as he has debts to pay. So deviously he agrees to drive with Malcolm to Hollywood, planning to ditch him at the first chance he gets. Only he hadn't figured on Mr Bascom, Malcolm's Great Dane who's along for the ride, and an encounter with the pretty Terry Roberts. Yep, it's safe to say this is not going to be an ordinary road trip.

With their relationship deeply fractured at this time {this was their last film together}, it's something of a surprise to find that Hollywood Or Bust is one of the finest films that Dean Martin {Steve} and Jerry Lewis {Malcolm} made. Everything that made the duo so massively popular is in here, even into the bargain daring to cast a satirical slant to the whiles and trials of Hollywood itself. A lot of the credit has to go to director Frank Tashlin. Tashlin, who was also at the helm for arguably the boys career high point Artists & Models, keeps the whole thing zippy, steering the duo in a direction to which they simply could not fail.

Sure enough the humour is almost juvenile at times, and yes Dean of course croons and tries to bed the girl {a spiky Pat Crowley as Terry}, but it's got such a sense of joy to it, the kind of joy that much like Artists & Models, can really lift the blues. Stand out songs from the Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster score are "A Day in the Country" and "It Looks Like Love", whilst it will be tough not to giggle at some of the antics of Mr Bascom and the irrepressible Lewis, particularly with one particular movie parody. Anita Ekberg comes and joins in the fun later in the piece, just in time for the riotous carnage that you know is around the corner.

If the sight of a Great Dane driving a car is not funny to you? well chances are you should avoid this film completely. But that would be a shame for it's a delightful film, brisk and cheeky, it's most definitely one that's in desperate need of reappraisal from the grumpy brigade. 8/10