The Paleface
The Paleface
| 17 December 1948 (USA)
The Paleface Trailers

Bob Hope stars in this laugh-packed wild west spoof co-starring Jane Russell as a sexy Calamity Jane, Hope is a meek frontier dentist, "Painless" Peter Potter, who finds himself gunslinging alongside the fearless Calamity as she fights off outlaws and Indians.

Reviews
Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.
Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
classicsoncall It's never a good thing when I have to struggle to come up with a film review. I'm a pretty big fan of Bob Hope but this one left me a bit flat, perhaps because I watched it out of sequence with the follow up film "Son of Paleface" with Hope and Russell on hand once more, but as different characters. The sequel also featured my favorite movie cowboy Roy Rogers, along with Trigger giving a career performance that might have upstaged the nominal stars of the picture.The team up of Hope and Russell seems like a natural but it wouldn't have hurt for Mariska Hargitay's mom to crack a smile every now and then. There's no pretense at all that this is a parody Western, so why not lighten up and have a little fun with it? Russell seemed to be taking this a lot more seriously than she needed to, and if I noticed it I think the director should have too.Perhaps the biggest plus here is the film's vibrant Technicolor format, especially when it showcases the Indians in their brightly colored tribal gear. Hope's no slouch either in his gaudy Western outfit, which only goes to emphasize how out of place he is in the Old West scheme of things. Once again though, I'm of a mind that Russell's reputation is greater than the reality, and her full figured look isn't as exceptional as one might be led to believe. Nothing she wore in this picture managed to flatter, so if that's what you're expecting, you'll have to catch her in the sequel doing that sexy singing number at the Dirty Shame Saloon.
garydobbs The chemistry between Jane Russel and Bob Hope is one of the many reasons that this film shines. There are several genuinely hilarious scenes - the Indian on laughing gas, Bob's big gunfight, the cowboy having his rotten tooth pulled ...the list is endless.The only fault is that the films drags a little towards the final all action finale but other than that it's close to perfect. A great comedy and one of only a few truly great comic westerns. The currently available DVD is a great transfer but it comes on a vanilla disc. A documentary about Bob would have been welcome or even an introduction the way they have done with the John Wayne reisues would have added even greater value.As it stands a great little movie from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
mozli Bob Hope has a way with murder and mayhem. It just goes down extremely easy with the guy. Jane Russell is eye candy but is a one note actress if I've ever seen one. The villains are bowling pins to be knocked down and the movie doesn't have a racial tolerant bone in its body. Frank Tashlin understood how to stage his films with the most extreme cartoon-like aspects. Very broad but without depth. The final punch line, however, revealed a dark humor that was played out on the edges of the story. Whenever I look at a western these days I immediately try to imagine what David Milch could have done with it."What were you expecting? A happy ending?"
kenjha Hope is a dentist who gets a false reputation has a great gunfighter, thanks to Russell, as Calamity Jane, using him as a decoy. This lame parody of Westerns is good for about two or three mild chuckles. Hope tries but the script is stupid and humorless and the direction is uninspired. Russell has a somewhat annoyed expression on her face throughout the film. It does get better as it goes along but that's not saying much. The best bits are the gunfight between Hope and the guy that he tells to get out of town before sundown and the scene where Hope is tied to two trees by the Indians so that he'll rip apart. The attempts at humor are forced and just not funny.