Tonight's Movie: The Ballad of Josie (1967) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

THE BALLAD OF JOSIE (1967), one of the last handful of films made by the great Doris Day, was recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

This was also one of just a handful of Day films I'd not yet seen, so I was glad to finally catch up with it thanks to this new release. It was only a so-so movie, but I enjoy watching Day in pretty much anything.

I could tell the movie would be a little odd right off the bat when the title song wasn't sung by Day but by Ronnie Dante. It was...unmemorable. Day never sings in this film, which is strictly a Western comedy.

I use the word "comedy" advisedly, as while it has some amusing moments, much of the movie features characters fighting over any number of situations, while spousal abuse and misogyny are treated as lighthearted subjects. Even taking into account that it was made a few decades ago, the screenplay, written by Harold Swanton, was on the strange side.

As the movie begins in a small town in Wyoming territory, Josie Minick (Day) and her little boy Luther (Teddy Quinn) prepare for the imminent arrival home of Josie's drunken, violent husband Whit (Robert Lowery). They secure breakables and then lock themselves in their rooms in what's obviously a familiar routine.

The only thing that doesn't go according to the usual plan is Whit falling backwards off the staircase and killing himself -- which unbelievably results in Josie standing trial for murder.

Josie is acquitted, but her powerful father-in-law Alpheus (Paul Fix) is awarded custody of Luther until Josie can show a means of supporting her son. Josie looks for work and finally hits on the idea of returning to a homestead she and her husband claimed outside town. She initially thinks of raising cattle, but convinced it's too difficult, she instead hits on the idea of an easier sheep herd...which doesn't go over well with the cattlemen in town, especially Arch Ogden (George Kennedy).

This film is a rather odd duck, so to speak. It's a watchable 102 minutes, with a deep cast which includes not only Day and the previously mentioned actors but Peter Graves, Andy Devine, William Talman, Harry Carey Jr., David Hartman, Don Stroud, Audrey Christie, Elisabeth Fraser, and Ed Faulkner.

That said, it's really just not a particularly good movie, basically one long shouting match with various characters fighting and saying obnoxious things about women. I'm far from a "politically correct" viewer but the overall tone was simply unpleasant. That's a bit ironic as Wyoming Territory was the only place in the U.S. which gave women the vote. (For more on that, I recommend Loretta Young in the hard-to-find but delightful THE LADY FROM CHEYENNE.)

I have a soft spot for Graves and find him attractive, but even he was annoying much of the time playing Josie's old friend -- and new suitor -- Jase. While Jase eventually comes around to Josie's way of thinking and becomes supportive, it's not before he says a number of regrettable things himself.

It also doesn't help that, as was typical for period films released in the '60s, Day has a big bubble of a '60s bouffant hairdo which looks completely out of place. I wrote a bit more about this odd '60s phenomenon in my review of NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY (1966).

Among the cast I particularly enjoyed seeing Faulkner as the livery stable man. I had the pleasure of seeing Faulkner at a couple of Lone Pine Film Festivals. A decade ago he gave an hour-long extemporaneous talk in which he spoke warmly of both John Wayne and this film's director, Andrew V. McLaglen, who each gave him considerable work over the years.

THE BALLAD OF JOSIE was filmed in widescreen Technicolor by Milton R. Krasner. The Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray print looks and sounds great. This may not be Day's best film, but for Day completists -- and I am one -- this is certainly a fine option for seeing the movie.

Disc extras consist of a commentary track by Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell; the trailer, remastered in 2K; and a gallery of five additional trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

Tweet