JohnHowardReid Copyright 1956 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 31 August 1956. U.S. release: 14 August 1956. U.K. release: 19 November 1956. Australian release: 27 September 1956. Sydney opening at the Regent. 8,496 feet. 94 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A young and innocent cowboy, Bo Decker (Don Murray), is brought from his Montana ranch by his friend Virgil (Arthur O'Connell) to a rodeo in Phoenix, Arizona. At the Blue Dragon café in Phoenix, Bo discovers Cherie (Marilyn Monroe), a singer of uncertain virtue. He is indignant at the inattention of patrons during her number and bullies them into a respectful silence. NOTES: Location scenes filmed in Phoenix, Arizona. The play opened on Broadway at the Music Box on 2 March 1955 and ran a most satisfactory 478 performances. Kim Stanley and Albert Salmi were the leads. Other players: Elaine Stritch, Anthony Ross, Phyllis Love, Lou Polan, Crahan Denton, Patrick McVey. The play was directed by Harold Clurman, produced by Robert Whitehead and Roger L. Stevens.Film debuts of Don Murray and Hope Lange. (Don't take any notice of reports that Murray had a role in 1951's "Dallas". Some computers don't know the difference between Don Murray and Zon Murray). Nominated for Hollywood's most prestigious award for Supporting Actor, Don Murray lost out to Anthony Quinn in "Lust for Life". Number 16 at the US/Canadian box-office for 1956. Number 10 on the National Board of Review's list of the Best American Films of 1956. One of Bosley Crowther's selections for his New York Times list of the Ten Best Pictures of 1956.COMMENT: William Inge's Broadway hit was originally a one-set affair about half-a-dozen bus passengers stranded at a roadside café during a blizzard. This has been brilliantly expanded by George Axelrod so that one is not aware of the film's stage origins until about 30 minutes from the end when the film too becomes confined to the original stage setting. Indeed, some of the scenes which Axelrod has added are the most memorable in the film — Murray waking up the drowsing bus passengers by doing push-ups at five o'clock in the morning or embarrassing Marilyn Monroe by hollering out to her at the rodeo.All Marilyn Monroe's scenes are superbly conceived. She doesn't come on for about 20 minutes. Finally we catch sight of her sitting forlornly on the window-sill in the back-room of a broken-down bar. A few minutes later she is hustling drinks out of Arthur O'Connell and then she launches into that memorable rendition of "Ole Black Magic", tattily staged with colored lights, photographs of which have been immortalized in countless books and articles on Marilyn Monroe.Some may argue that Marilyn Monroe's performance is a little too calculated and lacks the spontaneity and naturalness Don Murray brings to his role. Be this as it may, Marilyn Monroe's study of Cherie is an engaging and sympathetic one and the fact that at times there seems to be something a little too contrived about her characterization is as much a fault of the script as anything else. It is a tribute to Marilyn Monroe's skill as an actress that she manages to make the character as believable as she does, given such potentially awkward script moments as her confidences in Vera and above all, her sudden change of heart towards Bo. Marilyn Monroe makes an honest and for the most part very successful endeavor to give a rounded portrayal, whereas Don Murray simply skims — albeit very charmingly — over the surface of his role, playing Bo throughout on a purely superficial level as a simple- minded rustic. The other players are competent. We particularly liked Robert Bray's personable bus driver. Hope Lange, though, is wasted in a very tiny, colorless role, while Hans Conreid and Casey Adams have such minuscule parts they are little more than bit players.As might be expected from a Broadway director used to blocking action on a stage of similar shape, Logan fills up the wide CinemaScope screen very ably; but otherwise his direction is best described as unobtrusive. There's very little camera movement, for instance. (Logan had worked in Hollywood in the latter 1930s as both a full director and dialogue director). Other technical credits are thoroughly professional. As usual, the work of the Fox sound department is absolutely brilliant.

Fuzzy Wuzzy BUS STOP has got to be one of the most enjoyable and entertaining Western/Comedy/Romances that I have ever had the pleasure of watching.With an excellent cast, showcased by the likes of the voluptuous Marilyn Monroe and the virile Don Murray, BUS STOP is a Western/Romance that's certainly worth a second view.When husky Montana rodeo-champ, Bo Decker, finds his "Angel", it's love at first sight. Bo instantly falls heads over heels for the sweet'n'sexy Cherie, a fifth-rate nightclub chanteuse.Bo wants marriage. Cherie wants Hollywood.For the headstrong Bo, "no" does not always mean "no", especially when it comes to the wishes of his beloved "Angel". And so Bo finds that he must learn the hard way - That he can't just rope a gal the same way one lassos a steer.When it comes to Bo learning a lesson on sheer stubbornness, it's Carl, the rugged and gallant bus-driver, who must intervene and rearrange Bo's face for him.Beaten and disgraced in front of his "Angel", everything somehow turns out for the best for Bo Decker. Before you know it, it's suddenly cheers and happy times ahead when Cherie realizes that, yes, she is, indeed, in love with this impulsive, but basically good-hearted cowboy-dude.Released in 1956 - BUS STOP is, most definitely, Western/Comedy/Romance at its rootin'-tootin' best!

SnoopyStyle Rodeo cowboy Beauregard Decker (Don Murray) is a stubborn naive idiot. He takes the bus to Phoenix for the rodeo. His friend Virgil Blessing encourages him to talk to girls but he doesn't have much experience. In Phoenix, singer Chérie (Marilyn Monroe) at the Blue Dragon Cafe, who is aiming to go to Hollywood, is forced to hustle Virgil to pay for her drinks. Bo falls for her right away. She likes him but has no intention of marrying him or going back to Montana with him. He keeps ignorantly dragging her around expecting to get married. She tries to run away to Los Angeles but he literally ropes her like cattle and force her onto the bus to Montana.This is dumb and dumber, the rom-com. I find Beau to be very annoying in his clueless childishness. First, he's a clingy stalker. Then he becomes a full blown kidnapper. I really feel sorry for Chérie. While I understand the attempt to out-dumb Marilyn Monroe, Beau needs to be a lovable dunce. To top it off, he also has that loud mouth and bad singing. Monroe is relatively good but I just hate him so much. I guess he's playing the fool but he fails to find the balance... any balance... any sense that there is a balance. He is all idiot and no likability.

utgard14 You know how sometimes you watch a movie and you know it was based on a play? Well this is that kind of movie. I went into it unaware of its origins and could peg it right away. The dialogue and performances are overly theatrical and loud, very much like stage acting. Not realistic in the least. Just terrible acting, especially from the two leads. Marilyn's acting is praised a lot by people who inexplicably enjoy this movie. I guess I see why -- she is stepping outside of her comfort zone and portraying a character unlike anything else she had done up to this point. However, I can't really compliment her performance. Her accent is terrible, for starters. Obviously translating such a broad stage character to film is difficult but not impossible. The performance isn't subtle but, then again, not many in this movie are. Marilyn's makeup is also atrocious. I guess the character is supposed to be pale (why I don't know) so they cover her in makeup in some scenes to make her appear more pale. It's gross really.The worst part of the movie is Don Murray's Bo. He is insufferable to a degree words can't convey. I don't remember the last time I loathed a character as much as this one. He acts like an animal. He even eats raw meat! He barks at people and thinks he can just force them to do whatever he wants. He's completely unappealing as a human being. I recently watched the Joan Crawford "classic" Trog and let me tell you that troglodyte has more class and humanity than this...thing...Murray plays. Also this is supposed to be at least partly a comedy. Where was the humor? All of that obnoxiousness from Bo? Spit on that! The part in the end where he supposedly learns his lesson, or at least one of them, seemed forced and inauthentic. As with Marilyn, it's tempting to blame all of this on the story and how the characters are written. But I'm not giving the actors a free pass like that. A good actor could have brought some subtlety and humanity to these cardboard roles. But neither lead does that. They just play their parts like the worst community theatre hacks out there. If you're a Marilyn fan, you'll probably want to see this to judge for yourself. But be forewarned there's little of her charm, sex appeal, or personality on display here. Everybody else I can't stress enough how much you should avoid this rubbish.