The Second Time Around

1961

Action / Comedy / Romance / Western

4
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 62%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 62%
IMDb Rating 6.5/10 10 984 984

widow arizona

Plot summary

In 1911, a widow with two children leaves New York City for territorial Arizona and becomes a ranch hand and later gets herself elected sheriff. A gambler and a rancher become rivals for her affections.

Director

Vincent Sherman Photo
Vincent Sherman

Top cast

Jeffrey Sayre Photo
Jeffrey Sayre as Bartender
Timothy Carey Photo
Timothy Carey as Bonner
Thelma Ritter Photo
Thelma Ritter as Aggie Gates
Debbie Reynolds Photo
Debbie Reynolds as Lucretia 'Lu' Rogers
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
906.88 MB
1280*538
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 38 min
Seeds ...
1.64 GB
1904*800
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 38 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ldeangelis-75708 6 / 10

A Fun but Flawed Movie

I'm willing to bet the movie "The Ballad of Josie" was inspired by this one, and it's yet another case of the first being the best.This was a fun film, with Debbie Reynolds as a widow from the east who heads west (in the last days of that distinction, as it's 1912) to try and make a better life for herself and her two young children. She has quite a time (and a lot of hilarious moments) working as a ranch hand for Thelma Ritter, while attracting the attention of two very different men: saloon/gambling house owner Steve Forrest, a charming "bad boy" and ranch owner Andy Griffith, a "nice guy", though a bit too attached to his domineering mother (Blossom Rock, better known as "Mama," on "The Addams Family" and the sister of Jeanette MacDonald).Debbie's also the only one in town brave enough to stand up to the corrupt sheriff (Ken Scott), a bit hard to believe with feisty Thelma around, and soon there's a petition circulated to oust him from his job. And guess who gets it???That's where the flaws come in. While it's NOT TRUE that women couldn't sign petitions without the vote, that doesn't mean they'd want a woman as sheriff, unless she's lived out west all her life and had the right skills to qualify her, which Debbie did NOT. She proves this all too, soon, by using her badge to get the saloon shut down and Steve thrown in jail, out of spite for the way he tricked her into panning for gold so he could attempt to seduce her. Then, she gets kidnapped by the ousted sheriff, and that's where the silly brawls come in, as no comedy western can do without them, of course not!That's what bugged me, there was more than one brawl incident, where windows are smashed, chairs are broken, tables tossed over, lots of property damage done, etc. Maybe some people find that entertaining, but most of the time it's just ANNOYING to me.Like I said, fun but flawed.
Reviewed by JohnHowardReid 7 / 10

Reasonably amusing!

Copyright 1 November 1961 by Cummings-Harman Productions. Released through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Paramount: 22 December 1961. U.S. release: 26 October 1961. U.K. release: 4 February 1962. 8,880 feet. 99 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Charleyville is a typical pioneer town at the turn of the century, peppered with outlaws, saloon-thugs and gamblers who make life tough for the ranch folk. Broke and friendless, Debbie takes a job as ranch-hand with Aggie Gates (Thelma Ritter), aiming to collect enough money to send for the two youngsters she has left in New York with her mother-in-law. Saloon-keeper Dan Jones (Steve Forrest) and his dance-hall sweetheart (Juliet Prowse) are an immediate threat to Debbie's security, as is Sheriff Yoss (Ken Scott) whose loose government Debbie attacks at once and sets out to fight to a showdown. Befriending Debbie in a series of adventures through which she learns to slug her way with the best of them, is neighboring rancher Pat Collins (Andy Griffith).NOTES: The novel by Richard Emery Roberts entitled "Star in the West" was first published in 1951. To coincide with the movie release, Pocketbooks launched an initial printing of 500,000 copies. As the movie chalked up no great returns at the box-office, I wonder how many copies were pulped? COMMENT: Far-fetched and not to be taken too seriously, "The Second Time Around" is a pleasant and amusingly unassuming little film with some most agreeable characterizations. Miss Reynolds herself leads the pack, but she is more than ably supported by Steve Forrest (of all people), Andy Griffith, Ken Scott (another surprise, he's absolutely top-notch as a crooked sheriff) and Tom Greenway (a Lon Chaney Jr. imitator in the small part of the deputy sheriff).These character sketches are well handled by director Vincent Sherman (here making his final Hollywood movie). True, Sherman has significantly less success with Tracy Stratford and Jimmy Garrett, two typically American movie brats who are fortunately left behind in New York.OTHER VIEWS: Miss Reynolds is a natural at this sort of thing. She really flings herself into this part. It's her show... Except for one brief, snappy Flamenco, all Juliet Prowse has to do is kind of hover in the background. She hovers well. — Variety.
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