Bus Stop (film)

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Movie
German title Bus stop
Original title Bus stop
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1956
length 91 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Joshua Logan
script George Axelrod
production Buddy eagle
music Cyril J. Mockridge
Alfred Newman
camera Milton R. Krasner
cut William H. Reynolds
occupation
synchronization

Bus Stop is an American romantic comedy from 1956 starring Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray in a character role. The film was directed by Joshua Logan and is based on the plays People in the Wind and Bus Stop by author William Inge . It combines elements of comedy , drama , musical and neo- western .

A cowboy inexperienced in love affairs meets a nightclub singer. He falls in love with her and wants to marry her against her will. Because of his stubbornness there is a fight and only after a serious conversation with his friend does he realize that he has to respect her wishes.

The film, and in particular Monroe's acting performance, received critical acclaim right after its premiere. Nevertheless, the commercial success failed. In Europe in particular, the American milieu study did not go down well with cinema audiences.

action

Bo Decker, a young, naive cowboy from Montana , is driving to Phoenix with his fatherly friend Virgil to attend a rodeo . On the drive, Virgil advises 21-year-old inexperienced Bo that it is time to look around for a nice girl. In a night club they get to know the animator Cherie, who also appears as a singer. Although she has only moderate talent, she dreams of a great career as a “ chanteuse ”. She shows her colleague, the waitress Vera, her planned life on the map. From the province in Arkansas via Lubbock in Texas - with a short stop in the Blue Dragon - straight to Hollywood . Bo is fascinated by Cherie. When she appears, he ensures calm among the guests. He awkwardly courted her and told her about his ranch . Cherie admits that she thinks he is really handsome, given his first name "Beauregard". In his simplicity, he interprets a kiss from her as an engagement.

Bo takes Cherie to the rodeo. After every competition he has won, he waves his hat in the direction of "his angel". Eventually the press becomes aware of them. After the rodeo, from which he emerges as the winner, he acquires the necessary marriage documents and buys an engagement ring without realizing that Cherie is not even considering marriage. She believes they are too different and do not match. Virgil is also convinced that the easy-going Cherie with her past is not the right one for Bo. Together with Vera, Cherie prepares her escape. When Bo goes to the Blue Dragon to take her away, she escapes through the window at the bus station. However, Bo catches her again - cowboy-style with a lasso - and without further ado puts her on the bus to Montana.

On the way, Cherie tells Elma, who is traveling with her, what her dream man looks like. She wants to be able to look up to a man. She wants him to be kind to her without treating her like a baby, and most importantly, that he appreciate and respect her. As they drive north, they get caught in a heavy snowstorm. The bus driver cannot continue the journey and they have to spend the night in Graces Diner , a small restaurant. Although Cherie Bo tries again and again to make it clear that she does not want to marry him, nothing can dissuade him from his plan. Virgil tries to explain to him that he cannot treat Cherie like his own and force Cherie to do something against her will. Because of his stubbornness, he eventually gets into an argument with Virgil and Carl. Only a lost fight with Carl and a serious conversation with Virgil make him think about his actions. Finally he realizes that he must respect Cherie's will and promises Virgil to apologize to everyone.

The next morning he asks Cherie's forgiveness. He admits his inexperience with women and asks her to kiss her goodbye. Cherie is touched and before he goes on, she confesses that she is not the girl he imagines and that she has already had many friends. He replies that he likes her the way she is and that he doesn't care what life she has led before and why she has become that way, and that it is still his greatest wish that she come with him to his ranch. Cherie is deeply moved by Bo's real feelings that he respects her and stands by her despite her past. She changes her mind and tells him she is ready to go anywhere with him. Bo puts his jacket on the shivering Cherie and gallantly extends his hand as she gets on the bus.

History of origin

Joshua Logan's film adaptation is an adaptation of the play of the same name by William Inge from 1955. For the film, the plot in the restaurant was changed and greatly shortened. The figure of Sheriff Will was merged with that of the bus driver Carl, the figure of Dr. Lyman has been left out entirely. In return, the prehistory, especially the rodeo in Phoenix, is shown in great detail in the film.

The modern western drama had previously celebrated success on Broadway. For the film, the director Joshua Logan was hired, of whom Monroe was also convinced. Monroe adopted a Texan accent especially for the role of Cherie, who comes from the country. In order to convince Cherie, who only works at night and gets little daylight, a pale make-up was designed for her. Another version for American television was created in 1982, directed by Peter H. Hunt.

synchronization

The original German cinema dubbing, in which Marilyn Monroe was spoken by Margot Leonard , is lost. As a result, two television synchronizations were produced: A first, shortened version in 1979 for GDR television with the speakers Micaëla Kreißler , Ernst Meincke and Lothar Schellhorn, and a further, complete version in 1985 for ZDF with Monika Barth, Michael Ande and Jochen Striebeck , which was also used for the DVD release.

criticism

"Cinematically convincing adaptation of a Broadway success by William Inge with an erotic atmosphere, comedy, feeling and Marilyn Monroe's irresistible 'embodiment' of the female lead."

- Lexicon of international film

"Because of the overly primitive display of sexual urges, Bus Stop wasn't the deliciously indecent fun intended, but Marilyn Monroe's longing and untalented Cherie was one of her best performances."

- Wolfram Tichy, Liz-Anne Bawden, et al. : rororo Filmlexikon, Volume 1: Films A - J, 1978

“Hold on, friends, and be prepared for a surprise. Marilyn Monroe finally proves in Bus Stop that she is a real actress. You and the film are just wonderful! To those who judge the lady's talent based on her performances in films like Niagara, Gentlemen prefer Blondes or even The Seven Year Itch, in which her attraction was not based on her acting qualities, this news may seem implausible and absurd. And it may also meet with skepticism from those who have seen the play by William Inge on which the film is based and who remember Kim Stanley in the role. But if you want to check our judgment, just pay a visit to the Roxy, where the film produced by 20th Century-Fox and directed by Joshua Logan was released yesterday. You may not think Miss Monroe is the shower, but she will surely convince you. The amazing fact is that Mr. Logan got her to do a lot more in this movie than just wiggle her hips, flare her lips, look big, and play the synthetic vamp. He managed to get her to be William Inges 'girl from the gutter' right down to her accent and the color of her skin. He managed to get her to be the dressed-up bitch, the somewhat stupid doll that a no less naive cowboy finds in a pub in Phoenix and chases it to a snow-covered bus rest house in the wilderness of Arizona. And, most importantly, he made her give the character dignity and arouse concern for her fate. This may not sound promising to those who would rather see their Miss Monroe healthy and provocative. But don't think that because she really delivers a character study in this film, she is less lively, humorous or attractive than usual. "

- Bosley Crowther : New York Times

“Marilyn Monroe has achieved an unusual success in her latest film Bus Stop: The New York film critics unanimously state that this time she can be seen 'also as an actress' and even as a considerably tight and nuanced one. In fact, the beloved and richly caricatured person goes far beyond her well-known technique of swinging her hips and mouthing her mouth, has serious, yes, moving moments and creates a real character figure with verve. -
Bus stop is a much-ridiculed stage play by William Inges in a shirt-sleeved environment, a small, deeply snowed-in car road inn in the wild west. [...] As a film, Bus stop doesn't have the background magic of the stage play. Not the inconspicuous lifelike nature of the dreamily twilight figures. It has humor and speed, with the remarkable attempt to show the wild west world of today as it is - outside of the film studios - as a mixture of banjo jazz, senseless clinking of spurs, tourist posters, furtive erotic episodes, verbose drunkenness, and all of this honestly ,unromantic'. In any case, the production company Twenty Century-Fox has shown more courage to face reality than to be a favor to film tradition. "

- Ludwig Ullmann : Die Zeit , September 27, 1956

Awards

Logan's film was nominated for several awards in 1957.

Nominations:

literature

  • William Inge : Bus stop. A romance in three acts (original title: Bus Stop ). German by Willy H. Thiem . (Reproduced stage manuscript.) Ahn & Simrock, Berlin and Wiesbaden o. J.

Web links

Commons : Bus Stop (film)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Donald Spoto: Marilyn Monroe. The biography . Heyne, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-453-08276-1 , p. 342.
  2. ↑ Bus Stop in the German synchronous file , accessed on August 31, 2018
  3. ↑ Bus stop. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ rororo film dictionary. Volume 1: Films A – J , p. 95 (OT: The Oxford Companion to Film ). Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1978. ISBN 3-499-16228-8 .
  5. ↑ Ludwig Ulimann: Marilyn Monroe triumphs . In: The time . No. 39, September 27, 1956, p. 14. Retrieved September 14, 2013.