My little rooster

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Movie
German title My little rooster
Original title My little chickadee
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 84 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Edward F. Cline
script Mae West ,
WC Fields
production Lester Cowan for
Universal Pictures
music Frank Skinner
camera Joseph A. Valentine
cut Edward Curtiss
occupation

Mein kleine Gockel is an American western comedy directed by Edward F. Cline from 1940. Mae West and WC Fields play the leading roles , who were also responsible for the script.

action

In the 1880s, the singer Flower Belle Lee, a blonde of dubious reputation from Chicago , traveled to her relatives in the Wild West. On the way, her carriage is ambushed by a masked bandit who steals the gold hidden in the carriage and kidnaps Flower Belle Lee. The city of her relatives is in a state of excitement about the kidnapping, but Belle Lee shows up a few hours later, relaxed and unscathed, and explains that she could have gotten out of a "tight spot". In the evening the masked bandit appears in her bedroom and they kiss. The bandit’s visit to Belle Lee is observed by Mrs. Gideon, a self-important and constantly outraged middle-aged lady, whereupon Belle Lee has to answer in court. After insulting the court, Belle is expelled from town and has to leave by train. She is only allowed to re-enter the city if she becomes a respectable person and marries a man.

Belle's train to Greasewood City is attacked by Indians, where she proves to be an exceptional shooter and shoots all Indians from the horse. On the train, Belle Lee also meets the pawn catcher Cuthbert J. Twillie, who immediately finds her attractive. Belle Lee only finds him interesting when she finds a pile of money under his luggage and thinks he is rich. Amos Budge, a friend of Belle's counterfeit money gambler who everyone else thinks is a pastor, marries Belle and Cuthbert Twillie while they are on the train ride (only Belle knows that the marriage is invalid). However, when she finds out that Twillie is by no means rich and that his money is play money , she lets him move into another hotel room in Greasewood - his attempts to consummate the marriage all fail. For example, Belle lays a goat in her bed that Twillie almost cuddles up to.

Greasewood turns out to be a dangerous town where the seedy Jeff Badger and his gang are in charge. Sheriffs only survive a short time in this town when they become dangerous to Badger. In a saloon, Twillie claims that he was the only one who fended off the Indian attack on the train (although he himself had only strangely than successfully defended himself with children's twins , while Belle had fended off the attack). Jeff Badger sees through Twillie's incompetence and then gives him the current vacant position of sheriff, which Twillie does not refuse in his vanity. At the same time, Badger Belle makes romantic advances, as does the newspaper editor Wayne Carter, who wants to bring Greasewood to more civilization and expose the murderer of the previous sheriffs. Finally, the masked bandit reappears, who meets with Belle at night for a rendezvous, but never takes off his mask. While Twillie goes about his job as a sheriff and occasionally helps out as a bartender, Belle replaces the teacher who is suffering from a nervous breakdown at the school.

Sheriff Twillie tries to reveal the identity of the masked bandit and invades Belle's bedroom disguised as the bandit. Although he can get a kiss, Belle recognizes that he is not the bandit and shooes him out of her room. On the way back, Twillie in his disguise as a masked bandit is mistaken for him and thrown into jail by the villagers, as is Belle, who tries to prove his innocence. Belle escapes from prison through a flirtation with the deputy, who then becomes careless. As the villagers set out to lynch Twillie, Belle enlists Jeff Badger and reveals the invalidity of her marriage to Twillie. When Badger kisses her, she realizes through this kiss that he is the masked bandit. Belle shoots the rope from Twillie's neck and Badger appears as a masked bandit in front of all the villagers, so they know that this is not Twillie. The bandit throws his old stolen goods into the crowd in a sack that is worth so much that the villagers want to civilize Greasewood with it.

At the end of the day, Belle leaves it open whether she will choose Badger or the newspaper editor Carter. She says goodbye to Twillie with the words “my little chickadee” in friendship.

background

Beginning with the western comedy The Great Bluff (1939) with Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart , which started in December 1939 , there was a large number of comedic westerns in 1940. In addition to Mein kleine Gockel, this also included Go West with the Marx Brothers and Buck Benny Rides Again with Jack Benny . My little rooster re- used many sets of The Big Bluff , whose production had ended a few weeks earlier.

The production of Mein kleine Gockel from the summer of 1939 was surrounded by a lot of press hype, as Mae West's last film role was already over two years ago. From the early 1930s both Fields and West had built unique screen personalities in Hollywood who were then considered provocative: Fields often gave the misanthrophic and socially despicable, while West tore suggestive slogans in her films as a sex symbol that attracted all men in the area. Both worked on the script (as with their solo films) and both suggested a plot for the project, with West's original plot idea prevailing against Fields'. Fields is said to have improvised his own dialogues, as he had done in almost all of his other films, which in turn angered West. She was also disappointed that she was not named as the sole leading actress and screenwriter in the opening credits, but with Fields, whose drinking she detested. Therefore, the shooting apparently did not go smoothly.

According to one anecdote, Dick Foran, who was paid per week of shooting, reportedly told Fields and West on the set that the other was working on scenes that wanted to put themselves in the spotlight. Because Fields and West feared each other that they would steal the show, the result was lengthy arguments - which meant that filming lasted longer and Dick Foran received more money. Towards the end of filming, Fields left the set dissatisfied after an argument and never returned, so a few scenes were shot with a double. When the film hit theaters again and Fields received better reviews than West in many newspaper reviews, West is said to have decided never to speak to Fields again.

reception

Although Fields and West, with their distinctive screen characters and for then rough gags, drew the unwillingness of conservative associations and associations, Mein Kleiner Gockel developed into a hit movie in the USA. With a budget of around $ 625,000, he grossed over $ 2 million. In Europe, the film could only be seen decades later.

The film service notes about the comedy: "Turbulent, lively western parody with parade roles for Mae West and WC Fields, which burn off an extremely entertaining fireworks full of cheeky puns and witty allusions to alleged virtue."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Brooker: The Happiest Trails . Lulu.com, 2017, ISBN 978-1-365-74122-7 ( google.de [accessed February 26, 2019]).
  2. ↑ My Little Chickadee (1940). Retrieved March 1, 2019 .
  3. ^ Scott Balcerzak, Buffoon Men: Classic Hollywood Comedians and Queered Masculinity . Wayne State University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8143-3966-4 ( google.de [accessed February 26, 2019]).
  4. ↑ 'Censorship Made Me'. Retrieved March 1, 2019 .
  5. ↑ My Little Chickadee (1940). Retrieved March 1, 2019 .
  6. ↑ My little cock from the lexicon - Wissen.de | https://www.wissen.de/lexikon/mein-kleiner-gockel. Retrieved February 25, 2019 .
  7. ↑ My little rooster. Retrieved February 24, 2019 .