The Long, Long Trailer
| The Long, Long Trailer | |
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| Directed by | Vincente Minnelli |
| Produced by | Pandro S. Berman |
| Written by | Clinton Twiss (novel) Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich (screenplay) |
| Starring | Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Marjorie Main Keenan Wynn |
| Music by | Adolph Deutsch |
| Cinematography | Robert Surtees |
| Editing by | Ferris Webster |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | February 18, 1954 |
| Running time | 96 min |
| Language | English |
The Long, Long Trailer is a novel by Clinton Twiss from the 1950s, about a couple who buy a new travel trailer home and spend a year traveling across the United States.[1]
The novel was made into a movie in 1954 starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and featuring Marjorie Main, Keenan Wynn, Bert Freed, Moroni Olsen, Gladys Hurlbut, Madge Blake, and Walter Baldwin. The picture was directed by Vincente Minnelli, working from a screenplay by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich.
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[edit] Plot
Nicky Collini and his fiancée Tacy buy (despite Nicky's extreme reluctance and dire predictions) a large trailer home (a 40-foot 1953 New Moon, which cost $5,345 at the time), so that they can save money that would otherwise be spent on a house, and also be able to travel around the USA to civil engineering projects that Nicky is employed on. They have to buy a more powerful car to tow the trailer, a 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible with a 125 HP flathead V8 engine, and the money spent starts to mount up. The honeymoon trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains rapidly becomes a catalogue of disasters. These include Tacy's attempts to cook dinner in a moving, rocking trailer, and later a cliffhanging ride on a narrow road through the mountains, with the trailer weighed down by many rock specimens she has collected. After they arrive at the home of Tacy's parents and other relatives who are gathered watching, Nicky accidentally backs the trailer into their hosts' porch, partly destroying it as well as prized rose bushes. In another scene, he has to change a tire at night while stuck in the mud during a rainstorm. Relations deteriorate between the couple, and finally Tacy storms off in a huff. But by the film's end, they are tearfully reunited.
[edit] Production notes
The dangerous mountain road featured in the movie is Whitney Portal Road, which leads up to Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. The hairpin turn featured in the film offers scenic views of the Owens Valley. During the scenes of Nicky and Tacy pulling their trailer in the mountains, their 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible is replaced with a larger but similar appearing 1953 Lincoln Capri convertible. The distinct Lincoln grille is clearly evident in a shot as the car rounds a curve. The more powerful Lincoln (which is equipped with a 205 HP V8 engine) was needed to pull the heavy New Moon trailer up and over the steep grades of the Sierra Nevadas where the scenes were filmed.
The film's closing credits thank the National Park Service for permission to film in Yosemite National Park. There is one memorable scene where the car and trailer emerge from a tunnel to a view of Yosemite Valley, complete with a panorama of El Capitan, Half Dome, and the Yosemite Falls.
[edit] Reception
According to Turner Classic Movies' host, Robert Osborne, the studio was not sure if this film would be a success because they thought that people would not pay money to see Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in a movie when they could watch the couple on television for free (I Love Lucy). Arnaz made a $25,000 bet with the studio that the movie would make more money than the current highest grossing comedy at that time (Father of the Bride starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor and also directed by Vincente Minnelli). Arnaz won the bet.
[edit] Principal cast
- Lucille Ball ... Tacy Bolton - Collini
- Desi Arnaz ... Nicholas 'Nicky' Collini
- Marjorie Main ... Mrs. Hittaway
- Keenan Wynn ... Policeman
- Gladys Hurlbut ... Mrs. Bolton
- Moroni Olsen ... Mr. Tewitt
- Bert Freed ... Foreman
- Madge Blake ... Aunt Anastacia
- Walter Baldwin ... Uncle Edgar
- Oliver Blake ... Mr. Ludlow
- Perry Sheehan ... Bridesmaid
[edit] DVD release
The Long, Long Trailer was released on DVD on May 2, 2006 by Warner Home Video in Region 1 coding for the U.S. and Canada. It was released as a single disc and as a part of a 3-DVD set featuring two other Ball/Arnaz movies, Forever, Darling and Too Many Girls. The film was also released in Region 4 coding for Australia.
[edit] In popular culture
The film is referenced in the They Might Be Giants song "Everything Right Is Wrong Again" which contains the lyrics: Everything right is wrong again/Just like in The Long, Long Trailer/All the dishes got broken/The car kept driving/And nobody would stop to save her.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Long, Long Trailer at the Internet Movie Database
- The Long, Long Trailer at AllRovi
- The Long, Long Trailer at the TCM Movie Database
- The Long, Long Trailer at Trailerite.com
- Full-text of the Twiss'novel
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