Two Guys from Texas
Two Guys from Texas is a 1948 musical comedy film starring Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson, and Dorothy Malone. The movie was directed by David Butler, written by Allen Boretz and I.A.L. Diamond, produced by Alex Gottlieb, and released by Warner Bros. Pictures on September 4, 1948. This was a follow-up to Two Guys from Milwaukee, also starring Morgan and Carson, which in turn was an attempt to capture some of the appeal of Paramount's Bing Crosby and Bob Hope Road pictures.
Plot
Song-and-dance men Steve Carroll and Danny Foster walk to a Texas dude ranch after their car runs out of gas. The team's friend, singer Maggie Reed, gets the boys a job. With their auto stolen, the two settle into ranch life. While Danny consults with Dr. Straeger to conquer his fear of animals, Steve courts ranch owner Joan Winston. When their stolen car is used in a robbery, the duo must then find the real culprits.
Cast
Dennis Morgan ...
Steve Carroll
Jack Carson ...
Danny Foster
Dorothy Malone ...
Joan Winston
Penny Edwards ...
Maggie Reed
Forrest Tucker ...
'Tex' Bennett
Fred Clark ...
Dr. Straeger
Gerald Mohr ...
Link Jessup
John Alvin ...
Jim Crocker
Andrew Tombes ...
The Texan
Monte Blue ...
Pete Nash
The Philharmonica Trio ...
Specialty Act
Bugs Bunny cameo appearance
The film is perhaps best remembered today for featuring an animated cameo appearance of cartoon character Bugs Bunny, voiced by Mel Blanc. Friz Freleng, Warner's leading animation director, was assigned to direct the special animated dream sequence, in which Bugs gives some advice to a caricatured Jack Carson.
Bugs would later have a similar cameo in 1949's My Dream Is Yours, which also starred Jack Carson. Bugs Bunny would later appear at the ending of the 1972 Barbra Streisand film What's Up, Doc?.
Production
The film cost an estimated $2 million.[1]
Film connections
Animation historians have noted the similarities between the animated dream sequence in this film and the Looney Tunes cartoon Swooner Crooner (1944). The latter, directed by Friz Freleng's colleague Frank Tashlin, concerned Porky Pig trying to reacquire the female chickens of his farm from a Frank Sinatra-esque rooster, who is driving the chicks away from the farm.
The same year Two Guys from Texas was released, animation director Art Davis parodied the film's title with a Merrie Melodies cartoon called Two Gophers from Texas, starring Mac & Tosh, better known as The Goofy Gophers. The title was spoofed yet again for Freleng's 1956 cartoon Two Crows from Tacos.
Reception
The film earned $2,350,000 in rentals in the US.[2]
References
- Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1
- Two Guys from Texas at the Internet Movie Database
- Two Guys from Texas at AllMovie