The Paleface

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The Paleface

1948,

1h 31m,

Western/

Comedy

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Watchlist

100%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

64%

2,500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

9 Reviews

64%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Calamity Jane (Jane Russell) is working undercover for the U.S. government, trying to capture a gunrunner named Terris (Robert Armstrong) in exchange for a pardon for her previous misdoings. But when Jane's partner is killed, she takes up with bumbling dentist Painless Peter Potter (Bob Hope) and passes him off as a gifted gunslinger. When Jane is captured by a tribe of Native Americans, however, Potter finds that he actually has to play the hero that Jane has painted him to be.

Bob Thomas

Associated Press

Jun 20, 2019

Cheerful nonsense.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Jul 20, 2020

3/4

Hope milks his coward routine for maximum impact; Russell is also terrific.

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Feb 14, 2011

B-

The plot is slender and silly, but Bob Hope and Jane Russell have some good moments in a comedy that was very popualar and led to an equally popular sequel.

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Steve Crum

Kansas City Kansan

Oct 16, 2004

4/5

Funny Hope western farce, but inferior to its sequel "Son of Paleface."

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Bob Bloom

Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

Nov 6, 2002

3/5

Hope at his peak; Russell in top form; a winner.

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Feb 2, 2019

The best movie song ever sung: Buttons and Bows!

Rey P

Oct 12, 2018

The comic idea is simply to subvert the familiar Western formula expected by audiences. Thus, Russell plays the tough one, the one good with guns, while Hope is the nervous Easterner out-of-his-depth out West, who couldn't hit the side of a barn if he was inside of it. There's a plot perhaps, but let's not get technical, this is a personality vehicle, riding on the stars' charisma. It's one of those where you imagine the cast had a good time making it, and that that might even be a better movie. Unfortunately ... the racism towards Native Americans is often more than distracting. Still, a good Hope movie, and Russell seems happy not to have the focus on her chest for a change. Look for Chief Iron Eyes Cody!

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Norman Z. McLeod

Director

Bob Hope

"Painless" Peter Potter

Jane Russell

Calamity Jane

Robert Armstrong

Terris

Iris Adrian

Pepper

Bobby Watson

Toby Preston

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Synopsis

Calamity Jane (Jane Russell) is working undercover for the U.S. government, trying to capture a gunrunner named Terris (Robert Armstrong) in exchange for a pardon for her previous misdoings. But when Jane's partner is killed, she takes up with bumbling dentist Painless Peter Potter (Bob Hope) and passes him off as a gifted gunslinger. When Jane is captured by a tribe of Native Americans, however, Potter finds that he actually has to play the hero that Jane has painted him to be.

Director: Norman Z. McLeod
Producer: Robert L. Welch
Screenwriter: Edmund L. Hartmann, Frank Tashlin
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Western, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 24, 1948, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 10, 2017
Runtime: 1h 31m

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