Rating: NR
Genre:
Musical
Release Date: 04/30/2001
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol/Por
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 101 Minutes
Flags: Child Classic
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
This glorified Technicolor commercial for the Fred Harvey restaurants stars
Judy Garland as a 19th-century mail-order bride. Upon arriving in New Mexico, Garland discovers that her husband-to-be is the town drunk. She cuts her losses and takes a job at the local Harvey restaurant, an establishment which endeavors to bring a little civilization and class to the wide open spaces. Harvey's operation is challenged by saloon-owner
John Hodiak, corrupt-judge
Preston S. Foster, and local-madam
Angela Lansbury. With the help of tenderfoot
Ray Bolger, Garland and her fellow waitresses foil the corrupt elements in town. Prominent in the supporting cast are
Cyd Charisse,
Marjorie Main,
Chill Wills,
Kenny Baker and
Virginia O'Brien (whose musical numbers aren't quite as rambunctious as the contributions of the others, mainly because O'Brien was pregnant during filming). The songs are for the most part perfunctory, with the spectacular exception of the
Harry Warren and
Johnny Mercer's Oscar-winning "Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe."
The Harvey Girls is tenuously based on a more sober-sided historical volume by
Samuel Hopkins Adams.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
;)
