User Reviews

NOTES: Second version of the Will James novel. First version in 1933 starred Victor Jory and Irene Bentley. It was introduced and narrated by none other than Will D. James himself. Smoky was remade for the third time in 1966, directed by George Sherman, with Fess Parker as Clint, Diana Hyland as Julie and Hoyt Axton in a combined Burl Ives/Bruce Cabot role. The second version was by far the most expensive, with extensive location lensing in Utah contributing to a whopping negative cost of over $2¾ million. However the investment was never in doubt. Domestic gross alone was over $4 million.

COMMENT: Remakes are a funny thing. Whether you like them or not usually depends on how well you remember the original picture. And for us younger viewers, now that television has completely wrecked film chronology (movies all the way from 1929 to 2012 were shown last week on my local TV), it usually depends on which version you saw first. Now the version of Smoky I saw first was the 1966 one — which I enjoyed very much, despite Sherman's lackluster direction and the obvious use of stock footage from this 1946 version. Although the horse is the real star of both films, the cast of the 1966 version is much more engaging than this one's. True, MacMurray and Baxter are agreeable enough, though he seems a little too old for the part — an impression reinforced by his sometimes obvious facial make-up, and the obvious use of a riding double when the terrain is even the most slightly difficult. Both films "introduce" a country-and-western singer. Burl Ives in this one has plenty of singing but little acting, whereas Hoyt Axton makes such a memorable impression as the brother, the '66 movie is worth seeing just for his performance (and singing) alone. Bruce Cabot plays the brother here and he makes him too bland a villain to stay long in the memory — and his demise is very tame. In fact, the script itself spins out as rather long on dialogue and hokey characterizations. Louis King has directed the location sequences with enough nous to take advantage of magnificent scenery (though even here notice how flat the direction is — no exciting running inserts, it's all rather mundanely shot from fixed camera positions), but otherwise his direction is yawningly unobtrusive. He does nothing to keep our interest in what is a very wandering plot. If it wasn't for the scenery — and Smoky himself — the film would offer little entertainment apart from Burl Ives. (As stated, America's "singing troubadour" offers enough songs to qualify the film as a musical, but he has little else to do). Typical of King's bland approach is the long, made-much-of sequence in which Smoky drags an obvious dummy across the plains. With skilled handling, this sequence could have been built into something exciting. Instead it falls flat. Despite some obvious day-for-night shooting, the color photography is pleasantly hued, though when all's said and done those impressive actual locations really need a big theatre screen to show them off.

I guess your reaction to "Smoky" may depend on how much of Burl Ives,"The Wayfarin' Stranger",you can put up with.He sure sings a lot of corny folksongs.In the forge,round the campfire,in the stables,he pops up pretty durned near everywhere and slows the action down which is not a good thing because unless you are almost obsessive about horses there isn't a lot going on in the first place. The eponymous "Smoky" is a feisty nag captured by mystery man Mr MacMurray who drifts in from nowhere and gets a job on Miss Baxter's ranch "The Rockin' R".He is that movie cliché a man with a hidden past. The fair Miss Baxter soon takes a shine to his cowboyin' ways and of course someone from his mysterious past soon shows up to throw a spanner in the works. This guy turns out to no one's amazement to be MacMurray's evil brother who eventually is quite unpleasant towards Smoky who kicks him to death for his pains. Smoky then runs away to join the circus(well,all right,the rodeo)- the way you do,and MacMurray spends most of the rest of the film looking for him. They are eventually reunited(phew!) and live happily ever after. If Roy Rogers and Trigger are a bit too rock 'n'roll for you,"Smoky" might touch the spot.

I have not seen this film in nearly 40 years but can still remember it. It was on channel 13 in Los Angeles, a local TV station late one evening. I have always loved animals and this film is "one powerful" animal movie. A beautiful black horse named Smoky and I can still remember hearing the song "On Top Of Old Smoky" being sung. Fred MacMurray was his owner until someone steals his horse and puts Smoky in side shows. MacMurray looks all over the country for his beloved horse. After a while he gives up. One rainy night MacMurray notices an old beaten up horse struggling to carry a cart on the road headed his way. He looks and then begins to look with his heart, could it be Smoky? Thank God, it is! As MacMurray rushes to his beloved friend, poor old Smoky looks on with a glazed look. Then as Smoky's beloved owner begins to call and hold him, a faint memory is see in his eyes. Both owner and horse rejoice. Smoky was once a fast and strong horse that had been reduced to just a shell of what he had been. But the love of MacMurray is a true love, not centered on looks but on just what makes up a person or animal. Of Course I was only a little kid of about 7 at the time, but I could not stop crying as I looked at my own beloved dog sitting with me.

I think I was about 10 when I saw this film, so about 30 years ago. Haven't seen it since, but it is one of the first films I have ever seen that sticks in my mind. I remember Clint had to go to war and Smokey was passed onto someone else to take care of him, but they just abused the darling' thing. The horse and cart then their reunion brought me to tears. The sequence with Smokey now broken down and disillusioned with the world got the throat trembling, and the meeting between Clint and Smokey... God I'm teary now! It is probably one of the first animal activist films around to show the love between animal and man, and how some people mistreat them. I'm searching for a copy as well. Or at least for one of the TV stations to rerun it.

(Some Spoilers) Touching and heart-warming little movie filmed in the state of Utah about a bay or black stallion who's tamed by wrangler, or ranch hand, Clint Barkley, Fred MacMurray, after everyone else gave up on him.

Smoky was always free and wild after his mom died when he was barley a year old and his dad, lacking any maternal instincts, left him on his own to survive in the wild. It wasn't until Clint came along that Somky finally was caught and domesticated in Clint's kind and gentle handling of the wild and uncountable black stallion. Getting himself a job at the Rockin' R' Ranch Clint did his best in breaking in wild horses like Smoky but it was his shadowy past that posed a problem for his boss Jeff, Roy Roberts, who felt that he had something to hide.

We later find out that Clint was indeed involved in some chicanery back in Texas that landed him behind bars for six months. This all was to come back to haunt him when Frank Denton, Bruce Cabot, later showed up at the Rockin' R' looking for a job. As we soon found out Frank was the reason that Clint did time behind bars in covering up Frank's crime. What's even more shocking is the reason Clint covered up for Frank in the first place! And how, later in the movie, unappreciative Frank was to Clint for what he so unselfishly did for him! Including getting him a job, against his better judgment, at the Rockin' R' Ranch!

In the film we see Smoky after being stolen by Frank and his gang of horse and cattle thieves ending up in the wild because of Frank's brutal treatment of him. After Smoky is re-captured he's turned over to a rodeo and becomes known as the wild furious and unconquerable broking bronco Cougar. As Smoky is slowly being worn down over the years in the rodeo ring Clint spends all his time looking for the black colt in trying to get him back home to the safety and freedom of the Rockin' R' Ranch.

The beautiful and touching reunion between Clint and an almost unrecognizable, after years of abuse, Smoky was one of the most heart-warming scenes you'll ever see in a motion picture. Smoky now a sad and broken down nag pulling a junk wagon still remembered the kind and gentle Clint, even if at first Clint wasn't quite sure that the horse was Smoky, and his nuzzling his appreciation of what Clint did for him would have you reaching for the nearest box of handkerchief's!

Besides the aforementioned cast in the movie there's also Ann Baxter as the owner of the Rockin' R' Ranch and Burt Ives as Willie the "Singing Cowboy" known in the movie credits as "The Singing Troubadour". This also happened to be Ives first movie with him minus his famous beard and mustache as well as his already hefty frame being some 50 pounds lighter then it eventually became. It was also Slim Pickins first film in, the picking or movie parts were slim for Slim back in those days, a very small cameo role as a rodeo rider.

Most horse centered movies are maudlin and attribute silly behavior to horses. This horse is allowed to act like a horse and does show some affection to Fred Macmurray. Interesting film work showing practical training of a ranch horse. Funny insertion of MacMurray riding the bucking "horse". Multiple horses used as is normal to play the part but not too blatantly obvious. Good movie for learning about 40s stock handling.

In the years immediately following the second world war, there was a cycle of equestrian dramas. Every major Hollywood studio made them, some more successful with audiences than others. This particular crowdpleaser did boffo box office for 20th Century Fox, and it helped cement Fred MacMurray's reputation as a western star. In the 1950s he would headline a series of oaters, not always playing a morally upstanding type, but in SMOKY he is definitely the good guy.

SMOKY had been made by Fox in 1933 with Victor Jory in the lead role as the cowpunch horse tamer. That earlier production featured author Will James as narrator. The 1946 remake differs in a few ways. MacMurray is given the narrating duties, the casting has been slightly modernized and the story now takes place in rural postwar America. The images are presented in saturated, not quite garish, Technicolor. The studio would remake the property again in 1966, with Fess Parker.

I think this story works well, because it is unabashedly simple yet contains deep rumination about man and nature. It concerns itself with the treatment of animals and the need to choose kindness over cruelty. Some of the scenes where the title animal is whipped and nearly starved to death are shocking even by today's standards.

Of course there has to be a slight romantic element. But to the filmmakers' credit, Mr. MacMurray's relationship with the horse remains central. He and Anne Baxter develop a sense of affection when he starts to work on her ranch, but it largely stays backgrounded. Intimacy between them is implied more than it is shown- they never kiss on screen and barely touch hands during one afternoon outing. Smoky is there with them the whole time.

The supporting cast is terrific. Burl Ives, in his motion picture debut, is a blacksmith that rides the range sometimes with the cowhands and brings his guitar along. Mr. Ives sings a half dozen traditional folk tunes, one a splendid rendition of 'Jimmy Cracked Corn' where the rest of the male cast join in. This makes for nice bonding between the men in this picture.

In addition to Ives, we have Roy Roberts as a suspicious ranch foreman; Bruce Cabot as MacMurray's crooked brother; and J. Farrell MacDonald as an old timer. Another old timer is played by Esther Dale as Miss Baxer's grandma. In a classic scene, she disapproves of how Baxter has cared for MacMurray after an injury. So she proceeds to rip the bandage off and start over. Ouch!

Except for Miss Dale's involvement, this is a calming film. It makes one long to ride across the wide open range, even if you've never been on a horse before. The key component of the drama- about the belief one man has in the spirited but tamable quality of an animal- will stay with you long after the movie has ended.