Banjo on my Knee is the story of a "land girl" played by Barbara Stanwyck who marries into a family of river dwellers. On her wedding night, some guy gets fresh with Stany, and her new groom, played by Joel McCrea, pushes the man overboard. When he doesn't immediately resurface, everyone assumes he's dead and Joel decides he has to go on the lamb and leave his new bride at home.
The cast is jam-packed with my favorite stars. Barbara Stanwyck is amazing as the lonely out-of-place newlywed, and her understated performance is spectacular as usual. Walter Brennan plays her father-in-law, a super sweet lovable old guy who plays folksy favorites on his "contraption," an instrument made out of old bottles and do-dads. And then there's Buddy Ebsen tap-dancing and singing along to the music. Oh, and singer Tony Martin makes an appearance as a restaurant entertainer, appearing in the credits as "Anthony Martin."
They all make up for Joel McCrea. Oh, Joel. He's one of my favorite actors, but by golly do I despise him in this movie!!! He's such a hot-headed mess; insanely jealous and abusive. I've seen this movie a dozen times, and each time I hate his character even more. The worst part is that I don't think you're supposed to hate him! The movie is definitely structured to make you root for Stany & Joel getting together in the end, but I guess my modern mind makes me wish she could escape the inevitable abusive relationship she's getting herself into.
The absolute *best* part of this movie, hands down, is the music. It's not quite a musical, more like a drama with some musical numbers thrown in (and they all seem to fit, not like people just randomly burst out into song in mid-sentence.) And Barbara Stanwyck did her own singing! I wish she did this more often, because she had such a unique, beautiful voice. I uploaded one of the musical numbers to my old site a while back, if you want to have a listen! :)
