Trouble Along the Way - Region 1 DVD

The script was the work of future Bob Hope writers Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose, and between them and director Michael Curtiz--nearing the end of his long tenure at Warner Bros.--they scuff up Wayne's heroic image in interesting ways. To turn St. Anthony's into a winning football team overnight, Wayne indulges in some outright larceny and extortion; there's even a sly throwaway joke likening his profit-sharing plan for his co-conspirators to a form of "socialism." Instead of the anticipated big-game climax with the St. Anthony's underdogs victorious, the movie veers toward a finale in which several "happy endings" are put on hold till some point in the future. For his part, Wayne gets to deliver more syncopated dialogue than usual, and seems both refreshed and startled by the experience. --Richard T. Jameson