"Well I had to do something, he was making a fuss in front of all those people. "

One of the movies that has aged the poorest has to be Bus Stop (1956). The movie is about an innocent cowboy who has never been exposed to anything off his ranch in Montana. He and his friend, the owner of the ranch, go to Phoenix for a rodeo competition. They take a bus, hence the name.

Now I don’t know what audiences thought of the movie at the time it was released, perhaps they thought it was a believable portrayal of an inexperienced cowboy, but for today’s audience this is not the case. In the age of the Internet and massive automobile transportation, not to mention the amount of changes in the ranching industry since 1956, this movie does not seem real. It is like a cartoon, a very annoying one at that.

Don Murray plays cowboy Bo Decker, who seems to yell anytime he speaks. John Wayne, James Stewart, Gary Cooper and Clark Gable he is not in his portrayal of a cowboy. It is an over-the-top performance that really annoys the audience. At the time it annoyed the producers at 20^th Century Fox who wanted Murray replaced or at least have his voice turned down.

The producers were told no by director Joshua Logan, who because of a court order had to make a movie for Fox. They were not happy with Logan’s choice of lead actor, but were pleased with the female lead, Marilyn Monroe. At least until she appeared on-screen in torn clothes.

Bus Stop is Marilyn Monroe at her grimiest. She is not glamorous, like her image portrays her. She had recently left New York to start her own company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, and studied at the Actors Studio. The Actors Studio was home to Marlon Brando, James Dean, Montgomery Clift and other Method actors. So Marilyn was in her artsy phase. This explains the costume, but it doesn’t improve the movie.

Bo makes the trip in the bus to Phoenix. In his first night in the metropolis he meets Cherie, played by Monroe, who is a nightclub singer. Bo falls for Cherie and calls her his angel, his one true love. Being a cowboy, who is used to bossing around cattle, Bo determines he will rope Cherie and carry her off to Montana. Being a person Cherie, and the audience, wish Bo would go back to Montana alone.

For the most part the audience is satisfied, as Cherie keeps Bo from roping her. Bo’s friend Virgil, keeps telling him he can’t act like he is when in the city. Then the inexplicable happens. Bo ropes Cherie and takes her on the bus back to Montana.

Of course Cherie determines she will escape. A snowstorm blocks the road and the bus has to stop off at an inn, causing Cherie to abandon her escape plans.

Bus driver Carl sticks up for Cherie and knocks Bo out. Unfortunately for the audience and Carl, Bo’s knockout causes Cherie to fall in love for him. So things work out for Bo. Things did not work out for the money though.