Guess I won't be making a trip to the backwoods anytime soon after seeing this advertisement for staying home. Just look at what happened to poor Pete Marshall (MacMurray). Here he is, some nicely dressed bureaucrat trying to do what his job tells him. So out he goes to the sticks to count noses and (shudder! shudder!) meets up with what can only be called The Hillbillies from Heck, otherwise known as the family Fleagle.
First, there's Ma Fleagle (Main) who's just gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson and is now looking for new victims, with a voice about as gentle as an air raid siren. Then there's the brothers Fleagle, Mert and Bert (Whitney), whose combined IQ is about 25, which is just about how many tons their hulking frames can lift. And don't forget dear Granny (Paige) who's just resting up between pot shots at any stranger who mistakes her for their own grandmother. Put them together, courtesy ace director Marshall, and they redefine the whole idea of family values, plus, of course, the whole concept of evolution. And, oh yes, mustn't forget sweet, pretty Elany (Heather)—now, if she could just think as well as she looks or find a new tune with real words, well, who knows.
And get a load of their Addams Family mansion, all secret passages and about as comfortable as a weekend at Alcatraz. Worse, drink the water and you light up like Broadway at midnight—just check out that that roulette wheel dinner. So, pity poor Pete once he crosses the threshold, it's just one hilarious mishap after another. Mix in 30-grand in missing loot somewhere on the premises, a fetching helper for Pete (Walker), plus a hay- bailer from heck, and you've got one of the funniest, most delightful madcaps of the 1940's. A real group triumph. So don't miss it.
