Summer Under the Stars 2011 -- Day Six Review: The Long, Long Trailer

People who go into The Long, Long Trailer expecting to find I Love Lucy on wheels should be forewarned: although similarities exist between the two, including Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's characters being named, respectively, "Tacy" and "Nicky" (versus Lucy and Ricky), the overall tone is quite different between the movie and the television show. In fact, that was one of the only things I didn't like about The Long, Long Trailer: Ball and Arnaz seem to be trying so hard not to turn the film into a cinematic version of their seminal television show that neither seems completely comfortable in their own skin. Ball, especially, is the most subdued I've ever seen her, never once letting loose with a Lucy-style wail or facial expression, thereby making some of the slapstick bits in the film -- as when she tries to make dinner in the trailer while it's moving -- seem almost more distressing than funny.

I did like The Long, Long Trailer, though, particularly the extended bit when the trailer gets stuck in the mud during a rainstorm, which culminates with Tacy tumbling out the trailer door and landing in a giant puddle. The atmosphere is what really counts in a movie like this, because a story about a couple who decides to buy a trailer rather than a house after their honeymoon only works if we can see the good as well as the bad sides of living on the road -- the close proximity; the changing scenery; the community of people who also own trailers. Director Vincente Minnelli manages to make the prospect of driving across the country in a trailer look appealing even as we're cringing at the trouble Tacy and Nicky keep running into. The climax of the film, in particular, when the couple tries to steer the gigantic trailer along a narrow mountain road, is a master-class in mixing anxiety with humor, in a way awkward-fests like The Office could only hope to approach.

Grade: A-