The Long, Long Trailer

[StevePulaski]

The Long, Long Trailer (1954)
Directed by: Vincente Minnelli

Newlyweds Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz pull a long, long trailer.

Rating: ★★★

A bet that occurred behind the scenes of Vincente Minnelli's The Long, Long Trailer actually finds itself showing the film's age and time-period better than any Anoso-lens or old-school colorization ever could. The film was released in 1954, during the time when I Love Lucy was one of the most-watched TV programs well-into its fourth season, and because of that, MGM believed the public wouldn't pay to see Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz act in a film when they could stay home and watch I Love Lucy at no extra cost. Arnaz was so confident in The Long, Long Trailer and its potential, he bet studio-heads at MGM $25,000 that the film would not only be a box office success but it would surpass Minnelli's other film Father of the Bride, released in 1950. Arnaz walked away $25,000 richer, confident in the brand him and Ball forged as well as the notion that seeing Lucy and Ricky in color was worth a trip to the theaters and putting on Sunday's best.

Good call on the eager public too because The Long, Long Trailer is a very funny movie, unashamedly committed to its premise but not committed to it being a one-note joke - would it ultimately could've been. It concerns the newly married couple of Nicky (Arnaz) and Tacy (Ball), whose marriage gets off to a rocky start not in the form of bickering in-laws but a 36-foot Redman "New Moon" model mobile home, which Tacy has to have upon seeing it on display at an RV convention. She begs her husband for the chance to ditch the hassle of property taxes in the form of a stand-alone home and the alleged luxury of setting up shop wherever they please. At first, it all seems simple, as they drop a couple thousand on the massive trailer, until Nicky finds himself cutting checks for a new car to tow the beast, a secure hook welded to the rear of his car to tow it, and insurance and other liabilities that come in the form of owning a mobile home.

Upon the couple's purchase, the film dives into rather predictable but nonetheless hilarious situational humor that will soon bury anyone's preconceived notions about the romances of taking their home wherever they may go. The first big learning curve for Nicholas, the main driver of the vehicle, is the integral role of "trailer brakes," which need be employed before the brakes of the vehicle to assure the trailer will not jackknife. The mechanic takes a cruise with Nicky only to make the newly married man even more nervous about potential calamity, leaving him haunted with mental images and noises about the possibilities of hands slipping or trailer brakes not coming into play during a hard-stop. It seems like a minor detail but writers Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich know how to wisely utilize it.

Other great, memorable moments of comic simplicity come in the form of Nicky trying to back the trailer up onto a driveway and under an awning to utterly disastrous results, and later, trying to haul the rig while Tacy stands inside trying to cook a meal. This is Laurel & Hardy-quality in terms of comedy and slapstick.

Minnelli has a talent for bringing the right tone and energy to a comedy that requires space and time to build. He worked wonders with Father of the Bride and the underrated Designing Woman years before this. He's also very talented with the way he handles the perhaps the film's most classic sequence, which shows Nicky and Tacy taking the trailer up a steep, windy Sierra Nevada mountain. Minnelli directs with a great level of intensity and suspense as we watches rocks and boulders glide down mountaintops to a thundering crash some hundreds of feet below. It's an utterly ridiculous scene that comes during Nicky and Tacy's first big fight as a married couple, adding to the overall atmosphere in an already tense series of events.

The Long, Long Trailer might as well have been a theatrically released, colorized I Love Lucy movie given the characters of Nicky and Tacy are just Ricky and Lucy in terms of personality (don't even get me started on how the names are basically parodies). It tells a story that would be hard-pressed to be adequately confined to a twenty-two minute runtime and shows exactly what people expect from Ball and Arnaz in addition to highlighting their particular strengths as performers. Beautifully colored, spatially aware, and comically consistent - on top of being rich with situational material - this is a big win in a sense much larger than Arnaz's quick buck (or 25,000 quick bucks to be specific).

Starring: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Directed by: Vincente Minnelli.