Review of Bus Stop (1956) by Calum B — 20 Aug 2012

Alternately puzzled, lost, desperate, lonely, confused and unexpectedly radiant with happiness, Marilyn Monroe, with a mixture of humor and pain scores her greatest triumph in Joshua Logan's "Bus Stop" creating a complete and deeply touching character...

Singing 'That Old Black Magic' to a noisy crowd of cowpokes who couldn't care less about her efforts to entertain them, Cherie is pleased to discover a fan in Bo, a young and innocent cowboy who has come to make his fortune at the Rodeo and finds himself an Angel to take back to his Montana ranch...The kiss she gives him in appreciation, determines him then and there to be his beloved wife...

Logan gives Don Murray his first and best-remembered screen role, as the gauche simple-thinking cowboy who romances the glamorous 'chantoose'... Marilyn succeeds in making him say "please" which is the point of the whole thing... Murray was Oscar-nominated for his performance...

There are other fine performances in the movie: Arthur O'Connell, delightful as the cowboy's pal who big-brothers him with loving patience; Eileen Heckart amusing as the old time friend; Betty Field, strong enough as the bus stop owner; Robert Bray, firm as the driver of the bus and Hope Lange, so auspicious in her screen debut whom Cherie reveals details of her past...

With a modern Western background and rodeo atmosphere, and with panoramic long shot and overwhelming close-ups in color and CinemaScope, "Bus Stop" is a comedy-drama very well done, and a modest entertainment in familiar American vein...

The film had one of Monroe's most touching songs: 'That Old Black Magic' was as funny as it was heartbreakingâ¦.