The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band Movie Review (1968)

If you’re not someone who enjoys movies about politics or that features politics, then today’s movie probably won’t be one you’ll want to see. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.

A Brief Summary

(Taken from D23)

In the year 1888, the eleven members of the Bower family comprise “The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, “ which is practicing to perform at the Democratic Presidential Convention for Grover Cleveland. But their plans go askew when a young Republican newspaperman, who supports Cleveland’s rival, Benjamin Harrison, falls in love with Alice Bower, and convinces even Grandpa that they should move to the Dakota Territory. The family inescapably becomes involved in personal and political problems once they arrive. Difficulties end on Election Day, however, and the family band harmonizes once more.

What works

• There are three things I like about this movie: the casting of Buddy Ebsen, the song Dakota (and its reprise, but not the fact that they had a torch cult thing going on during the performance of Dakota), and the song “Ten Feet Off the Ground.”
  • The “Ten Feet Off the Ground” song is one of the best songs in the movie (not that there’s much competition). Also, it’s a chance to see Buddy Ebsen’s soft shoe dancing. Lesley Ann Warren also sounds really nice when paired with Buddy Ebsen in this song.

What may or may not work

• There’s this scene early on where Alice (Lesley Ann Warren) thinks that she’s meeting Joe Carder (John Davidson), but it turns out to be a gentleman from the Democratic National Committee who had written to her grandfather. The scene itself is relatable and one I’ve seen done often in other shows/movies, but in this movie, it just didn’t work for me. Also, it’s important to note that when she opens the door, she introduces herself, and he doesn’t introduce himself. I had to rewatch that scene to make sure. So the fault is all on him.
• The Grover Cleveland song is super long, and the length wouldn’t bug me so much if it weren’t for the fact that the song is not good. While the DNC man who listens to it says that it’s inspiring and will help people vote more, honestly, I don’t think people would really want to vote after having to listen to such a long song.
• Leslie Ann Warren and John Davidson are paired together in this movie in similar (but not exactly the same) characters as in The Happiest Millionaire.
  • I don’t really like Alice/Joe in this, because Alice could really do a lot better. But since the real Alice did, in fact, marry a newspaperman named Joe, it’s not like she could change partners in this. In any case, they could have done better in writing Joe’s character for this movie. He starts off well, and then once everyone gets to Dakota, he becomes, I wouldn’t say overbearing, but getting up there. He doesn’t really listen to Alice that much, and they seemed to argue more often than not in this. While he wasn’t terrible as love interests go, they did get back together at the end far quicker than I would have liked.
    • Obviously, the clock was running out on the movie, so it’s not like they had much time to work with, but still. I’m not a fan of it.
• Politics are at the core of this movie, considering the setting is focused on the then-upcoming election between Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison. And yes, it’s based on a book written by one of the kids of the family (another similarity to The Happiest Millionaire), but still. The arguments between passionate Republicans and Democrats do absolutely nothing for the enjoyment of this movie.
  • I’m not a fan of Walter Brennan’s character because of this. He never reads the room, and while he has the right to free speech, it could have been toned back A LOT and still come across well.
    • In defense of Grandpa Bower, he did give up his dream of singing in St. Louis at the Democratic National Convention so that his son could follow his heart to Dakota. And he does try to fix his bigger mistakes when they’re in Dakota, but
• I mentioned the song “Dakota” above, and it is one of the better-written songs in the movie. However, the scene that it appears in (not the reprise) is when Joe Carder is trying to convince people to move to Dakota. As the townspeople join in the song, Carder starts passing out (more like tossing) torches to people to hold, and then other people grab torches from around the different pavilions. It’s very cult-like and hilarious while also being creepy.
• The middle section of the movie (the “About Time” song, the kids at school with Grandpa, and the board meeting afterward) drags; it’s not fun to watch, and I would skip it if I could. I didn’t because that’s not the point of this project, but I wanted to skip it so badly.
  • I will say that I do like the scenes between Buddy Ebsen and Walter Brennan (Pa and Grandpa, respectively) during this section of the movie, because they had more depth than most of the movie, and I do like Grandpa’s monologue to the board and the parents during the board meeting.
• The cast is filled with actors I enjoy, but the story and songs do not do them justice.
• I like the first half of the election night party (when they’re all dancing), but after the election results are revealed, there is a huge fight between Republicans and Democrats. It’s entertaining, but also kind of like, “Why are you doing this?” (but I can totally get why.) They don’t have it last super long because the Bower Family band starts playing and quiets them all down.
• The ending itself was eh. Cleveland granted statehood to 4 states before Harrison took office (2 Republican states and 2 Democrat states), thus wiping out any gain the Dakota Republicans were hoping to make in Congress. Everyone agrees to live happily ever after (or at least live civilly)

Honorable Mentions

• For those keeping track, the featured election from this movie will be 136 years this year and will reach 140 years in 2028.
• Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn both appear in this movie. Kurt Russell plays one of the Bower kids, and Goldie Hawn plays “the Giggly Girl” who appears during the final election party scenes. She actually gets a good amount of screen time for only being in the final scenes. I love that this was their first movie together even though they never interact together.
• The Dakota reprise (playing as the Bower family is moving to Dakota) is my favorite, but I also get a kick out of it because when John Davidson’s voice comes in, it has this echo-y effect that cracks me up. Not that it’s bad, because it’s not, at all, but because that type of effect is one I picture being used after a character has passed and a snippet of their song is being played.

Side Questions

• Did the DNC have another option for who would perform? I mean, once the Bowers backed out because they were going to Dakota, how quickly did the DNC find someone else?
  • This is more just my own curiosity talking, since the Bowers’ performing at the convention was a big part of the plot up until they decided to move to Dakota.

Would I watch this movie again?

• Something I didn’t mention above is that I do like that I can now say I’ve seen this movie. But as for watching it again, I would need a very specific reason to do so. While I enjoyed the cast and some scenes from the movie, they wouldn’t be enough to watch the movie again as a whole.

If you’ve seen The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!

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