Paint Your Wagon is the tale of a gold mining town in California in the 1840s – before it became a state and before there were many ‘good’ women in the territory.
Main story centres around a menage a trois. Lee Marvin, his pardner Clint Eastwood, and Marvin’s wife (Jean Seberg) are the trio.
Director Joshua Logan has captured best the vastness and beauty of the country; the loneliness of men in womenless societies.
What the $17 million-plus film (from the 1951 Lerner-Loewe Broadway musical) lacks in a skimpy story line it makes up in the music and expert choreography. There are no obvious ‘musical numbers’. All the songs, save one or two, work neatly, quietly and well into the script. The actors used their own voices, which are pleasant enough and add to the note of authenticity.
1969: Nomination: Best Adapted Music Score
