It is interesting that Buddy Ebsen managed to get this one in between seasons of his CBS series. His role is more quiet and reserved in this movie than Uncle Jed, and he has to mail order a bride since Elly Mae is not available. Too bad since Donna Douglas would not do badly here.Lois Nettleton, Marie Windor and Barbara Luna are much more mature ladies here, than Douglas would have been. There is some solid male acting here with Warren Oates getting lessons on how to be the bad guy he would become in the classic Bonnie & Clyde which comes later. The plot has Will Lane (Ebsen) assigned by a friend to protect his son from himself as the young man is a lot irresponsible, After getting full exposure of the kid, he decides the only way to get the kid to settle down is get him a woman. I think it is more of a way to torture a woman but somehow this actually works pretty well and this film turns into a minor success. Hey, not every summer vacation movie can turn into a "Psycho" Especially when the master is not behind the camera.

This movie was on TCM so I tried it out. Its the story of Will Lane, an older man who travels to Montana to seek Lee Carey, the son of an old friend. The reason Lane does this is to try to make Carey into a responsible man, apparently a promise he made to Carey's deceased father. Carey turns out to be fond of drinking, women and gambling, so in order for Lane to calm him down he travels to find him a mail order bride. From there, we'll see whether Carey is tamed. This is a basic western, with drama and light comedy. Buddy Ebsen as Lane is fine, and the film is easy to watch. Its nothing special but I still didn't mind it. I'm not particularly fond of Westerns, and this does not rank anywhere near John Wayne's best but its not bad. I was never a big fan of Mr. Ebsen's TV work, but this is a decent film. A curious bit of casting is Jimmy Mathers, Jerry's brother, as the bride's son. He is in a very small role but it was interesting anyway (I didn't know he had a brother). So, if you like westerns or are just looking to pass the time, I think its watchable. Go ahead, its worth it.

Buddy Ebsen plays an older man who honors a dead friends request to go back and find his son and tame him by marrying him off to one of those mail order brides whom he finds in a saloon. This concept has been done before and since and the music when Ebsen is off on his cupids errand makes it sound like your in for a musical and Ebsen looks so out of place. In the midst of his Jed Clampett days in 1963-64 when this movie was filmed and came out , all he is missing is the accent and Jed's hat. The movie is boring with bland characters and really tiresome dialog, the young man whom Ebsen tries to get hitched doesn't want a bride and only doing it so Ebsen will leave and give him the deed to his dads land. The actor playing the young man and the woman playing his bride are so boring to watch , no chemistry and you wonder how they will end up together which you know they will.In the end there is a gunfight and Ebsen's character leaves the couple whom have decided to stay married with her little boy(played by Jimmy Mathers ,the older brother of Leave it to Beavers Jerry Mathers,another commenter mistakenly posted that he was played by Jerry).You think Ebsen may end up alone as the camera pulls back to him riding away but in the final scene he goes back to the saloon where he found the young bride and you hear wedding bells music,he straightens his tie and goes into the saloon fade out. This last scene refers to an earlier scene when he walks into the saloon looking for what he thinks is a young woman placing an ad for a husband and it turns out she is the owner of the saloon and middle aged. She takes a fancy to Ebsen and thinks he's there for her, so in the end he does care for her ,and ends up going back to pursue her.The rest is left up to the audience to surmise the happy ending. I found the movie boring and Ebsen so out of place - I'll bet he wanted to do his part in one day and be done with this bland movie.One thing I do admit that at 56 yrs old ,Ebsen was hardly elderly looking or an old man as the plot indicates - in fact he was handsome and sexy for his age at that time. Overall i give the movie 3/10 ..Not terrible but not good either.

Old fashioned western comedy with an interesting cast. Keir "2001" Dullea plays a wild young man and Buddy "Barnaby Jones" Ebsen plays a friend of his dead father who should learn him how to behave. Warren Oates and a very young William Smith play his bad friends.