"Ozarks" opens with the Kettle family making a scene in the train station... and the slapstick comedy and antics continue when they finally get on the train. The Kettles, minus Pa, are on their way to visit Pa's brother in the Ozarks. This was the second-to-last episode in the collection. Keep an eye out for big stars Richard Deacon (was Mel Cooley on D.V.Dyke Show) as Big Trout, the Indian, and Una Merkel, (old time movie star) is Bedelia Baines. A twelve year old Bonnie Franklin (the Mom on One Day at a Time) is even in here as Betty ! About halfway through, we are introduced to the "bad guys", who are planning some sort of caper. Things move a little more slowly in this adventure... it was getting a little tired by this time. Ma Kettle yells "Come and Get it !" every few minutes, scaring the daylights out of everyone around. It's a pleasant mix of pratfalls and jokes. Fun running gag of a boot-wearing goose. Also a funny scene where all the farm animals get drunk...they probably wouldn't be allowed to make that scene today. This was the first one without Pa (Percy Kilbride), but Ma reads letters from him a couple times. Directed by Charles Lamont, who had directed about half of the "Kettle " films. He also worked with the Three Stooges, as well as Abbott and Costello, so he certainly worked with the Pros!

This isn't the first time I've seen a group of drunken farm animals on screen getting frisky or acting whacked out. That's because, in this case, they've gotten into the hooch kept hidden in Uncle Kettle's barn by bootleggers (post-prohibition!) who don't realize what they are up against when Ma Kettle and 13 of her 16 kids show up in the hills to help Pa's brother (Parker Fennelly) pay off his mortgage and get together with his lady love (Una Merkel). Pa is missing in this one, Percy Kilbride having retired. But Ma (Marjorie Main) is still as full of vinegar as always, reuniting her brother-in-law with the locals whom he mistakenly feels are snubbing him, then dealing with the city folk who think that mountain folk are fools. There are lots of funny gags (such as Ma's ordeal in a train station because of their cat-chasing pooch, and the aforementioned drunken animals), but I swear I've seen many of them in previous installments. (This was my first viewing of this entry.) But these flaws are minor; The film is fast moving and filled with irony (Fennelly being almost identical to Pa in every mannerism, including the Native American pals), but it is obvious that the writers were beginning to stretch their ideas rather thin.

I recently watched The Kettles In The Ozarks with my family and we had a wonderful time! This was the ninth movie in the Kettle series and I went in to it wondering how they were going to come up with anything novel in the ninth film of the series. Fortunately there are indeed some funny moments in this one and it's pretty darn good for a part nine. It certainly made us smile. The Kettles in the Ozarks is really an enjoyable little movie with plenty of cute, charming, and funny moments. I laughed out loud quite a few times. Pa's brother is a hoot and the inebriated animals made me almost bust a gut! No it's not an artistic masterpiece, but it is darn fun!

Where Percy Kilbride was for this outing I'll never know (does somebody know?). The humour is at best forced. I suppose as they were nearing the end of the series, ideas were running low.Here's a bit of a *spoiler*, but why the heck would there be bootleggers in 1956 making illegal sourmash corn whiskey when real whiskey most likely was selling for almost the same price as kool-aid back then? Maybe I'm just picky, but the choice of bad guys and their money making scheme seems a little thin. I realise it is a comedy, but the Three Stooges or Abbott and Costello, at their worst, were far more entertaining than this poor excuse for a comedy! Certainly, this picture is not up to par with some of their more humorous, earlier pictures. A four out of ten at best!