MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > Season Five Revisit

Season Five Revisit

posted 2 years ago by Garyandfilm (556)
8 replies | jump to latest

Last night, I finished a revisit to season five, as the four finish up Hollywood, then turn around and sail to Europe.

I enjoyed the John Wayne two-parter, the touching nursery school ep and forced myself to watch the pointless "Lucy Goes to a Rodeo." There are a few laughs, but the uninspired musical finale is among the series' worst.

I had fun watching "The Passports" and - in reverence to PJ - caught "Lucy Meets the Queen." The latter is still ho-hum to my eyes, but I had forgotten the fun facial expressions and body language in the finale. But seeing Royalty? Who cares?

I sat through the sluggish "Lucy Gets Homesick in Italy" which, while beautifully acted by Ball, remains a very static offering. I also forced myself to revisit "Lucy Goes to Scotland." While never as bad as it's reputation, it is still a poor man's version of "The Operetta."

I finished out the season with "Lucy's Bicycle Trip" and "Lucy Goes to Monte Carlo", two fun, but far from great eps.

Most of the other season five eps I love, so I deliberately selected shows I haven't seen in years. I have seen "The Great Train Robbery" more recently, so I skipped it, as I really don't care for it.

On to season six...which means...ahem!...Orson Welles.

[–] [email protected] (6247) 2 years ago

I did a season four and some of season five revisit a few months ago.

I enjoyed most of the episodes where Lucy chases movie stars like Cornell Wilde and Richard Widmark. The tour bus scene in the latter is so funny with the bus driver making fun of Lucy.
But I am always turned off by Widmark's "trophy room" of stuffed heads. How on earth is killing wild animals for fun a sport??? Of course his dog sitting on Lucy as she hides under the bear skin rug is funny.

The two parter with John Wayne is always enjoyable. When raving about "The High and the Mighty", Lucy says, "When your motor conked out, MY motor conked out!" That always makes me laugh.

I finally borrowed that film from the library last winter since I was curious.

"Lucy Meets the Queen" starts out strong but ends a bit weak. It's just naturally going to be a letdown because we are never going to actually see Lucy's meeting with her Majesty.
You sound a lot like my sister, "Who cares about royalty?" is her standard response to kings and queens.

For encountering a celebrity, Lucy's meeting with Charles Boyer is a lot funnier. Now I would have enjoyed meeting him!

Lucy's foxhunting episode is always good for a laugh. But she'd never been on a horse before. How in the world did she think she'd stay in the saddle?? Lucy takes a real dislike to Angela Randall. For some reason, she was a real burr under Lucy's saddle (figuratively).

I didn't watch the Scotland episode this time around. I have to be in the mood for it. It's funny but I wish it hadn't been played as a dream sequence. I would have preferred if they'd actually gone to Scotland and Lucy finagled her way into a show that Ricky was doing.

I always feel sorry for Vance and Frawley having to share one costume seeing as how they disliked each other so much!

The Italy episode has some funny moments but the "up and down the stairs" waiting for a phone call gets to be repetitious.

[–] Garyandfilm (556) 2 years ago

I love the fox hunt offering, and felt that in Angela Randall, Lucy has a REAL threat! While Lucy usually imagines the pretty young women are after Ricky (think Rosemary in "Jealous of Girl Singer"), Angela makes no bones about the fact that she's chasing Ricky.

The Cornel Wilde ep is one I loved more as a kid than I do now, but it's still a gem. By contrast, the Widmark show is one I liked as a kid but now truly love. The bus scene IS hilarious, as is Ethel's desperate phone call to Fred.

I finally watched "The High and the Mighty" several years ago and thought it was awful. Soapy, overlong, too many characters and virtually no suspense. Irwin Allen did this type of disaster movie much better in the 1970s.

[–] [email protected] (6247) 2 years ago

The High and the Mighty. On the DVD that I borrowed there was an extra that explained how it WAS a movie of the fifties and modern audiences might not get it. I agree! It is too long and the story dragged on. I can understand how a fifties audience would enjoy it, but the pacing was slow for a modern audience.

Yes, Angela Randall really was a threat to Lucy. It's funny. While the actress was attractive, she was no real beauty that Lucy should have felt threatened by. But I suppose her aggressiveness really stirred up something in Lucy.

[–] Corryveckan45 (181) 2 years ago

I like "Lucy Goes To Monte Carlo" a lot as it's one of the few episodes from the series where I have no issues with Lucy, except perhaps for her lying to Ricky about her accidental winnings (even if her frightened reaction to her pledge "If I'm lying may I drop dead!" is funny).

Unlike many episodes, in "Monte Carlo," Lucy not only doesn't do anything wrong, the poor woman tries again and again to do the RIGHT thing by pointing out she wasn't playing the game and pushing the chips away from her ("I wash my hands!"). I have to admit it does make me wonder about the solidness of the Lucy/Ricky marriage that she's terrified to tell him she won a fortune, however it happened. I do have an issue with Fred, though, because it once again shows that the only time he has any real affection for Ethel is when money comes in to it.

"Lucy and John Wayne" is a funny episode, except Lucy and Ethel commit several felonies in the previous episode when they swipe Wayne's cement block from the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre and seem completely unconcerned about it. In the episode where they're trying to raise money for the trip to Europe by holding a phony raffle, Lucy tells the District Attorney she wouldn't have staged the raffle if she'd known it was a crime. Here, she and Ethel (and Fred) all must know that what they're doing is a set of serious crimes, but they just don't care.

I also dislike the Richard Widmark episode for the Trophy Room scene. I generally turn it off when they camera shows the Water Buffalo head. Also, I don't think the rest of it is very funny, except for Benny Rubin's bit as the bus driver fed up with Lucy.

"Lucy Meets the Queen" is just silly. Are you trying to tell me that every woman who's presented to Her Majesty has to do that very low, to the ground, curtsey? I did like the bellboy's comment about Danny Kaye, though, a sly acknowledgement by the show of Kaye's phenomenal success at the London Palladium.

[–] [email protected] (6247) 2 years ago

In the Monte Carlo episode, I don't think Lucy was actually "terrified" of Ricky anymore than she really thought that he'd hit her in other episodes. It was all exaggerated for comedic effect.
Just like Ralph Kramden's, "Someday, bang, zoom to the moon Alice!" He was all bluster and Alice gave as good as she got.

Lucy wouldn't have been too scared to tell Ricky that she won all that money if she hadn't won it in the very place he told her NOT to go, namely, the Casino. Ricky was a big yeller and Lucy just didn't want to hear it.

"Lucy Meets the Queen" is a favorite of mine. And no, women did not have to bow to the ground to curtsey for Her Majesty. Just another exaggeration for comedic effect.

I've seen newsreels of women curtseying to the Queen and they were very brief little moves. In fact, I saw a documentary about the Royal Family and several times a year they would host a huge lawn party and invite people from all walks of life. An American reporter was there covering it and there was a woman explaining protocol to her.

The woman asked if she should curtsey and she was told, "Well, if you want to but you don't have to."

[–] steven1660 (146) 2 years ago

Season 5 had some good ones. One of my favorites is actually 'return home from Europe' with Lucy on the plane pretending the cheese is her baby. The part where she drinks the baby formula is so funny!

"Lucy's bicycle trip" always makes me mad that they don't just let her through! It's so frustrating lol

[–] Garyandfilm (556) 2 years ago

In my review, Steven, I skipped "Return Home From Europe", as this has ALWAYS been a fave! Lucy drinking the formula is hilarious, as is the entire ep. Mary Jane Croft is excellent as the nosy Mrs. Bixby. A truly classic offering.

[–] [email protected] (6247) 2 years ago

I skipped the return from Europe episode this time around. But it is a favorite of mine.

The baby formula scene, "He hates to drink alone." Hilarious

In a small way there is a moment that I think would fit your "oh come now" thread. Lucy is asked by her seatmate how old is the baby. I forget the exact number of months Lucy said. But "Chester" was definitely supposed to be an infant. Then Lucy goes on to say that he's 25lbs!

Mrs. Bixby is shocked that an infant weighed that much. Lucy answers with, "Too much?"

I always think, come on, Lucy was a mother herself. She surely knew how much a little baby would way. She should have made up a more believable number. Of course it does make her line about not giving him the bottle, "He's too fat anyway", a lot funnier!