Product: Road to Rio (1947)
Rating: 5.0
Great Fun with Bing, Bob, and Dottie!
"Road to Rio", along with 1942's "Road to Morocco", are considered the apex of the Crosby/Hope "Road" series, and for good reason; the music, comedy, and general silliness mesh perfectly...and for my money, "Rio" is TOPS!The songs are first-rate, from the opening "Apalachicola, FLA" (with it's 'caboose' finale), to a wonderful Bing ballad, "But Beautiful", to a show-stopper with the Andrews Sisters, "You Don't Have to Know the Language", to a nearly risqué "Experience" from Dorothy Lamour...the comic routines feature Bing and Bob at their best, from a homage to the Marxes' barbershop routine from "Monkey Business", to a hypnotized 'duel'("I hate you, I loathe you, I despise you..."), to a silly finale dance number (with Bob in drag, of course)...and the one-liners are hilarious (Lamour: I don't know what came over me! I found myself saying things, and I didn't know why I was saying them!Hope: Look, why don't you just run for Congress and leave us alone?).Norman Z. McLeod was a superb comedy director, and he manages to maintain a semblance of plot midst all the craziness (which is a major reason this film 'works' better than, say, "Road to Bali"), and, for the second film in a row, BOB gets the girl (disproving the myth that Bing always did, every picture).From Hope on a high-wire, to Jerry Colonna leading a cavalry charge, "Road to Rio" is a winner, from beginning to end...Don't miss it!