Although filming on this started before Bernadine had even hit cinema screens, 20th Century Fox must have been pretty confident in the appeal of Pat Boone because they have him the deluxe treatment for his sophomore effort - colour, Cinemascope, a name co-star in Shirley Jones, whose girl next door persona and peachy keen beauty matches perfectly with Boone. She's a feisty horse loving girl living in the country, a tomboy type, who falls for Pat, who's been shunted off to his uncle's farm as part of a parole for joyriding in a stolen car.
We never see Pat joyride in that stolen car, despite the clear opportunities for excitement - maybe Pat was worried about being seen do something so bad. We don't see him kiss Jones - she goes in for a kiss but he pushes her away (this is motivated by story at the time), and at the end he goes to kiss her but they are interrupted. It feels odd - these sort of movies are so wholesome you need a kiss as a form of release and you don't get it.
It also felt weird to see so many scenes were Boone is driven around by people, especially girls; this is motivated by plot (he's lost his licence), and I know it's because of my societal conditioning - but there you go.
The storyline was used by Fox before as Home in Indiana, which explains why the subplot involves Boone learning to harness race - yep, that's right, a film with a pop idol around harness racing. But the public liked it - this was a hit. It's often forgotten the clean teen pics of Boone were as big as Elvis for a while there.
As an entertainment, this isn't much chop. Jones is good, as is Arthur O'Connell as his cranky uncle; there's a sweet moment at a country dance where guests have to show off a talent and this chubby lady plays the trumpet (Boone sings the title song); I also enjoyed the musical number at a picnic where Boone, Jones and two of their friends are mucking around singing a number. The story is super light but there are pretty pictures and horses, and Boone is handsome and engaging enough, although his inexperience does show. He wasn't as natural a screen performer as Elvis.
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