A Guy, a Gal, and a Pal
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Oscar Boetticher Jr.
Ross Hunter
Lynn Merrick
Ted Donaldson
George Meeker
Jack Norton
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
As she is about to head East for Washington, D.C. to marry socially prominent Granville Breckenridge, Helen Carter discovers that her fiancé has forgotten to make a train reservation for her and her nephew Butch, and hence they are stranded at the train station. While Helen calls Granville on the phone, Butch meets U.S. Marine Jimmy Jones, who offers to buy the boy a banana split. By the time Helen finds Butch at the soda fountain, the boy has related their tale of woe to Jimmy, who arranges for them to share his compartment to Washington. Jimmy is traveling to Washington to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, and when his fellow passengers recognize his picture in the newspaper, they all rush to congratulate him and assume that Helen is his wife and Butch, his son. When Jimmy declines to join his "wife" in her sleeping car that night, the news sweeps throughout the train, and a general insists that Jimmy and his family sleep in his drawing room so that they can have privacy. The next morning, the train pulls off the tracks and onto some side rails to allow a troop train to pass. When an eager reporter asks Jimmy for his account of his meeting with the general, Jimmy asks him to withhold writing the story until they reach Washington. While waiting for their train to continue its journey, Butch climbs onto a horse- drawn wagon. When the horses become startled and run away with him, Helen and Jimmy pursue the wagon by car. After Jimmy catches the wagon and rescues Butch, Helen rewards him with a kiss. Upon driving back to the station, they discover that their train has left and they are stranded. Informed by the station master that the train's next stop is in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Jimmy buys the man's old jalopy and the three head for Las Vegas. After the car breaks down in the middle of a rainstorm, the three seek shelter in a roadside cabin. The cabin is inhabited by Barclay and Norton, two drunken hunters who think that Jimmy is an intruder. After scuffling with the drunks, Jimmy introduces himself, and they realize that he is the missing war hero and offer to drive him and his family to Las Vegas. When they become lost in the rainstorm, they decide to pitch a tent for the night. The next morning, they awaken to find themselves camped on a Las Vegas golf course. During a dinner in Jimmy's honor that night, Mr. Price, a housing developer, presents Jimmy and his family with a house in recognition of Jimmy's service to his country. After the welcoming committee departs, Jimmy, Helen and Butch are left alone in the house, and as Helen waits to catch a plane to Washington, Jimmy embraces her and tells her goodbye. Upon landing in Washington, Helen relates her adventure to Granville and his disapproving, snobbish mother. Arriving in Washington later that day, Jimmy proceeds to his hotel room and finds reporter Annette Perry waiting for him there. Annette has deduced Jimmy's predicament and offers to accompany him to the awards ceremony as his wife. Meanwhile, Helen, disturbed by her fiancé's and future mother-in-law's attitude, decides to call off the wedding. Encouraged by Butch to find Jimmy, Helen tracks the soldier to his hotel room. Helen is angry when she discovers that there is a woman in Jimmy's room until he explains the situation. When the guard alerts Jimmy that the reporters and photographers are coming to meet the celebrated soldier and his family, Annette produces a judge and proposes they immediately hold a wedding ceremony. Jimmy's mother arrives just in time to witness her son marrying Helen, and by the time the reporters appear, Helen and Jimmy are officially man and wife.
Director
Oscar Boetticher Jr.
Cast
Ross Hunter
Lynn Merrick
Ted Donaldson
George Meeker
Jack Norton
Will Stanton
Sam Mcdaniel
Dudley Dickerson
Alan Bridge
Mary Mcleod
Mary Forbes
Russell Hicks
Nella Walker
Si Jenks
Sam Flint
Chester Conklin
Dick Elliott
Fred Kelsey
Edmund Cobb
John Tyrrell
Thomas Kingston
Carlyle Blackwell
Edwin Mills
Wilbur Mack
Nancy Brinckman
Fred Graff
Fred Howard
Joseph Palma
Frank Stephens
Leila Mcintyre
Marilyn Johnson
Anne Loos
Charles Hamilton
Lyle Latell
Billy Nelson
Ted Holley
Robert Johnson
Olaf Hytten
Don Forbes
Sam Ash
Milt Kibbee
Claire Whitney
Victor Travers
Blake Edwards
Bob Meredith
Bob Lowell
Doug Henderson
Charles Marsh
Charles Jordan
Crew
Gerald Drayson Adams
Irvin Berwick
Monte Brice
Irving Briskin
Hilyard Brown
Charles Clague
Howard Fogetti
Glen Gano
Wallace Macdonald
Russell Malmgren
Otto Meyer
George Montgomery
Marianne Nussbaum
Victor Scheurich
Ivan Volkman
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Private Jones Goes to Washington. A pre-production Hollywood Reporter news item notes that Will Jason was originally slated to direct this picture. Although a Hollywood Reporter production chart credits Charles Clague as art director, Hilyard Brown is listed onscreen in that capacity.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Spring March 8, 1945
Released in United States Spring March 8, 1945
