Callaway Went Thataway

Where in blazes is Smoky Callaway? The onetime B-Western singing star is riding high via TV airings of his old flicks, but he's been missing for a decade. If he doesn't turn up soon, promotional whiz kids Mike Frye (Fred MacMurray) and Deborah Patterson (Dorothy McGuire) will lose their meal ticket. So they turn up the next best thing, Colorado cowpoke Stretch Barnes (Howard Keel), an uncanny lookalike who fills Smoky's boots surprisingly well. But the humble hick could be headed for a fall. Found down Mexico way by his conniving agent (Jesse White), the real Smoky (a second helping of Keel as a boozing Hyde to Stretch's Jekyll) emerges from exile to reclaim his newfound acclaim and income. Cameos from Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor and Esther Williams (and a small early role for Stan Freberg) are sprinkled among hilarious observations of branding and celebrity media malarkey in this breezy bauble written, produced and directed by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank (The Court Jester. LI 'l Abner). Crowd-pleasing comedy is this-a-way.