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Sorry, this movie sucks

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Anything with June Allyson draws my attention. A number of my favourite movies include her in the marquee, especially The Glenn Miller Story. While profitable for MGM, 'The Reformer and the Redhead' seems to have all but disappeared for today's viewers. With her husband Dick Powell, I found their interactions much more enjoyable than I expected.Local political conflicts see Kathleen's (Allyson) father dismissed from his position of 20 years at the zoo. With a lifetime of unmanaged anger has her needing a lawyer after assaulting the trophy-hunting daughter of the town's leading citizen, Commodore Parker.Of course the lawyer, Hale (Powell), is already being engaged with Commodore for the probable future as Mayor, and best choice for her defence is suggested to be lawyer Hale. Hale's distrust of the Commodore requires information to resolve, and so we find Kathleen's family to become a source of that info.We are drawn into a somewhat predictable story with fun and clever shooting of cast and animals back at the ranch. For me, a lion peeking over a sofa made me laugh. In this case, a predictable story is part of what made it fun and enjoyable. Allyson and Powell are a great match, in what I believe is the only movie they did together while married (they were both in 'Meet the People (1944)' before their marriage).Don't pass up the chance to enjoy this movie if you can find it.

The Reformer and the Redhead is a fun film to watch because it stars a real life Hollywood couple: Dick Powell and June Allyson. The two are wonderful together, sweet and funny.The film is about a zoo-keeper's daughter and a man running for mayor. When the girl's father is at risk of losing his job for a phony reason supplied by a corrupt power over the city, she enlists the help of the man, hoping for him to stay true to his pledge of being a reformer and to help her. The two become involved in a relationship along with many funny events, several including a sweet lion a la Bringing up Baby.The movie is very enjoyable, but nothing special. It is a breezy film with a good cast, a great choice for a bad day.

A small-town Politician falls for a tom-boyish redhead {sporting a very Rosemary's Baby hairdo}, who just so happens to help run a zoo out in the countryside. He meets "Herman", a lovably affable lion whom he is initially terrified of, which sends him literally up a wall, until he eventually gets used to the whole likable menagerie and falls in love. She whole-heartedly supports her man, gathering up all the local orphans to support the party's cause, which eventually takes him to international travels, at one point forgetting where he was at, which leads to an embarrassing yet most amusing scene, with relief in the end.Unfortunately their love becomes tainted when a despicable plan is revealed by a drunken co-worker, and his public standing is threatened with ill-repute. She is obviously hurt by this betrayal, yet his honesty leads to reconciliation, while right around the same time, another lion escapes from the zoo - that 'ol man eater Caesar, who the poor man believes is actually mild-mannered Herman, which displays another one of the more entertaining scenes when he manages to get the lion into the car. He gets his girl, she gets her man, and all is well in the humanimal kingdom.

The Reformer and the Redhead is a poor man's version of a combination of State of the Union and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington on a more local level. Dick Powell is an ambitious attorney who was raised in an orphanage and now aspires to be mayor of his small California town. On the campaign trail he meets June Allyson, redheaded daughter of Cecil Kellaway who was fired from his job as zookeeper.Through them he learns some interesting facts about the creation of the zoo and after some research he uses his knowledge to blackjack the local boss, Ray Collins, to support his candidacy. Of course when that comes to the attention of June Allyson it throws a great big shadow on their relationship.My guess is that Mr. and Mrs. Powell got this one because Tracy and Hepburn turned it down. As well they should have because I don't think that even their presence could have made it a classic. Politics has and always will be the art of compromise. Powell has certain goals in mind for his community and he can achieve them with Collins' support. In the real world, Powell's silence should have satisfied all concerned. It's like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in that just why was it so important for James Stewart to have his national boys camp at that location where it was interfering with some pet graft scheme of Edward Arnold. It's the weakness of that film and it's an even more glaring weakness in this film.In a way The Reformer and the Redhead is also a looking glass version of an aspect of All the King's Men. In that one an upright judge who is now the Attorney General of that state through some diligent research by John Ireland is blackmailed by Broderick Crawford and kills himself. Just what is the role of blackmail in our political system.The more serious questions The Reformer and the Redhead raises are smothered over with some comedy concerning June and Cecil's bizarre collection of ailing zoo animals, including a lion named Herman they keep as a house cat. I can't really blame Powell for that, I have a neighbor who has kept an alligator for one for years. I've seen Albert the Alligator from a very discreet distance.The Reformer and the Redhead is good, not great, but entertaining enough in the comedy department. But it leaves more questions unanswered when dealing with the more serious aspects of the film.