Classic kids, or 100 films the kids in your life have to see by 13 or else!
Day 51: The Harvey Girls (1946)
Okay, I am a sucker for anything with Judy Garland. I remember almost dropping a film Professor's class in the early 1980s because he said Garland was overrated. He was wrong and obviously NEVER saw the Harvey girls. This movie is campy, over the top, and silly at times, but always engaging. Directed by George Sidney, besides Judy, there is the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz, Ray Bolger, and a very young Angela Lansbury playing a dance hall girl. The film earned an Academy Award for best song "on the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe" written by the prolific Johnny Mercer and Harry Warren.
Judy plays a dreamer, who by accident joins a group of ambitious women, who have come out west to work for the Harvey Restaurants. The community between the women, is fun to watch.
Themes: Dreams, the myth of the west, community
Media literacy questions for kids: What story of the West does the film focus on? What is the key value the film promotes? How do the filmmakers suggest the late 1800s? What is the film's genre?
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