Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

HotToastyRag In Pigskin Parade, a misunderstanding leads to a pretty funny comedy of errors. College bigwigs intend to invite a strong football team to the championships, but instead they invite the team of another college with a very similar name. That team is terrible, so they send out for a new coach-who's also terrible!Jack Haley stars as the poor excuse of a coach, with Patsy Kelley by his side as his wise-cracking wife. If you liked Jack in Poor Little Rich Girl, you'll be cracking up just as much as I was at his similar rapport with Patsy in this musical comedy. He's so endearing when he's an idiot, isn't he? Patsy is hilarious with her no-nonsense, common sense solutions, and underneath it all, you can tell she's still crazy about her goofball husband.Stuart Erwin, a veteran actor by the time 1936 rolled around, was nominated for an Oscar for his aw-shucks hick-turned-football-star role. It's almost funny when you see this movie to think that this was the one that won him ecognition from the Academy, when he did much more acting in 1933's Hold Your Man. Other soon-to-be stars joined the cast, including Betty Grable, Tony Martin, and Judy Garland in her very first film. If you decide to rent this, just be prepared for a very low-budget comedy, with lots of random songs interspersed to stretch out the story.

Rob-120 "Pigskin Parade" only has one thing wrong with it. It's kind of lousy. But as far as musicals go, it's a *good* kind of lousy.I've seen Hollywood musicals that bored the hell out of me. I've seen musicals where the songs were lifeless and dull, and the musical numbers put you to sleep. I've seen musicals where the acting in between the musical numbers was sheer cinematic torture. I've seen musicals where the performers seemed to be sleepwalking through the movie, and where the characters they were playing were so brain-dead and annoying that you just wanted to whack 'em upside the head with a tube sock full of wood screws! "Pigskin Parade" is silly and corny, but it is never boring. The musical numbers are not great, but they are always fun to watch. The characters are stereotypes, but the cast plays them with such enthusiasm that you can't help liking them.The plot: Bessie and Winston "Slug" Winters (Patsy Kelly and Jack "Tin Man" Haley) arrive at Texas State University to coach the football team. Although they spend most of the movie arguing with each other in Ralph-and-Alice-Kramden mode, they make an effective coaching team. Their big success comes when they discover Amos Dodd (Stuart Erwin), a country bumpkin farmer who can hurl a melon with missile-like accuracy. They immediately sign him up as the new quarterback for the football team.Texas State is mistakenly invited to play in a charity football game against Yale. (They wanted the University of Texas, but sent the invitation for the game to the wrong university.) Will the Texas State team win the game? Will Amos Dodd score a game-winning touchdown in the final seconds of play? What do you think? This is one of those "college musicals" where all the college students look as if they are about thirty years old. Most of the songs are sung by a nutty quartet of "sophomores," played by the Yacht Club Boys. They look old enough to be visiting their kids at the college on Parents Day. (One of them even admits that he has been in college for seven years -- beating John Belushi to the movie line by 42 years.) The musical numbers are not great, but they are a lot of fun to watch. There is one called "You're Slightly Terrific," which pretty much describes the entire soundtrack. The songs are "slightly terrific," but not overly so.The songs written and sung by the Yacht Club Boys have a great satirical edge to them. They sing "We'd Rather Be In College," in which they admit that, with the Depression raging, they are better off in college than they would be in the current job market; "Down With Everything," a *wonderful*, vigorous musical number that satirizes college revolutionaries, sung to a would-be college Trotsky. And "We Brought The Texas Sunshine With Us," which the Yacht Club Boys sing in the middle of a snowstorm at the Yale football game.And then there is Judy Garland in her feature film debut, playing Amos Dodd's country-bumpkin sister. The first time we see her in the movie, she is barely recognizable, wearing overalls and sporting pigtails, and using a phony Texas accent. ("Hey, yuh wanna buy a melon?") Within a few scenes, however, she has been transformed (offscreen) into a college girl/young starlet. In her first few scenes, she tells everybody, "I can sing. Wannuh hear me?" It takes a few scenes before someone lets her sing -- and *dammit,* can she ever sing! Her first big-screen musical number is the tail-end of the song, "The Balboa!"--a rather rocky (har!) college dance number, sung at the TSU Homecoming Dance. ("The Balboa" was no "Carioca" or "Continental," although it tried to be.) From there, she sings "The Texas Tornado" and "It's Love I'm After." And if you saw this movie in 1936, you just *had* to know that Judy was going to be a major star! To quote the great Roger Ebert, "I cannot recommend the movie, but ... why the hell can't I? Just because it's godawful? What kind of reason is that for staying away from a movie? Godawful and boring, *that* would be a reason." Well, I *could* recommend "Pigskin Parade." It's not exactly "godawful," but it *is* lousy. But despite the lousiness, you will have a good time watching it. You won't love it the way you love "Wizard of Oz" or "Singing in the Rain." But you will like it -- as long as you accept the lousiness of the movie and go with it.

bkoganbing Stepping into the role that was usually reserved for Jack Oakie in these college films is Stu Erwin in Pigskin Parade. That substitution got for Erwin a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the first year of the Supporting Players categories at the Academy Awards.Pigskin Parade is typical of the college films of the Thirties when students were hardly expected to think about anything of social or political significance. The main thing on the minds of the folks at Yale was who to play in a tune up charity game before the big annual match with Hah-vard. In fact the one guy in the film who does think about issues is Elisha Cook, Jr. and he's a figure of ridicule. Although it is kind of funny how the fraternity boys use his radicalism to help them in their cause of victory over Yale. But to the students and faculty at Texas State University in Prarie, Texas this is one big deal to show up those Yankees. They have a sad sack football team with a brand new coach from Yankeeland himself in Jack Haley. Although truth be told, it's his wife Patsy Kelly who's the real brains here. A lot of the comedy with Kelly and Haley involves her showing him up and not being too diplomatic about it.In fact she has the unique idea of utilizing the championship basketball of the school as football players in a unique passing game. Kelly also with Betty Grable and Johnny Downs who discovers Stu Erwin, a natural quarterback in a melon field, heaving melons across it. Thrown in as a bargain is Erwin's little sister Judy Garland who becomes the team mascot.This film was Judy's feature film debut, she would not make another film outside MGM until she left that studio and did A Star Is Born in 1954. Her songs are negligible, but her talent is apparent to all.The best song in the film is done by another guy just getting started in the picture business. Tony Martin sings You're Slightly Terrific at a pep rally and he was also going places.Further down the cast list is Betty Grable and even further down is Alan Ladd who you can see in some of the scenes at the fraternity house and at the football game. Pigskin Parade is a pleasant enough film with a whole lot of talented people showing their stuff. Did these kids ever go to class in these schools?

dreammaster4 This enchanting musical comedy is notable for being the feature film debut of 15 year old Judy Garland!It also feature Betty Grable, long before she become a Hollywood legend.Filled with charming original song and dance numbers including three memorable stand-outs performed by Judy Garland,this funny,satirical football farce is an entertainment "touchdown"!Genuinely Funny,most entertaining!If you love Judy you got to see this one.She as always is perfect.JUDY!!