Directed by: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney
Starring: Roy Rogers, Dennis Day, The Andrews Sisters
Melody Time is one of the weird war films that Disney made that were basically just a bunch of shorts packaged together in film form. This one doesn’t even attempt to have a bridge between the segments, they just kinda show a bunch of unrelated crap. It’s almost Fantasia-ish, but not quite.
There are several sequences in Melody Time. And now I’m going to tell you about them. Exciting, isn’t it? There are a couple Fantasia-type sequences about kids ice skating or a bee, but they weren’t very interesting or visually compelling, so who cares. The three I remembered from this movie were a stupid one about a tugboat, a really, REALLY long retelling of Johnny Appleseed, and Roy Rogers singing about Pecos Bill.
I think I’ve seen the Johnny Appleseed one before, but I know for sure that I’ve seen the Pecos Bill one. You know why? Because Pecos Bill is AWESOME. He carved the Rio Grande because he was thirsty one day. To propose to his filly, he shoots down all the stars in the sky except for one, hence naming Texas the “Lone Star” state. He rode a cyclone and rolled a cigarette in his mouth while doing so, LIGHTING IT WITH LIGHTNING. PECOS BILL IS AWESOME.
The funny thing is, I was watching this with my girlfriend, who is from Texas, and she’d never even heard of Pecos Bill before! If only because she finally learned the origin of all the things about Texas, this movie was worthwhile. Unfortunately, you do have to listen to Roy Rogers sing about it the whole time. Oh well.
Films in Boxes 
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