The Paleface is a 1948 American comedy Western film directed by Norman Z. McLeod, starring Bob Hope as a hapless traveling dentist and Jane Russell as Calamity Jane. In the film, Hope performs the song "Buttons and Bows" (written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans), which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song that year and subsequently became a huge #1 hit for Dinah Shore.
Not to be confused with Buster Keaton's 1921 short film of the same name. Followed by a sequel, Son of Paleface, in 1952. Remade two decades later as The Shakiest Gun in the West starring Don Knotts.
This film contains examples of:
- Accidental Hero: Potter alternates between this and being Framed for Heroism by Jane.
- Action Girl: Jane is this to Potter's Non-Action Guy.
- Alliterative Name: Peter "Painless" Potter, the dentist.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The last line of the film:Potter: What do you want, a happy ending?
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The medicine man sentences Potter to be ripped apart by two bent-down trees. Played for Laughs, of course.
- False Flag Operation: Government agents break Jane out of jail, making it look like her gang broke her out, to hide the fact that they've recruited her.
- Framed for Heroism: Potter was hiding in a barrel shooting wildly, but he was lauded for killing the 11 attacking Indians that Jane shot from the window. Later, Jane helps Potter survive a duel with Big Joe the same way.
- Non-Action Guy: Potter is this to Jane's Action Girl.
- The Pardon: Jane is offered a pardon if she can figure out who is smuggling guns to the Indians.
- Plot-Triggering Death:
- The male agents sent to investigate the gun smuggling were killed, so government agents recruit Jane.
- Jane and her contact in Port Deerfield were to pose as a married couple and join a wagon train. When he turns up dead, she marries a hapless dentist and they join the wagon train together.
- Powder Trail: Potter accidentally leaves one wandering through the Indian village. It eventually ignites, and Potter and Jane escape during the ensuing confusion.
- Undercover as Lovers: Potter and Jane, except he doesn't know she's undercover.
- What a Drag: In one of the film's running gags, Potter starts the team of horses, which isn't connected to the wagon. The wagon stays put and the horses drag Potter behind them.
