Comin' Round the Mountain is a 1951 film by Abbott and Costello, and their eighth under Universal Studios after its reorganization into Universal-International.
Al Stewart (Abbott) is a theatrical agent in New York, with Wilbert Smith (Costello) as one of his performers, an inept escape artist known as "The Great Wilbert". During a nightclub performance, Wilbert lets out a scream that his fellow performer, "The Manhattan Hillbilly" Dorothy McCoy, recognizes as the signature yell of her kinfolk. Discovering that Wilbert is actually the grandson of "Squeeze Box" McCoy, she takes he and Al down to Kentucky to meet his kinfolk and hopefully recover Squeeze Box's hidden treasure. Hilarity ensues as Wilbert must marry in order to receive its location, while a feud reignites between the McCoys and the neighboring Winfields.
This film contains examples of:
- Accidental Aiming Skills: The first time he gets his hands on a rifle, Wilbert accidentally shoots a Winfield's rifle in two.
- All There in the Manual: Throughout the film, the girl Wilbert gets engaged to is only referred to as "Matt". The credits reveal her real name is Clora.
- Arranged Marriage: Granny tries to arrange a marriage to another member of the clan for Wilbert. Unfortunately, she's much younger, and he's more interested in Dorothy.
- Berserk Button: Granny gets trigger-happy when someone calls her an "old woman". It gets triggered three times, each time resulting in her shooting someone's corncob pipe.
- Broken Echo: When Wilbert yells "I'm Wilbert Smith!", the echo answers back "You look like a McCoy!", freaking him out.
- Chain of Deals: When Wilbert needs to win the turkey shoot to prove his worth, Al bribes someone to make sure he wins. That man in turn bribes another guy to do the same, and the second guy bribes a third guy, who bribes a fourth guy. Unfortunately, the other guy gets caught out, resulting in a resurgence of the McCoy-Winfield feud.
- Chairman of the Brawl: Wilbert warns Devil Dan Winfield that Winfield will "get the chair" when he tries to kill Wilbert. Devil Dan dismisses this, stating that every judge on the local circuit is a Winfield, only to find out Wilbert meant it literally when Dan's hit with a chair by Matt.
- Escape Artist: This is The Great Wilbert's act at the start of the film, though he's terrible at it.
- Flying Broomstick: Aunt Huddy has one, which even has a windshield and windshield wiper, to Wilbert's amusement.
- Girls with Moustaches: Referenced at the county fair, where Dorothy sings about "the famous Sadie Brown", a bearded woman who eventually has a daughter with a mustache.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: When his family rename Wilbert after his grandfather, the ceremony involves smashing a bottle over his head. Later, the jug of love potion also gets smashed over Al's head.
- Hillbilly Moonshiner: It's shown in passing that the McCoys have a still set up, which first gets noticed when it lets out an explosion. Toward the end of the film, it explodes again.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: While explaining what he inherited from his grandfather, Wilbert finds his grandfather's revolver and immediately starts pulling the trigger while aiming at the floor. Al takes it from Wilbert, but (still pointed at the floor) pulls the trigger himself several times, firing the one round loaded, unbeknownst to either. The result is more annoyance by Wilbert and their companions than anything else.
- The Jailbait Wait: Played for laughs with the "You're 40, She's 10" routine, featured in this movie when Al asks Wilbert how long he has to wait for Matt to be his age before marrying:Al: Now here's the question: how long do you have to wait before you and the little girl are the same age? Now go ahead now, there's a very simple question. Think hard.
Wilbert: I mean, the whole thing's ridiculous.
Al: What's ridiculous?
Wilbert: If I keep waiting for that girl, she'll pass me up!
Al: What do you mean!?
Wilbert: She'll wind up older than I am!
Al: What're you talking about!?
Wilbert: She'll have to wait for me!
Al: Why should she wait for you!?
Wilbert: [with emphasis] I was nice enough to wait for her. - Lady Looks Like a Dude: When he initially meets his "fiancee" Clora, Wilbert mistakes her for a him (not helped by her father calling her "Matt").
- Love Potion: Wilbert is provided with one to win Dorothy over after she falls for a Winfield with a similar background to her (having moved up north and only returned home for a visit), only for he and Matt to accidentally drink it and each fall for the first person of the opposite gender they see (Matt and Al, respectively). Hilarity Ensues; fortunately, it wears off before any wedding goes off. Later, Devil Dan accidentally gets a dose, and promptly falls for Wilbert, though in his case it ends up triggering only friendship and brotherly love until it wears off.
- On One Condition: Wilbert is ultimately told he can only learn the location of the family treasure if he's married. Chaos ensues, as he's hesitant to get married at all, and the one woman he likes is into another man, while another girl in the clan (who's too young for his tastes) is interested in him and ultimately only gives him the map if he agrees to marry her; he runs off with the map instead.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: After getting engaged, Wilbert overhears two of his cousins planning to "kill him" for the wedding. They're talking about a suckling pig, but Wilbert initially thinks they're talking about him until Granny clears up the mistake.
- Recognizable by Sound: Wilbert's scream during his escape act is recognized by Dorothy as the "McCoy clan yell", setting off the main plot as she takes he and Al down to Kentucky to meet the other McCoys and puts him on the path to finding the McCoy family treasure.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: After Wilbert's spent the entire movie meeting his kin and trying to get his grandfather's treasure (mainly at Al's insistence), it ends up with the McCoys rejecting him as a traitor due to his allying with a Winfield and he and Al getting arrested for accidentally breaking into Fort Knox.
- Shipping Torpedo: Granny tries to be one, not approving of Dorothy's interest in a Winfield and attempting to arrange for her to get together with Wilbert instead via love potion. Subverted in the end, when she ultimately accepts the couple.
- Shotgun Wedding: Alluded to after Wilbert's love interest Dorothy takes a Love Potion, as she starts singing about how he'd better marry her or he'll "be just another notch on Father's gun".
- Smelly Skunk: While heading down to Kentucky to meet his other relatives, Wilbert accidentally drops his suitcase, which pops open, resulting in a skunk sneaking into it and Wilbert smelling something odd after it shuts, ultimately seeing the skunk when he checks inside. Unlike most cases through, he doesn't get sprayed.
- Swallow the Key: Done accidentally — in his act, The Great Wilbert is supposed to hide the key in his mouth so he can spit it out and unlock the chains while behind a curtain. Unfortunately, he gets slapped on the back by Al, resulting in him swallowing it by mistake.
- Treasure Hunt Episode: Much of the plot revolves around Wilbert trying to earn the rights to the map for Squeeze Box McCoy's treasure, in a mine. In the end, it turns out to be All for Nothing, as the map only leads them into Fort Knox.
- Voodoo Doll: Local witch Aunt Huddy makes two of them to prove her powers and force Al and Wilbert to pay up what they owe her for the potion. Wilbert also snatches another doll to zap her, resulting in a back and forth of pain.
