21. Showboat (1951)

Once again, Howard Keel stars in a sometimes grim, sometimes funny take on the grand old days of the great Mississippi paddle wheel steamboats. Showboats once traveled “Ol’ Man River” picking up audiences, gamblers and travelers and presenting some of the best melodramas of the time. There was always plenty of dancing, singing, food and drink at, usually, a reasonable price. Having grown up on the Mississippi, just twenty miles from Hannibal, Missouri, I have a special love for the great waterway and it’s history.

Showboat captures much about that history and also the joy and pain of the time. Add in one of the greatest casts ever collected: Keel, Ava Gardner, Kathryn Grayson, Joe E. Brown, Agnes Moorehead and Robert Sterling, among many others; it’s no wonder that Showboat commands an important place in Americana, and American film. And, it’s a really good story too.

One note: if you’ve never seen (or heard) William Warfield singing Ol’ Man River you should immediately stop in your tracks…march right to your computer and get on Youtube. Type in William Warfield and Ol Man River and be thrilled. I get chills and can’t think of anything that lasts three minutes that’s any better! You will thank me. Or better yet, here it is!