State Fair

1962

1h 58m

Musical

Romance

List

18%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

41%

Audience Score

100+ Ratings

A brother (Pat Boone) and sister (Pamela Tiffin) find romance and good clean fun at the state fair in Dallas.

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Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Palid remake of two great films, but Ann-Margret is vavoom enough for three stars.

Rated: 3/5

Jul 25, 2002

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Hampered by flat performances (only Ann-Margret provides any spark) and negligible new tunes.

Rated: 2/4

Nov 3, 2021

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Janet Graves

Photoplay

New and old songs, young and veteran stars (like Alice Faye) are all highly attractive.

Dec 15, 2020

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Clyde Gilmour

Maclean's Magazine

The story has been "updated" and unaccountably shifted from Stong's Iowa to Texas, but the handling of the musical numbers is stodgy and old-fashioned.

Nov 5, 2019

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Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

Some of the big numbers are staged with a static camera in front of a lot of dancers, a technique which felt dated even in 1962. It doesn't help that the songs aren't particularly memorable.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jun 4, 2019

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Susan Granger

www.susangranger.com

Rated: 2/5

Aug 8, 2007

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steve d

Perhaps more of a "Good State Fair" than a "Great State Fair" but it is still fun.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

version #3 of this and my least favorite

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

One word to describe this film and that is... HORRIBLE! The 1945 version is a jewel and this version is cow dung. I reluctantly watched it because it came as a combo with the 1945 version but if you can just skip it and stay with the 1945 version, you'll love it!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Audience Member

The acting was deplorable, even for 1962 standards. The 1962 version of the Rogers & Hammerstein musical is one of the absolute worst musicals I've ever seen. This is especially true when one compares it to the innocence that was the original film. What sticks out the most about this film is the acting. I really am hard pressed to find acting this bad in film. Whereas in the original film I could tell that the actors were having a lot of fun with the material, I never got that feeling while watching this movie. The audience can only have as much fun as the actors and at times that can make up for a lot of faults (I look at the original film or movie like Rocky Horror Picture Show or Twister as examples of this). But in this film, I wasn't sure if they were trying too hard or not hard enough, but it just was not working from the word "go." How about the songs, potentially the most important part of any musical? They were not staged well at all. A turn-off for me when it comes to musicals happens when a majority of the songs happen with the characters just standing there singing. That's not exciting. That's not even mildly interesting. It's dull. It's not stimulating and it doesn't help matters when the characters are about as lifeless as wet cement. Characters should be fun to watch. Good characters should make the audience want to keep seeing the film no matter what happens. Good characters are what movies are all about. We should root for them and want them to succeed or love to hate them. Anything. The three biggest things that can go wrong with characters are that either they are stock characters, dull or lifeless characters, or characters with unintentionally bad personalities. This remake of State Fair has all three. They took the original charming characters and turned them into unlikable dullards. Our lead female is suppose to fall in love with a "charming" tv personality, but the character comes off as rude, obnoxious, pretentious, and fairly overbearing. How is an audience suppose to be invested in a love story when the female is a bore to watch and the male has all the charm of a screaming child in a tar pit? Love stories only really work when the audience falls in love with the characters who are falling in love. I guess I need not say it, but that doesn't happen here. On top of all that, I noticed that the updated version decided to sell its film with sex. Oh, not outright, you understand. The sex is snuck in there with hinting and risqué dance sequences by the (really attractive) female love interest. This was still done at a time when sex in film was heavily frowned upon, but the fast cars, alcohol-related humor, and burlesque-style dance sequence give an idea of the new target audiences the filmmakers were expecting to gain with the film's "updates." So, no, I did not like the remake of State Fair. In fact, it makes me appreciate the innocence and charm of the original film even more. I would even go on to say that I hated this film, which is quite unfortunate, considering the original's charming qualities. 3/10

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

This is a good movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Audience Member

Disappointing remake of the 1940s Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musical. The screenplay is a mess, turning Darin's character into such an irredeemable jerk that the love affair between him and Margy (Pamela Tiffen) makes no sense. Pat Boone is charming in his role, but again the adaptation doesn't find a way to resolve his relationship problems with Emily (Ann-Margaret) satisfactorily. In neither affair is there the bittersweet sincerity that made the first musical version so touching. The new songs are instantly forgettable too.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

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José Ferrer

Director

Pat Boone

Wayne Frake

Bobby Darin

Jerry Dundee

Pamela Tiffin

Margy Frake

Ann-Margret

Emily Porter

Tom Ewell

Abel Frake

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Synopsis

A brother (Pat Boone) and sister (Pamela Tiffin) find romance and good clean fun at the state fair in Dallas.

Director: José Ferrer
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Genre: Musical, Romance
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 58m