The Canadian Cinephile’s Reviews

Bus Stop is a distinctive and gripping character study that focuses in on the relationship between two people with attachment issues and overwrought past-lives. The film captures an imperfect relationship and treats it with comedic regard, often leading to perplexity about the true nature of the film and its characters, but never neglecting to develop the awkward and strained relationship between its two leads. Bus Stop is widely regarded as being one of Marilyn Monroe’s finer performances, but it also features the talents of Don Murray and several others.

Marilyn Monroe plays Cherie, a café singer and “entertainer” that works to bilk naive men out of their money. When we first meet Cherie, she is being pushed around by the bar manager and is told to go talk up an innocent looking gentleman and get him to buy her drinks. Cherie has an interesting past, with lots of “experience” with males. She is portrayed as a girl that can’t say no and a girl that has never really known true security within a relationship. Cherie is the idyllic wounded flower, one that feels so damaged by the winds and ravages of the world that she begins to grasp at anything that comes her way.

That “anything” is Bo Decker, played by Don Murray. Bo is an arrogant, infantile, unaware cowboy that is on his way to the rodeo with his friend Virgil (Arthur O’Connell) and is looking for his “angel.” Bo is abrasive but completely innocent of the world around him. He knows nothing about relationships with other human beings, save for his friendship with Virgil, and has an enthusiastic outlook on life that is coupled with a sort of perpetual optimism. Bo is used to getting what he wants and simply “roping” an object he desires. He decides to employ this philosophy – mainly because he knows no other way to go about it – as he comes upon Cherie performing in a bar.

The relationship begins as a sort of assumed relationship for Bo, based on his naivety, and a sort of assumed relationship of another kind for Cherie, based on her understanding. The two worldviews collide predictably here, as Bo expresses his desire to rope Cherie and bring her back to Montana, while Cherie begins her inexorable slide into marriage with Bo because she is a girl that can’t say no. Cherie is involved with Bo for no other reason than that; she simply knows no way out and she takes a certain consolation in Bo’s security and consistency. The idea of a ranch and a life with a cowboy denotes a form of care to Cherie, despite Bo’s strident and obnoxious personality.

Monroe plays Cherie as a sort of unaware girl in her own right, which is an attractive splash of character against the ignorance of Bo’s character. Cherie is heavily-accented and comes from the same sort of background as Bo, so there is a sort of kinship involved instantaneously. Cherie, however, spent her time kissing several different boys, while Bo had a very different experience. Cherie is working her way across America and heading to Hollywood, where her adolescent outlook hopes to serve her with better fortunes. She is a delicate individual, however, and is so immeasurably wounded by the world around her that it’s doubtful she’ll ever make it there. The way Cherie proceeds through Bus Stop, it’s assumed that she also knows she’ll never make it to Hollywood and Vine.

When Bo comes along and sweeps her off her feet whether she wants it or not, Monroe’s Cherie partially grabs on out of desperation and partially tries to flee out of the same desperation. It is Monroe’s incredible capability to convey notions of bewilderment and desolation that place her elementally in this role. Don Murray’s Bo is marvellous as well, as a sort of ignorant abuser. When he smacks Cherie on the bottom and lifts her over his shoulder, he doesn’t know it’s wrong despite the clash from Cherie and damn well everyone else around. Bo thinks finding love is like wrestling cattle and that the “work” that one has to put in is a struggle between man and woman. This is a struggle, according to Bo’s outlook, that a man will without doubt win out of strength. When Bo employs this against such a tantalizing flower as Cherie, the results are often excruciating to watch.

Bus Stop is a terrifically enjoyable film that has many moments that create a sort of “wincing” effect on the viewer. We are witnessing what is, in effect, an abusive relationship between two individuals that don’t know any better. We are witnessing a sort of clash of the ignorant titans here, something so audacious in its abusive nature that many of the instances are played up for laughs out of nervousness. The film is actually rather dark upon indication and its notions about relationships of this sort are incredibly precise for anyone that has ever known an abusive relationship. As friends and family stand indolently by and smile despite palpable problematic signs, as they sadly sometimes do, Bo and Cherie get on the bus and head off to the ranch – for better or likely for worse. We are not told of the fate of their relationship, rather we are forced a tone of lilting delight and exuberance from the side characters through grins and chuckles like so often is the case.

Bus Stop could have used a more liberal editor, as some of the scenes do appear to drag on too long and many scenes come across as redundant and spoil the rising intensity. It is, however, a potent film wrapped up with comic moments and a sort of ignorant tone about it that is absorbing and appealing up until the final frame. Some scenes are over-the-top, but that simply represents the intent of portraying this sort of madness for what it is. Bus Stop is a very powerful and interesting film.

8/10

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