Li'l Abner

1959

3.5/5

It’s a musical!

A pretty good musical at that. The songs are very fun, and the dance numbers are great. The plot revolves around the government wanting to start testing atomic bombs in the town of Dogpatch, where Li’l Abner and the others live, due to it being deemed the most unnecessary place in the United States. The Dogpatchers attempt to find a reason for the government to find the town to be necessary, and they settle upon Ma Yokum’s yokumberry tonic, which has amazing, magical properties, and is made from berries from the only yokumberry tree in existence, which grows only in Dogpatch. General Bull Moose tries to buy it off of Abner, as well as underhandedly try and steal it off of him, but his plan backfires and he goes to jail. It turns out the tonic doesn’t really work anyway, because even though it turns men into bodybuilders, they lose all romantic interest. That seems like something the US government would be very interested in its soldiers becoming, but the scientists declare the tests a failure and they order all the Dogpatchers to evacuate immediately. In a shocking twist, however, it’s discovered that the statue of the Confederate general Jubilation T. Cornpone in the Dogpatch town square is actually a national shrine, given that he was such a bad general that he singlehandedly allowed the Union to win the Civil War. So the town is saved because you can’t bomb a national shrine, and Abner and Daisy Mae get married.

It’s a very stupid plot, but it’s still a fun watch, and has a bit of humorous political satire in there as well. Plus, Jerry Lewis is in it for two seconds.