X

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

Continue with Facebook Continue with email

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

The Harvey Girls Reviews

  • Watchlist
    Where to Watch

A group of refined waitresses for a chain of railroad-station restaurants in New Mexico are sent out to tame the wild and woolly West in the 19th century, but encounter some resistance in the form of a saloon owner, a corrupt judge and a local madam. Featuring the Oscar-winning song "On the Atcheson, Topeka and the Santa Fe."

THE HARVEY GIRLS is a lighthearted musical comedy with some terrific tunes by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer including the Oscar-winning "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe." Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) is a 19th-century mail-order bride who goes out west to work as a waitress at one of Fred Harvey's new restaurants. Ned Trent (John Hodiak) owns the local saloon, and his girl friend is Em (Angela Lansbury), a Mae West type who runs a bawdy house in the small New Mexico town. THE HARVEY GIRLS has a little of everything: songs, dance, action, romance, and the triumph of virtue and chastity over the forces of saloondom. Hodiak is suave and sophisticated as the gambler, and Garland was never more vibrant as the female lead. There is also some excellent supporting work by Ray Bolger, Marjorie Main, and Virginia O'Brien. Lenny Hayton received an Oscar nomination for his musical direction.