Tammy (film series)

The Tammy movies are a series of four light-hearted American films about a naive 18-year-old girl from Mississippi produced by Universal between 1957 and 1967. The main character of the movies is Tammy Tyree, portrayed as a sweet and polite country girl looking for romantic love. Some elements common to each film are: Tammy falling in love; Tammy singing about being in love; Tammy being hurt by sophisticated city folk; city folk learning something from Tammy; Tammy "puckering up" and then comparing the kiss with her first kiss; Tammy praying to God and her grandmother; Tammy quoting from the Bible; and Tammy relating the wisdom of her grandfather, a lay-preacher and moonshiner. Tammy's speech is stereotypical of dialects of the rural Deep South.

Film Synopsis

"Tammy and the Bachelor" (1957)

Bachelor Pete Brent is rescued by young Tammy and her grandfather when his plane crashes in a swamp, and brought to their houseboat, the "Ellen B". When Pete is well enough, he returns home to his fiancée, but when Tammy's grandfather goes to jail for moonshining, he sends Tammy to stay with Pete. Tammy's home cooking, enthusiasm, and sunny personality change Pete and his family. Debbie Reynolds plays Tammy and Leslie Nielsen plays Peter Brent. Tammy's grandfather Mr. Dinwitty is played by Walter Brennan.

"Tammy Tell Me True" (1961)

Tammy leaves the river in Mississippi to attend college, developing a relationship with Tom Freeman (John Gavin). Sandra Dee replaces Debbie Reynolds in this and the third Tammy movie. This film introduces both a new theme song, "Tammy Tell Me True", and the character of Mrs. Annie Call, played by veteran Beulah Bondi. Mrs. Call ultimately moves in with Tammy at the Ellen B. and would be the catalyst for the events in the following film, "Tammy and The Doctor".

"Tammy and the Doctor" (1963)

When Mrs. Call's heart condition acts up, Tammy tags along in the trip to Los Angeles when the old lady is getting her surgery. Since there are no guest quarters in the hospital, Tammy gets a job in the hospital as a nurse's assistant. Peter Fonda plays Tammy's love interest, Dr. Mark Cheswick, while Adam West has a small part as Dr. Eric Hassler. This is the final entry in the canonic film series, and Sandra Dee's last appearance as Tammy.

"Tammy and the Millionaire" (1967)

This was actually a re-edit of four half-hour episodes of the 1965 Tammy (TV series). In this film, Tammy's last name is Tarleton, and she's played by Debbie Watson.

Memorable Dialogue

"Tammy": Just think, that same moon that's shinin' down on me, is shinin' down on Pete's tomatoes!

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051051/ "Tammy and the Bachelor" IMDb database entry]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055503/ "Tammy Tell Me True" IMDb database entry]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057558/ "Tammy and the Doctor" IMDb database entry]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062334/ "Tammy and the Millionaire" IMDb database entry]