Mail Order Bride is a 1964 American Western comedy film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring Buddy Ebsen, Keir Dullea and Lois Nettleton.
The screenplay concerns an old man who pressures the wild son of a dead friend into marrying a mail-order bride in an attempt to settle him down.
He ends up finding Annie Boley, a widow in Kansas City with a six-year-old son, working in a saloon for Hanna, who originally placed the ad in the catalog.
In his June 11, 1964 review in The New York Times, Howard Thompson described it as "a curious little Western drama… (that) shapes up steadily as a tart, perceptive and amusing character study snugly pegged on reality and real people…"[3] He was less enthusiastic about the ending, calling it "a pretentious, dramatic wind-up all but spoils the picaresque flavoring of some dandy vignettes, such as the slapdash marriage ceremony.
The best ones involve Marie Windsor, as a wistful saloon owner, and young Barbara Luna, who does a beautifully shaded bit… it is the laconic restraint of Mr. Ebsen, straight from 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' that continually steadies the picture.