"The Best Things in Life are Dirty!"

At least that was the initial lyrics of a great scene in the classic musical western, Paint Your Wagon, that I've been featuring over the past month. This is the fourth and final posting of my favorite union suit scenes in this film.

It dawned on the boys that an untold amount of gold was seeping through wooden floor cracks of the many saloons and cat houses in their village. That happened as men haphazardly paid for booze and women with gold dust earnings when taking a break from the back-breaking work of mining.

Ben Rumson, Partner and three buddies worked day and night building underground tunnels, all over town, in order to retrieve the gold lost beneath the floors of the establishments.

It was hot, dirty work so Ben soon stripped down to only his union suit, boots and top hat before going back to work: 

 

And then, it was fun and games, drinking and mishaps

as the guys looked forward to being rich beyond their dreams! 

 

 

Ben enjoys a mud bath that turns his red union suit to brown:

But then: Yikes, they had dug so tenuously, the tunnel walls began to cave in around them!  And suddenly, the town buildings shifted and started falling into the tunnels. Danger!

Men escaped, running into the street or jumping out of windows. Many caught barefoot and clad only their long underwear, out and away from the several brothels where they had been entertained: 

And the boy who Ben befriended and introduced to the finer things in life, whiskey, cigars, and women, came tumbling out the two story bedroom window in his union suit, still in bed with his lady friend:

 

Thanks again to Alan Jay Lerner Productiions and Paramount Pictures and to the great actors, directors and those who made this terrific film!