Just a year before she scored as Ma Kettle and created a lengthy series, Marjorie Main appeared in nearly the same part as the Widow Hawkins whose hated husband is apparently accidentally killed by Lou Costello. If it's not the Widow Main, it's her attractive daughter Audrey Young (a bit of a vamp),a bunch of bratty younger kids or a pranksterous bullfrog who loves soup hopping. Main makes Bud and Lou work for her, setting her sites on Lou as her next husband. She knows how to sweet talk and how to be aggressive if the sweet-talking doesn't work, leading to some very funny situations.

While not as messy as Ma Kettle, the widow Hawkins isn't about to let Lou go without a fight, and Ms. Main is an absolute delight whether reciting sonnets or barking orders. She deserves honors for being one of the funniest women in film, even though she had plenty of roles where she was either heartbreaking or heartbusting. Lou scores with the better part and lines, especially when he informs Main about the rings of marriage. Bill Clauson is also very funny as the bratty oldest son who causes Lou no end of trouble.

Then there's George Cleveland as the town judge who spends more time sleeping than pounding his gavel (and when he does, it's not dispersing justice) as well as Gordon Jones and William Ching who are rivals for Ms. Young. Of course, Lou takes a ton of abuse which he does with his customary harranged humor. This has everything going for it, and it's a shame that Abbott and Costello never worked with Main again.

Two traveling salesmen (guess who) arrive in the lawless frontier town of Wagon Gap where the outlaw boss Gordon Jones and citizen's committee head William Ching are in a power struggle. Poor inept Costello winds up getting framed for a murder and he and Abbott are both about to be hung when Ching discovers a law in Montana Territory about a man who causes the death of another is responsible for the deceased's debts and family. Costello takes the responsibility.

He soon thinks capital punishment even the extralegal kind might be preferable to dealing with Marjorie Main and her squalling band of kids. Think of Costello inheriting the Kettle clan if Pa Kettle had met his demise at Costello's hands and you have some idea what Costello is going through.

But quite by accident it's discovered that Costello has carte blanche in Wagon Gap because no one wants to see any harm come to him or else they might inherit Marjorie Main. Costello carries a picture of her and the clan close to his heart and it's more valuable than a Sherman Tank would have been. He has a very funny scene cooling down a town drunk played by Dewey Robinson after he's made sheriff.

Marjorie Main with her own brand of rustic humor does not yield the film to Bud and Lou. You might also like the performance of George Cleveland as a judge not unlike Samuel S. Hinds in Destry Rides Again.

In fact the whole film has a lot of similarity to Destry and no surprise there since this was originally supposed to be a more serious story that was to have starred James Stewart. When he passed on it, it was rewritten for Abbott and Costello.

The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap should appeal to both fans of the Kettle family and those of Bud and Lou. Between them they accounted for a big portion of what counted as profits for Universal Studios.

This Abbott & Costello outing is definitely a very much formula Comedy Western done in the late 1940's when all the movies were pretty much formula. Director Charles Barton who worked with the boys more than any other director does pretty well here. Barton never became a household name as a director but anyone who is a fan of the team knows his name was the most frequent one with them.

The best thing about this film is Marjorie Main. She is a major addition to a cast which includes Gordon Jones. Marjorie does comedy well including her Ma Kettle films but in this one she plays off and supports A&C just fine. She is the Widow here and as in the case of the Kettles has a big household of young ones. This is very much in her element of comedy.

While Abbott & Costello do not get a lot of verbal comedy in this, there is enough of them for their fans. Some of the special effects used we OK then but look dated now. At least there is not a lot of musical interruptions to annoy the viewer in this one. Overall, this one is much better than their worst outings.