# The Long, Long Trailer
**The Long, Long Trailer** is a 1954 American comedy film directed by [Vincente Minnelli](https://www.edgepedia.org/vincente-minnelli) and starring [Lucille Ball](https://www.edgepedia.org/lucille-ball) and [Desi Arnaz](https://www.edgepedia.org/desi-arnaz) as newlyweds who honeymoon cross-country towing an oversized travel trailer. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, written by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich from Clinton Twiss's 1951 novel, and released on 19 February 1954 with a running time of 95 to 96 minutes.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 19 February 1954; Los Angeles opening 17 Feb, New York opening 18 Feb[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography) |
| Director / producer | Vincente Minnelli / Pandro S. Berman[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography) |
| Writers | Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, based on the novel by Clinton Twiss (New York, 1951)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography) |
| Leads | Lucille Ball as Tacy Collini, Desi Arnaz as Nicholas "Nicky" Collini; Marjorie Main and Keenan Wynn in support[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer) |
| Production | Shot in six weeks, 5 June to early July 1953[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography) |
| Color process | Shot in Ansco Color, printed in Technicolor[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography) |
| Reception | Rotten Tomatoes: 55% Tomatometer from 11 critics, 78% audience score from more than 2,500 ratings[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/long_long_trailer) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and source
The film adapts a non-fiction book by Clinton Twiss about a middle-aged couple who spent a year traveling cross-country in a mobile home. The screenwriters turned the pair into honeymooners, made the husband Latin and the wife wacky, a change that fit the television personas of Ball and Arnaz.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer) In the film, Nicholas Collini, an engineer who travels for work, and his fiancée Tacy decide that instead of buying a house they will invest in a motor home and see the country together after their wedding. An overloaded trailer, an isolated mountain road, nosy trailer-park neighbors, and a judge who hates trailers put their young marriage in turmoil.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/long_long_trailer) Richard Brody, a film critic for *The New Yorker*, described the result as a frenetic and intricate comedy and read it as a modern-day Western in which the couple turn their backs on genteel society for the open road.[4](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-long-long-trailer)
## Production history
Desi Arnaz sought the film rights to Twiss's novel in May 1952 but was outbid by MGM; TCM's account says producer Pandro Berman beat him to the property.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer) MGM assembled the same team that had made *Father of the Bride* (1950) and *[Father's Little Dividend](https://www.edgepedia.org/fathers-little-dividend)* (1951): Berman as producer, Minnelli as director, and Goodrich and Hackett as screenwriters.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer) Studio executives initially resisted the project because the industry was trying to lure audiences away from television and believed people would not pay to see actors they could watch at home for free; the film's low projected cost won them over.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer) According to a recent Ball biography, Arnaz, together with his production executive Martin Leeds, wagered $50,000 with Loews executive Benjamin Thau that the film would earn more at the box office than MGM's 1950 hit *Father of the Bride*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography)
**Casting the couple.** In 1953 Ball and Arnaz were at the peak of their television fame on *I Love Lucy* (CBS, 1951–57). During the 1952–53 season the show had incorporated Ball's pregnancy, and the January 1953 birth episode drew a Nielsen rating of 71.7 percent and news coverage comparable to President Eisenhower's inauguration.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer) Ball was publicly coy about returning to films, telling interviewers she might make one during the summer hiatus "just to see how I look in Technicolor," but the film marked a return to MGM, where she had been a contract player usually cast as the wisecracking sidekick rather than the star.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer) A January 1953 Hollywood Reporter item reported that MGM had also talked with [William Holden](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-holden) about a role.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography)
The film was shot in six weeks during the summer of 1953, from 5 June to early July, and Minnelli recalled it as one of the easiest films he ever made despite the complexity of some sequences.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer) The title vehicle was a 1953 36-foot Redman New Moon trailer, which sold new for US$5,345; after filming, Ball and Arnaz kept it at their home.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047191/trivia/)
## Reception and legacy
Millions of *I Love Lucy* fans made the film one of 1954's biggest hits, and critics who grumbled that the characters were simply [Lucy and Ricky](https://www.edgepedia.org/lucy-and-ricky-ricardo) on wheels still conceded that nobody was better at slapstick farce than Ball or at playing the exasperated husband than Arnaz.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 55 percent Tomatometer from 11 critics against a 78 percent audience score from more than 2,500 ratings, a gap consistent with reviews that found the material thin outside the couple's appeal.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/long_long_trailer) Aggregated amateur and professional scores on Cinafilm average 72 percent, above that site's 59 percent average for 1954 films.[6](https://www.cinafilm.com/movies/the-long-long-trailer-1954/)
Memorable set pieces, including Tacy's attempt to cook dinner in the trailer's kitchenette while Nicky drives a hazardous mountain road and her obsessive rock collecting that literally pushes him over the edge, have given the film a lasting cult following.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer) The film remains available on streaming services including Plex and Tubi, and on digital rental from about $3.99.[7](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-long-long-trailer)
## References
1. [The Long, Long Trailer, AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51263-THE-LONG-LONG-TRAILER?cxt=filmography)
2. [Margarita Landazuri, "The Long, Long Trailer," Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/27961/the-long-long-trailer)
3. [The Long, Long Trailer, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/long_long_trailer)
4. [Richard Brody, "The Long, Long Trailer," The New Yorker, June 25, 2021](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-long-long-trailer)
5. [The Long, Long Trailer (1954) Trivia, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047191/trivia/)
6. [The Long, Long Trailer (1954), Cinafilm](https://www.cinafilm.com/movies/the-long-long-trailer-1954/)
7. [The Long, Long Trailer streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-long-long-trailer)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1950s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license