Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com With the enormous financial failure of United Artists' Heaven's Gate (1980), the era of grand epic scale Western films came to an end. Production companies were no longer going to be the victim of shoveling out money to any director unless otherwise stated no matter how talented the film crew was. And rightfully so, the risk was too high. Production companies should only give money to people who really know what they are doing and have a good feeling that the movie they're making will be a critical and financial success. Surprisingly midway through the 1980s, a few western movies were made but only to spoof the genre. In some ways it made fun of the previous films but in other ways paid homage to them because they did have a cultural impact when they were popular. This is one these movies.Written and director by Hugh Wilson (best known for directing Police Academy (1984)), essentially this movie is a giant 4th wall breaker. The story follows the basic formula of how many westerns began in the past, which involved a lone cowboy who goes into town and notices corruption in the authority. There he takes it upon himself to solve the injustice. As a screenplay, it's not exactly a story. The execution is more like a walk through to how various western TV shows and movies were written at the time. This includes all the usual plot points. However, Wilson manages to use the clichés in a way that doesn't make them feel so contrived. But the fact that the movie doesn't have it's own story is it's biggest problem. With that the audience doesn't really get to know the protagonist as a character and instead as more of a callback to previous actors who had roles like the one depicted here. Also, since the playout feels more like run-through than an actual narrative, the film does drag which is odd since it barely has an hour and a half long run time.The lone cowboy in this movie is named Rex O'Herlihan (Tom Berenger), the "Singing Cowboy". O'Herlihan is a flashy dressing dual handed gunslinger who only shoots his enemies in the hand, has ten of the same 10 gallon hats, eats desert roots and has a dancing horse. For Berenger's role, his acting is fine. Especially for not being an actor with much comedy in his filmography he does okay. The only part that doesn't look right is him singing. Eh,...it wasn't needed. Consequent to arriving at the corrupt town, Rex meets Peter the town drunk (G.W. Bailey) who ends up wanting to join him in his quest. Bailey even blurts out on screen that he is the comedy relief. That is how self-aware Wilson wrote the tone to his feature. Along with Bailey are a number of other decent cast members. Marilu Henner as a local filly, Patrick Wayne (son of John Wayne), Sela Ward as the Colonel's daughter and legendary Andy Griffith as the Colonel. All of which provide funny supporting roles. The best belonging to Griffith because of his experience and how subtle he is with his lines.As a parody, it doesn't have high hilarity but it is funny at several moments. Besides the various actors chewing up the scenery, there are occasions where the common knowledge to certain tasks seems so obvious and yet the script will trick its audience on that. Also who knew there were so many rules on how a character is determined to be a good guy. Most of the action, which will resort to ridiculous shootouts make no sense but are fun to watch nonetheless. By the way, anyone who owns a dancing horse has skills. That was cool. The look of the film is adequate. For the budget that it had, it didn't appear cheap. Especially for the sets and backdrops. There were enough places to keep the eyes stimulated. José Luis Alcaine's cinematography had spacious scenery to present itself as a western. Alcaine really got some nice shots of the terrain which made this spoof feel as authentic as possible. The music composed by Steve Dorff doesn't offer his listeners a memorable theme but does incorporate other motifs that work well the comedic scenes depicted. An example of this is using men's choir humming a rather western-like acapella tune. It's a bit underrated and western fans should enjoy it.It lacks any real compelling story, it drags at times and Tom Berenger actually singing isn't all that convincing. Yet with a self-aware 4th wall breaking script, a number of funny scenes, prudent production quality and a talented cast, the flaws are mostly made up for. For one thing, it'll at least give newer viewers an idea of what westerns were like back in the day.

Frederick Smith I was born in 1952, so I must have been about 10 years old when my brother and I were dropped off at the local theater in Waukegan along with a couple of hundred other kids to watch the Saturday morning matinées. In our days it was Flash Gordon, Sky King, and Commander Cody, all legendary "cliff hangers", which meant they would always end the episode with the hero in danger and you would have to come back next week to see what happened. In the 1930's and '40's, the theme was the American West, and the heroes all rode stallions of white or gold, had two guns, sang and played guitar, and wore white hats. Tom Mix was the silent movie hero, then came Gene Autry, Randolf Scott, and later Roy Rogers. This well written parody takes all those memories and rolls them up in a pleasingly benign story that incorporates the old and the new. Language and sexuality are not an issue, so the kids can watch without worry. While there is a lot of innuendo, nothing is explicit enough to warrant anything more than a PG rating, and I think that is a little excessive. Not necessarily a collectible, but worth a viewing on a Saturday morning with the kids, just before they head out to play.

canuckteach This 1985 film became a family favorite as soon as we taped it from a TV broadcast 20 years ago - it ran as part of an interesting Western double-header on City-TV (R. Rhapsody, followed by Silverado, another sort of tribute western, albeit with more serious themes). In time, we acquired both on VHS, replacing our creaky, worn-out tape.I didn't realize how funny Andy Griffith was till I saw him in this flick. Sela Ward sparkles, and looks like a teenager, but she was actually born in 1956. She recently performed in "House, M.D", still looking 10-15 years younger than her age.Some of the funniest lines remain in our family vernacular: "See somebody about yer hearing"; "She's probably out riding Wildfire"; "That leg will have to come off for sure"; "Who-oo iiiiis it?".There are 2 brilliant scenes with Berenger and Patrick Wayne - 1 turns more sinister, just briefly.. listen for the 'Psycho' background music.Hollywood's not making Westerns any more - but we could argue that they're not really making comedies either. Why? the art of 'wit' or 'satire' has sadly been lost. *sigh* You can see both here.

Cod Purcell I loved how this movie portrays Andy Griffith's character as a man who's sexual orientation was questionable. he has some very funny lines that can almost slip by you if you're not paying attention to the way they are delivered and to who they are delivered to. It takes several minutes into the movie before you start to realize That 'ol Colonel Ticonderoga is doing more at his ranch than just handling cattle. He gets sassy in some scenes too. I find it to be a total 180 from the old Andy Griffith show as far as his character is concerned. It seems he will always be remembered as the "Sherriff of Mayberry", but if you love that show you must see this movie!!! It shows Andy's comedic ability that seemed to vanish early on in the old TV show and as Ben Matlock never really was utilized much at all.