Tom Berenger ("Platoon") stars in this so-so send-up of 30s & 40s Saturday matinee Westerns, playing a singing cowboy named Rex O'Herlihan. He comes to a very typical Old West town called Oakwood Estates, where he makes the acquaintance of requisite characters like town drunk Peter (G. W. Bailey, the "Police Academy" series), hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Miss Tracy (Marilu Henner, 'Taxi'), and powerful villains Colonel Ticonderoga (Andy Griffith, 'Matlock') and The Railroad Baron (Fernando Rey, "The French Connection").
Written and directed by Hugh Wilson, the creator of 'WKRP in Cincinnati' and director of the original "Police Academy", this is the kind of movie I would have liked to enjoy more than I did. Unfortunately, I didn't find Wilsons' script to be very inspired, nor his direction. For a while, he just can't give this picture much energy or momentum. He does give it some good moments, as O'Herlihan is such an experienced cowboy star that he can predict virtually every character type and plot development. In the end, there were enough decent, laugh-out-loud gags and enough sheer likability on display for me to rate this as generally watchable.
The earnestness of the cast helps a lot: Berenger is perfectly sincere, Ms. Henner and Sela Ward ("The Fugitive") are of course just gorgeous as the leading ladies, Bailey is quite engaging as the wannabe sidekick (and also does the narration), Griffith & Rey are amusing bad guys, and the supporting cast also includes familiar faces such as Patrick Wayne ("Texas Detour") as hired gun Bob Barber, Wilson semi-regular Brant von Hoffman ("Dudley Do-Right"), Christopher Malcolm ("The Empire Strikes Back"), Jim Carter ("Shakespeare in Love"), Paul Maxwell ("Aliens"), and Billy J. Mitchell ("Top Secret!").
If you're a fan of the cast, you'll certainly want to give this a look. A nice score & songs by Steve Dorff, striking cinematography by Jose Luis Alcaine, and excellent location shooting in Spain are also assets.
Six out of 10.
Written and directed by Hugh Wilson, the creator of 'WKRP in Cincinnati' and director of the original "Police Academy", this is the kind of movie I would have liked to enjoy more than I did. Unfortunately, I didn't find Wilsons' script to be very inspired, nor his direction. For a while, he just can't give this picture much energy or momentum. He does give it some good moments, as O'Herlihan is such an experienced cowboy star that he can predict virtually every character type and plot development. In the end, there were enough decent, laugh-out-loud gags and enough sheer likability on display for me to rate this as generally watchable.
The earnestness of the cast helps a lot: Berenger is perfectly sincere, Ms. Henner and Sela Ward ("The Fugitive") are of course just gorgeous as the leading ladies, Bailey is quite engaging as the wannabe sidekick (and also does the narration), Griffith & Rey are amusing bad guys, and the supporting cast also includes familiar faces such as Patrick Wayne ("Texas Detour") as hired gun Bob Barber, Wilson semi-regular Brant von Hoffman ("Dudley Do-Right"), Christopher Malcolm ("The Empire Strikes Back"), Jim Carter ("Shakespeare in Love"), Paul Maxwell ("Aliens"), and Billy J. Mitchell ("Top Secret!").
If you're a fan of the cast, you'll certainly want to give this a look. A nice score & songs by Steve Dorff, striking cinematography by Jose Luis Alcaine, and excellent location shooting in Spain are also assets.
Six out of 10.