The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox (1976)

Fantastic!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Although the music may be a little dated now, I believe any fun-minded viewer will find this offering to be a thoroughly enjoyable romp. George Segal and Goldie Hawn are at their best and deliver one delightful comic situation after another, much like, and in my opinion, better than, Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster in the also enjoyable but more recent "Maverick." I wouldn't be surprised if Mel and Jodie, not to mention the "Maverick" producers, wisely drew on this film for inspiration as the chemistry is interchangeable between the two movies. One of many moments not to be forgotten is in the excellent turn of Conrad Janis as the blissfully unaware mark or the sidesplitting pig-Latin (pig-German?) argument Hawn and Segal develop in his presence. I would very much like to see this film again and so will you.

OK, so the movie stinks. But I too saw this as a young boy when it was new in the theatres and I have to admit the thing I remember was Goldie - truly lovely and sexy, and dressed up in all manner of provocative attire to entice the simple folk in the film. If you're a Goldie fan, and like me believe she's an inspiringly sexy creature, you'll want to at least survey this curio. Goldie in fishnets and skimpy dancehall costumes can't be ALL bad!

There's a tragic air about this putrid film, and the reason is simple: it STINKS like a Dead Possum! The comedic talents of Goldie Hawn and George Segal are wasted miserably on a poor script with thoroughly unlikeable characters (Goldie plays a mean-spirited, bar room whore -- who's bright idea was THAT??? -- and George is a cranky card shark who seems to really need a bath). What should have been a rollicking hour-and-a-half of wisecracks and bellylaughs is instead an embarrassment. The film's jokes are lousy and the tone is uneven -- it's a mixed up mess as it jumps from trying to be clever, to exciting, to funny, and even to romantic -- and nary a bullseye in the bunch. Every shot is misfired. Nuthin' but rotten eggs. And it all seems "thrown together"... The result is a film that's just a horrible bore. Just when you think it won't get worse, there is a "love scene" (in a boat going down a river) during which the most vomitably maudlin of movie songs kicks in, "Lemon Drops, Lollipops and Sunbeams" (I kid you not about that title. And if the title isn't cloying enough, you should only HEAR how sickly sweet this tune is! Oi Vei!!!)...to add insult to injury, the song reprises itself over the end credits, as if sounding once in the film wasn't punishment enough for a weary audience. When you hear it again, it's like a bad smell that you thought you'd escaped only to find you've run across it again...I can't give this film low enough marks. It takes "mediocrity" to new lows. And that's because this film isn't even the kind of "bad" that's fun to watch (and heckle). It's Just BAD. Painfully BAD. Hawn and Segal have both proven their merit as comic talents many, many times over in various funny films (Hawn in "Foul Play" and Segal in "Where's Poppa?" just to name two). "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox" must be a project they would both rather forget... I know I wish I could!

if you are a sucker for western romantic comedies...then none will please you more than this one. goldie hawn and george segal make a hilarious couple, fighting and sparing all the way to the love that awaits. good movie to watch with someone you love--pleases both the gals and the fellas.