Fools' Parade (1971)

Just what I expected

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Aside from seeing Jimmy Stewart, I really can't think why anyone would want to see this rather silly film. I have seen almost every film Stewart has made and I am a bit compulsive about things like this, so I forced myself to watch this slight film. The problem is that the writing and acting was rather poor and it's a sad way for Stewart to begin wrapping up his acting career with such films.Stewart and two other men are being released from prison in 1935. They're all friends and plan on going into business together but they are indeed a motley crew--guys you wouldn't expect to be friends, as they range in age from an old Stewart to a very young Kurt Russell. The film begins with the three being placed on a train and being sent to a West Virginia town near the Ohio border. However, once they arrive, the same nasty jailer (George Kennedy) is waiting for them with some sidekicks, as they want to kill and rob the three men. It seems that Stewart has accumulated a huge bankroll while in prison and Kennedy will stop at nothing to get it. Now at this point you are left wondering--if the three men took a train, given the roads of 1935, how could Kennedy have beaten the train there?! The rest of the film consists of the three men being chased by the homicidal maniacs. Considering Stewart was a very fine actor, such chase films seem way out of his league and he certainly deserved better. There were also some clichés in the film that just seemed more like plot devices than anything else (such as the romance between Russell and the teenager they pick up during their travels). As for the acting, it wasn't too bad except for George Kennedy. With his horribly stained teeth and over the top acting, he more closely resembled a wild hog than a villain--making it one of the worst performances of his career.The bottom line is that this isn't a particularly interesting or inspired film. In hindsight, I really wish Mr. Stewart hadn't done this film as it was simply beneath his abilities and star power to be in such a sub-par movie.

This film: Starts off, Typical STEWART- The very beginning of this film is almost Hitchcock-ian.Stewart is a released convict who has saved $25,000 over the 40 years of his imprisonment. A "Murderer," he is accompanied by a "Bank Robber" Strother Martin and "Rapist" - A teenage Kurt Russel.The year is 1935 and on release from work prison in "Glory," a fictional town in Virginia: they are "accompanied" (By Double Barreled Shotgun) to the train leaving town by bible-spouting (And slime encrusted) George Kennedy (With Really Nasty Ugly Shark-like Teeth).As they board the train, Kennedy spouts threatening innuendo- And as the train begins to roll, we know that the train is not going to the intended rendezvous, and the suspense embedded in the film during this point, before we know exactly what is going to happen is very Hitchcock-ified. And this is where I stop lest there be spoilers.Directed and Produced by Victor McLaglen's son Andrew: And so the homage to Hitchcock may or may not be intended as James Stewart had starred in no less than 4 Hitchcock films and was one of Hitch's best leading men.The screen is graced also by an Anne Baxter under caked on makeup, which is rather great... She almost-reprises her role as Eve (All About Eve) in her greed... Which is not apparent at first, but once she finds out that there is a large sum of money floating about... The greed of the Baxter character is poetically dealt with in a most humorous fashion, and is a refreshing comical "Handle" for the viewer in the middle of this film.Even through there are spots where the pace of the film seems to lag, this did not harm my interest in seeing what was going to happen at the end.Production wise, it is obvious that this is an early 70's almost TV-like movie: The only thing that gives away the fact that this was a theatrical release was the Wide Screen Aspect Ratio.This is well worth seeing, especially if you watch Vertigo first. Wonderful Film.

It was Stewart's most compelling role when I saw it as an 11 year old boy. The idea that an old released convict explosives expert could have a glass eye and $25000 that George Kennedy (Doc Council) wanted to steal from him was a simple setup but really caught my attention.Stewart was the kind of old man any young kid would want to hang out with, and I identified with Kurt Russell, his young sidekick who had served in prison with Stewart. Russell was a naive devotee of Stewart and he aspired to join Stewart in an honest, simple career, opening an general store.George Kennedy and his evil gang was the only thing standing in the way of Stewart going straight, and we see Kennedy in his best villain role as an unshaven, foul, redneck who wore a dirty white suit and hat and canvas Keds. God, I hated him good in this film and will never forget it.Spoiler- The biggest thrill of the film was when Stewart quotes from the Bible that God would "pluck out the eye" of a man who offended him, in order to freak out a guy who was brandishing a gun on Stewart. As Stewart finishes the quote, he plucks out his eye and holds it out in the face of the enemy, who then becomes vulnerable to be disarmed.It is a shame this film is impossible to see nowadays, not yet on DVD.

I grew up in Moundsville W.Va. where the movie was filmed and got to watch many of the areas they filmed, i was able to get several signatures from the actors, Jimmy Stewart, Struther Martin and George Kennedy. I never got to meet Kurt Russell. It was a really good movie, not Oscar material, but very enjoyable. The last comment about why the movie never made it to copy, is because (this is what I've heard) Anne Bancroft did not like her portrayal and would never authorized a release in copy. She is now deceased, so i can only hope this will allow copies to be made and distributed. I for one would be the first in line to get it!.