Gone with the West (1975)

That was an excellent one.

So much average

Fresh and Exciting

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

This film could well serve as a textbook on how not to do continuity (there is none). The print I saw lacked the narration, but if that was a negative in the original, the re-edit didn't help. I'll go a step further and state it is easily the worst film of any kind I've ever seen. "Plan 9" at least has a sort of campy appeal; this film has no saving graces whatsoever, and it is remarkable that so many later big names could survive their exposure in it. Spoiler: In the final scene, Little Moon (Stephanie Powers), who has not spoken anything but Mexican and a word or two of broken English, turns to Judd (James Caan) and remarks in perfect unaccented English, "You've shot everyone but the cameraman," at which point Judd turns and draws and shoots back toward the viewer, and the image falls over sideways. If there had been any hint of lightness in the film (outside of Powers' moronic efforts at cuteness), it might have served as a punch line like the drive into the sunset in Blazing Saddles, but there was none, so it comes across more like a middle finger salute by the director, who surely must have known he was working on a turkey.

One of the more memorable sequences in MESSIAH OF EVIL (1973) features a major supporting character meeting her doom while at a movie screening preceded by the trailer for GONE WITH THE WEST; by sheer coincidence, within the same week I rented the former on DVD, I also came across the latter – having rented this particular budget-priced Western collection primarily because it also included THE JACKALS (1967), a remake of William A. Wellman's YELLOW SKY (1948) which I intend to revisit presently in tribute to its recently deceased co-star, Richard Widmark! The footage seen in MESSIAH OF EVIL – of a mean-looking gunslinger played by Sammy Davis Jr.(!) – promised a fun movie but, even if his cameo did prove to be its brightest spot, having now had the misfortune to sit through the damn thing in its entirety, it's perfectly clear now that the trailer had been inserted only because GONE WITH THE WEST was an as-yet unreleased debacle which needed all the exposure it could get! This truly lamentable attempt at a Western spoof was evidently shot prior to James Caan attaining stardom with THE GODFATHER (1972) and, although he does manage a couple of decent bits, he is a long, long way from his scene-stealing turn as Mississippi in Howard Hawks' EL DORADO (1966). Despite some surprising nudity by both of them, Stefanie Powers is simply terrible as an all-Spanish-speaking Indian girl(!) and Barbara Werle fares no better as Aldo Ray's nymphomaniac wife. Ray himself is embarrassing as a grizzled cowboy and Robert Walker Jr. barely registers at all in the role of an ineffectual sheriff. Even less rewarding is seeing Hollywood veteran Heather Angel as a loony old woman – who is actually an elderly version of the same character played by Powers; not that it matters much but the film opens in a modern-day setting and the bulk of the narrative is made up of Angel's reminiscences (by which time, it seems, she had learned to muster the English language).Retitling the film to LITTLE MOON AND JUD McGRAW (which is the name sported by the print I watched) only served to jettison the puerile original but did zilch to mask the film's glaringly rampant deficiencies (particularly those of an editorial nature). Director Bernard Girard may have been behind a couple of interesting movies prior to this one – the James Coburn caper, DEAD HEAT ON A MERRY-GO-ROUND (1966) and the Christopher Walken psychological outing, THE MIND SNATCHERS (1972) – but it's no surprise at all that GONE WITH THE WEST sealed his fate in filmdom forever. There is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the worst movies of the Seventies but, arguably, I'd even go so far as to name it the worst Western I ever laid eyes on!

Unquestionably, if you think this western is bad, then you need to watch some of those old "oaters" on MovieFlix. The Tex Ritter horse operas, for example, make this absurdity seem like GONE WITH THE WIND!Watching the film last night, I had the feeling that the DVD contained the first draft of a potentially good comedy (or satire). A careful rewriting of the script by pros would have elevated the movie into a strong spoof of "spagetti westerns."Aside from the sloppy editing, the wretched audio/video quality, and the implausible plot, the problems included these;1. Sammy Davis Jr.'s presence must have been in homage to either the "rat pack." or the civil rights movement. His character served no useful purpose in the story. In fact, the situation reminded me of desegregation when "white" companies would put their token black employees in or near the best window for all to view.2. Stefanie Powers is a beautiful and talented comedic actress. But casting her as a tribeless squaw is too much of a stretch. A Hispanic or Indian actress needs to fill that role.3. James Caan showed all the emotion of Gene Autry. In fact, some erstwhile Republic cowboy might have handled that role more skillfully.4. Too many characters! A good rewriting would have narrowed the focus to the major figures.5. The burning of the town looked as phony as Bob Steele's fistfights. The sets should have been better constructed so that they at least appeared to be real buildings in flame.6. One reason for its lack of polish may have been that it was originally intended to be a made-for-TV movie. The dialogue lacked the usual profanity, the violence lacked the blood and gore of a Clint Eastwood western, and the politically incorrect image of a squaw was typical of such shows as THE WILD WILD WEST and even GUNSMOKE. 7. Then, when someone decided to complete the piece, it became much grittier in style and substance, more like a theater release.Frankly, I'd love to see a genuine motion picture producer redo this film, hiring authentic-looking actors for the parts, paring the number of roles to a workable few, and maintaining high filming standards. If he did, the result could be a truly enjoyable straight-faced satire.

I agree that this move must have originally been unfinished, or else something bad happened during the production - mainly because of the wrap-around present-day footage and narration that is completely redundant. What I can't figure out is how a cheapo movie like this got stars that were (of the time) pretty prominent, especially Caan. Well, Davis can probably be explained, because he appears in only a few scenes that were probably filmed in a day. I got a laugh out of his shiny black leather pants, and Powers was so mind-bogglingly awful (hardly speaking a word of English, by the way) that there was some extra amusement from that. Other than that, this is an incredibly painful western to sit through, with some of the most ludicrous plot turns even to hit the prairie.