Norwood

Glen Campbell once said that he was so bad as an actor that he made John Wayne's performance in True Grit seem Oscar worthy (Wayne's only Best Actor award). In Norwood, Glen Campbell does not have any real talent around him to overcome his weaknesses. Lets face it, the chicken that is carried around provided the most credible performance in the movie.

While there is some talent in the movie, none if it surfaces. Some reviewers suggest that simply buying the Norwood soundtrack would be better for those who like Glen Campbell's music. I would point out that there may be a reason that the Norwood soundtrack tanked on the charts while almost all of Campbell's records were selling at the time. There may be a reason. (If you do want the Norwood soundtrack, try to find the "I'll Paint You A Song" album, which has the Norwood soundtrack as well as the Theme from True Grit).

So, why 8 stars? First, Glen Campbell gets 8 stars as a starting point because he was a true icon at the time. Second, the movie is really so bad that it becomes good. The jokes fall flat, but the serious parts are hilarious. It is worth watching when you just want some mindless humor and mind-numbing music.

This movie from Charles Portis' novel starts out ok with Glenn Campbell's return to his hometown and some amusing stuff with his obnoxious brother in law and the always oleaginously wonderful Pat Hingle as a con artist. But, paradoxically, as soon as this road picture goes on the road things start to get drained of interest and it is hard to pick a Most Boring among the three girls with whom the title character gets involved; Carol Lynley as a bad tempered, small town floozie, Tisha Stirling as a cynical hippie or Kim Darby's good natured country gal. Campbell's performance is serviceable at best and throughout the film director Jack Haley Jr and screenwriter Marguerite Roberts, the later of whom did such a good job adapting Portis' "True Grit", lays the hick schtick on thicker than congealed Crisco so that you feel at times like you're watching "Petticoat Junction: The Movie". Bottom line: Read the novel and get Portis' quirky insights without all the stupid Hollywood crap, like Central California standing in for Tennessee and being asked to buy Dom De Louise, with his Brooklyn accent, as a Nebraskan. Give it a C.

Glen Campbell and Joe Nameth, both in their career primes, give surprisingly creditable acting performances about two Marines just back from the Viet-Nam War finding their places back in society. The theme of this film is somewhat out-dated, yet with the current war in Iraq raging on, maybe it's not as out-dated as I think. Campbell is Norwood and has the major role, while Joe Nameth has more like a guest staring part. Campbell embarks on a road trip and meets a host of different people. Trish Sterling looks beautiful, but is really wasted here. Coogan's Bluff still rates as her best on-screen role. I saw this film as a young teenager at the Cinema Theater on Miami Beach. I remember liking it a lot and sort of wondering if I would one day be living this type of experience myself. With the draft and the war, this film was very realistic for the times, now not so much. Yet, it's an enjoyable film on the same take as Bus Riley's Back in Town.

After the success of TRUE GRIT, Glen Campbell and Kim Darby re--teamed for this lighter than air comedy, like TRUE GRIT based on a Charles Portis novel but definitely more of a homespun Andy Griffith-hayseed type flick. The novel was set in the 1950s, so some of the plot devices play like wheezing cliches (e.g., the story's uninteresting pregnancy flap and some of the relationships are straight form TV sitcom land). Yet, a lot of the dialog from the novel made its way into the movie and that makes for some good humor. Carol Lynley practically steals the movie in her brief cameo, and Dom DeLuise has some of the best shtick on view. Campbell is good natured and sings a few decent Mac Davis tunes. He is so like the Norwood character, so typecasting helps here. Darby is wasted. Pat Hingle has a few good moments but Tisha Sterling and Joe Namath are embarrassments. Meredith Macrae makes an impression, but like so many characters in this episodic fiasco, she is buried under the hokum. You could do worse if stuck with nothing to watch in the early morning hours.

Some of the people from in front of and behind the camera of True Grit bring us this easy going country story starring Glen Campbell and Kim Darby. It's not quite in the same caliber as True Grit however.

Glen Campbell is returning from Vietnam to his home in the metropolis of Ralph, Texas which is a stone's throw from the Arkansas border. He goes his separate ways from Joe Namath a fellow Marine and returns home to his sister Leigh French and drip of a brother-in-law Dom DeLuise. Glen is never without his guitar and never turns down a song request. However he'd like to make a living at it and hopes to get a big break on the Louisiana Hayride country radio show, a rival of sorts to the Grand Ole Opry.

After that it's an episodic adventure with him delivering a stolen car from conman Pat Hingle to New York, of course Glen doesn't find out it's stolen until he's on the road. During the course of the film he gets involved with would be actress Carol Lynley, hippie chick Tisha Sterling, and eager young bride Kim Darby. Guess whom he winds up with.

Glen's singing of several country/western ballads makes the film easy to take and glosses over a lot of his lack of acting ability. Had he come along thirty years earlier Campbell might have been a good singing cowboy star, but those days have passed. No real plot in Norwood just a series of incidents on his journey to New York and back.

Whatever else it is Norwood is not True Grit, but Glen Campbell fans might like it.