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This movie has a great cast, many of whom are inter-related in various ways. First, there is Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd, all of whom were in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest together three years earlier in 1975. Needless to say, Nicholson must have had some influence in casting DeVito and Lloyd, as he directed this picture. DeVito and Lloyd were still relatively unknown until they were cast the following year in TAXI. Next, we have Veronica Cartwright, who would be cast in ALIEN the very next year in 1979. Then we have the lovely Luana Anders, who looked just as fabulous as she did 17 years earlier in her signature role as Don'a Medina in The Pit and the Pendulum, in 1961. There is John Belushi in his first film role, which ironically was in the same year that he would appear in Animal House. Finally, Mary Steenburgen appears here in her first film, as well. She would later go on to make some fabulously successful appearances in films like Parenthood and Back to the Future Part 3. As for the movie, it was an under-rated and relatively unknown independent film made by Nicholson on a lark. It's one of those magnificent sleepers that was just great fun to watch - it's a happy movie with lots of laughs and lessons in loyalty and kindness. It remains one of my favorite comedies, westerns, and casts nearly 40 years later.

Let's step out of the P.C. mind-police ring for a few moments and reflect on Joel Schumacher, who is a flaming fruit, and according to Val Kilmer, so difficult to work with that he swore he would never do another film with him again. This is why George Clooney has replaced Kilmer in the role, with the same cast from the prior Batman/Schumacher film. To be frank, the sets, props and costumes in this movie look like a drag queen parade. Even the Bat-mobile looked exceptionally flowery. I would venture to say that this is handily the worst Batman movie ever made, closely followed by the previous Batman/Schumacher film with Kilmer in it. In addition, unlike the other Batman movies, this movie's story line gives one the distinct impression that it was made specifically for children under the age of 10. It's no wonder Schumacher wasn't asked to make another one, and thank the heavens that he didn't. It would surely have meant the death of the franchise.

This film describes in detail what we already knew about the Nazis. The details of their horrible atrocities need not be gone to in detail here, except as to the contents of the film, itself. Few people realize the immediate effects of the initial sight of the camps on American Generals. Patton toured one camp and emerged so outraged that several adjutants said that they had never seen him so angry. Eisenhower toured a camp and remarked that many US soldiers didn't know what they were fighting for, but now, he could show them what they were fighting against. The large responses to the holocaust were, "oh, it'll never happen again, now!" Look at Uganda 1994, and Serbia 1995. This will never stop unless somebody intercedes. It is the opening of the gateway to hell, with evil piloting the way. If this is not stopped in its tracks, the armies of darkness will march across the earth. It could happen to any one of us, if we don't meet the measures of a tyrannical police state.