kentbartholomew

Rarely do you watch a movie with so many recognizable names that is this bad and by bad I mean every facet of this movie is bad. Tinny, grating, soundtrack, confusing plot (I'm being generous to call it a plot)ad-hoc script and ridiculously unbelievable characters. How Emilio Estevez who strolls through for a couple of scenes, Harry Dean Stanton who is only on camera for one scene and Dennis Leary ever became involved in this debacle is truly mind-boggling.

In the case of Dennis Leary's character it's almost like they wedged his role in at the last minute for name recognition, as his role has nothing to do with the plot. His screen time is spent just delivering Dennis Leary stand-up type monologue. Pretty much all of his scenes sound ad-lib. Ditto with Jon Lovitz and Julie Delpy. Adding to the misery is an out of place acoustic number with Kari Wuhrer and Michael Vartan on guitar. We won't even get into the uncomfortably creepy relationship between Wuhrer and Norman Reedus who plays her surfer dude brother. How many siblings kiss each other on the mouth? It was like they were originally going to have the characters they play be former lovers then decided to go another direction without editing the film. The list of missteps goes on and on.

My only regret is that I have to give this film one star as IMDb won't let me give it zero. A real stinker.

Texas Ranger Gene Autry and his men arrive just in time to prevent the foreclosure of rancher Dan Carter (Harry Tyler) and his family after Carter finds himself unable to repay his loan to swindler Tracy Wyatt (Tom Keene). Gene and sidekick Pecos (Pat Buttram) soon find themselves in the middle of murder and a lottery counterfeiting scheme run by Wyatt and his henchmen Blackie Knight (Don Harvey) and Rip (Holly Bane).

At a running time of 66 minutes Gene has time to become involved in a romantic triangle with Gail Davis and Mary Castle and Pat gets time to contribute his comedic antics in a surprisingly humorous skunk spraying incident. Ex Hopalong Cassidy Sidekick Russell "Lucky" Hayden also shows up in this one, cast off-type as Wyatt's out-of-town hired gun. While this is one of Gene's more action oriented westerns he does get in two nice, well placed tunes, including an opening sequence rework of Ride Ranger Ride from his earlier film of the same name.

This is one of the movies that was filmed in what I think was the sweet spot of Gene's career. Wedged between his Automobile-Age Musicals and his later budget-restrained Horse Operas, it highlights Gene at his best.

Derailroaded has to be one of the worst, most unnecessary pieces of filmaking ever. The object of this film is Larry "Wildman" Fischer a quasi musician of dubious importance. We learn Wildman Fischer enjoyed some minor success as a fringe artist in the seventies. I use the term artist in the most liberal terms, as Larry's artistry consists of screaming nonsensical lyrics into the microphone. Absolutely awful sounding. It couldn't really be fairly described as music.

They follow the exploits of Fischer, a paranoid schizophrenic, from his early years through the near present. Most of the current footage is done with a camera and microphone in Larry's face with predictably obvious results. The audience doesn't need an hour and a half of this to see the poor fellow needs some help. The whole wretched thing has a carnival side-show feel to it. This film is so over the top that for a while I thought it was a docu-drama spoof in the vein of Blair Witch Project.

In the end you wonder if this was about mental illness or the fall of a Rock Musician. Sad to say I don't think many people have even heard or care about Fischer as a musician. Even fewer will care about the films treatment of schizophrenia. Either way it's a complete flop.