When I posted my review of the Gene Autry flick "Down Mexico Way" some seven years ago as I write this, I wondered whether there might be at least one more Western out there that had a polka played in it. With a dab of poetic license, I'd say you could call "Rancho Deluxe" a Western, after all it's got cowboys, horses and cattle rustling in it. So when free spirit Betty Fargo (Patti D'Arbanville) called over to the band to 'Play a Polka', I'd have to say their response qualifies this flick as the third time I've caught one in the genre. If you're wondering what the other one was, it was Charles Starrett's programmer from 1951 called "Snake River Desperadoes".
Well that polka might not have sounded much like a polka, and this might not look much like your traditional Western, but it sure does have that cattle rustling thing down pat. Problem is, most of the rustling by bad boys Jack McKee (Jeff Bridges) and Cecil Colson (Sam Waterston) is done one at a time, and they generally just shoot and butcher the poor animal right where he drops. I've never tried it, but it seems to me that taking a chainsaw to a dead animal would be a lot more gruesome than the picture allowed; Jack didn't get a drop of blood on him!
This is a wryly amusing tale with quick and abrupt scene changes but it's not hard to follow. Writer Thomas McGuane must have let his fertile imagination head into Mexican overdrive to come up with the story. The Baseheart of Bozeman Canyon making shambles of the hotel room is almost worth the price of admission alone, but prepare yourself to really pay attention to everything going on along with all the sharp dialog because you'll want to reflect on things when it's all over.
With a title tune from Jimmy Buffet and a sneak peak harmonica cameo by Warren Oates, this is definitely not your father's Western. The only connection there would be Slim Pickens' role in the story, and having seen a bunch of his pictures from the Fifties, I was a little surprised to see him in this one as late as 1975. But he did have quite a few more screen appearances after this one so I'll have to check out some of those as well if I can find them.
After catching Sam Waterston in all those 'Law and Order' episodes, it's a bit strange seeing him here as an alcoholic Indian, or any kind of Indian for that matter. But it wouldn't be the last time he appeared in a Western. He showed up four years later as a Kiowa warrior named White Bull, giving Martin Sheen fits in another off beat story, but that time he went the entire picture without saying a word.
Well that polka might not have sounded much like a polka, and this might not look much like your traditional Western, but it sure does have that cattle rustling thing down pat. Problem is, most of the rustling by bad boys Jack McKee (Jeff Bridges) and Cecil Colson (Sam Waterston) is done one at a time, and they generally just shoot and butcher the poor animal right where he drops. I've never tried it, but it seems to me that taking a chainsaw to a dead animal would be a lot more gruesome than the picture allowed; Jack didn't get a drop of blood on him!
This is a wryly amusing tale with quick and abrupt scene changes but it's not hard to follow. Writer Thomas McGuane must have let his fertile imagination head into Mexican overdrive to come up with the story. The Baseheart of Bozeman Canyon making shambles of the hotel room is almost worth the price of admission alone, but prepare yourself to really pay attention to everything going on along with all the sharp dialog because you'll want to reflect on things when it's all over.
With a title tune from Jimmy Buffet and a sneak peak harmonica cameo by Warren Oates, this is definitely not your father's Western. The only connection there would be Slim Pickens' role in the story, and having seen a bunch of his pictures from the Fifties, I was a little surprised to see him in this one as late as 1975. But he did have quite a few more screen appearances after this one so I'll have to check out some of those as well if I can find them.
After catching Sam Waterston in all those 'Law and Order' episodes, it's a bit strange seeing him here as an alcoholic Indian, or any kind of Indian for that matter. But it wouldn't be the last time he appeared in a Western. He showed up four years later as a Kiowa warrior named White Bull, giving Martin Sheen fits in another off beat story, but that time he went the entire picture without saying a word.