December 14, 2008.

Never rustle more than you need... .

Rating: 3
Rancho Deluxe (1975) A very low key and quirky 70's comedy, this casts Jeff Bridges and Sam Waterston as two ne'er-do-wells out in Montana who rustle cattle to make ends meet. However, they do it slowly. One steer at a time, in fact, which they they hack up and give out to their various creditors in lieu of cash. All of the livestock they bag comes from the fields of John Brown (Clifton James-Sheriff J.W. Pepper himself!) and his wife Elizabeth Ashley, two goofballs from Schenectady who have started ranching with their profits from a string of beauty parlors back east. Brown and his men Curt and Burt (Harry Dean Stanton and Richard Bright) can't seem to get a line on who is ripping off the cattle, so Brown finally hires Henry Beige (Slim Pickens) a broken down old rustler-turned-detective who comes to town with a gorgeous and innocent (?) niece (Charlene Dallas) to put a stop to the slow but steady thievery. All of these characters prove to be fairly off kilter, and the movie is amusing throughout, with some choice lines of dialogue that you'll think about a moment before laughing. The movie is directed in an understated fashion by Frank Perry from a script by Thomas McGuane. The photography is extremely grainy, not sure if that was the intent from the get-go or if the movie was shot in extreme wide shot and some kind of optic zoom was used in post production to get in closer to the action, but either way the characters at times look like they're standing in a silver nitrate snowstorm. Other bits of note: the twangy and fun musical score, provided by Jimmy Buffett before he found the profits lay more in the "son of a son of a sailor" persona; Buffett's appearance in the movie briefly singing in a bar band in one scene; the cameo by the classic Pong game (as well as a couple of other veterans from the Jurassic period of video games) and the casting of Joe Spinell (Maniac) as Waterston's father, throwing on a little age makeup and giving the usually villainous actor a nice character part. All in all, if you're okay with a slightly leisurely pace and enjoy seeing characters who might have a screw or two loose interacting, you'll enjoy this slice of 70's pop cinema. Also with Patti D'Arbanville.

December 17, 2008.

Rancho Deluxe.

Rating: 3
Definately low budgit but none the less funny. DVD was in good shape. Delivery was good.

December 29, 2008.

A pleasant little romp.....

Rating: 4
This was a cute movie. There are parts of it that were sort of a time capsule of the early-mid 70's. It was interesting seeing a young Jimmy Buffett playing in a small Montana bar. I also enjoyed seeing the actor Clifton James from the Jame's Bond movies playing a part other than the redneck Louisiana sheriff J.W. Pepper - took me a while to recognize him - plus, its always nice to see Slim Pickins...

It was a bit more risque than I was expecting - I wouldn't recommend it for kids, but fun for adults...

December 11, 2008.

Pre-Coen, Coen-Style.

Rating: 3
This funky, goofy western is a little piece of 70s film noir that is a must for fans of Jimmy Buffett. One might ask, what was Jimmy doing in this movie??? Well, not much besides playing one of his early signature songs. The plot revolves around an attempt to preserve the west for westerners and everyone else be damned. It is clearly not the best work of any or all the actors/actresses involved, but Rancho Deluxe is still worth a view...not a buy.

December 27, 2007.

Must See If you are Jimmy Buffett fan.

Rating: 5
I'm a Jimmy Buffett fun. I wanted to see him act in his first movie and hear the soundtrack. It has an early version of "Livingston Saturday Night".