The opening ten minutes of this western are very intense and very violent, drawing the line between our hero and our villain- then the film descends into a dopey wannabe comedy a la "The Sting," and never recovers. I cannot discuss the plot much because of all the surprise endings and twists and turns, but here are the basics in a nutshell: Hatcher (Michael Ironside) is a landowner whose spread is coveted by McCay (Bruce Dern), a railroad speculator. McCay kills Hatcher's wife and child, and throws Hatcher in jail. Years later, Hatcher escapes and is tracked by bounty hunter Bush (Vondie Curtis-Hall) and U. S. Marshal Bodine (Keith Coulouris), who has the nicest hair of any man in any western. The convoluted twists and turns come quickly.
Doug McClure is along as Granger, one of McCay's clumsy henchmen in one of his last, and most embarrassing, roles. The murder of Hatcher's family in the opening minutes leads the viewer to think this will be an intense and horrific revenge drama. This gloom is easy to get into, as Curtis-Hall is also no smiles as Bush, but the plot takes this one hundred and eighty degree turn into winking comedy, and never recovers that dramatic tension again. Ironside is so intense, he rarely seems to be in on the joke. Curtis-Hall is harassed in the beginning of the film because of his skin color, but this subplot is dropped. The film holds no surprises, and eventually you might think things would be easier if someone would have plugged McCay in the first act. Country singer Randy Travis plays a small role as Bodine's boss, and he is stiffer than hardtack. He has a good screen presence, but his line delivery is terrible. Despite some good work by Ironside and Curtis-Hall, I can't recommend this.
Doug McClure is along as Granger, one of McCay's clumsy henchmen in one of his last, and most embarrassing, roles. The murder of Hatcher's family in the opening minutes leads the viewer to think this will be an intense and horrific revenge drama. This gloom is easy to get into, as Curtis-Hall is also no smiles as Bush, but the plot takes this one hundred and eighty degree turn into winking comedy, and never recovers that dramatic tension again. Ironside is so intense, he rarely seems to be in on the joke. Curtis-Hall is harassed in the beginning of the film because of his skin color, but this subplot is dropped. The film holds no surprises, and eventually you might think things would be easier if someone would have plugged McCay in the first act. Country singer Randy Travis plays a small role as Bodine's boss, and he is stiffer than hardtack. He has a good screen presence, but his line delivery is terrible. Despite some good work by Ironside and Curtis-Hall, I can't recommend this.