Hearts of the West (1975)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Howard Zieff

Writer:

Rob Thompson (written by)

Release Date:

8 October 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Western | Comedy

Tagline:

Jeff Brides is Lewis Tater, the Iowa farmboy who blazed a trail across the barren wastes of Hollywood and Vine in MGM's comedy surprise "Hearts of the West."

Plot:

Lewis Tater writes Wild West dime novels and dreams of actually becoming a cowboy. When he goes west...

Plot Keywords:

Film Industry | Film In Film

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jeff Bridges	...	Lewis Tater
Andy Griffith	...	Howard Pike
Donald Pleasence	...	A.J. Neitz
Blythe Danner	...	Miss Trout
Alan Arkin	...	Kessler
Richard B. Shull	...	Stout Crook
Herb Edelman	...	Polo (as Herbert Edelman)
Alex Rocco	...	Earl
Frank Cady	...	Pa Tater
Anthony James	...	Lean Crook
Burton Gilliam	...	Lester
Matt Clark	...	Jackson
Candice Azzara	...	Waitress (as Candy Azzara)
Thayer David	...	Bank Manager
Wayne Storm	...	Lyle

Also Known As:

Hollywood Cowboy (UK)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:14A (Ontario) | UK:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park - 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Quotes:

Howard Pike: If a person saying he was something was all there was to it, this country'd be full of rich men and good-looking women. Kings and queens... you know what I mean? Too bad it isn't that easy. In short, when someone else says you're a writer, that's when you're a writer... not before.

Movie Connections:

References Anna Christie (1930)

A neglected, but not-to-be missed film from the mid-seventies.

This film is pure and timeless gold, as out of character with its time as it is with present times. Jeff Bridges, Alan Arkin, Blythe Danner and Andy Griffith are perfectly cast in a comedy that spoofs both American innocence and American cynicism about that innocence. If "The Great Gatsby" is a classic story of the American Dream gone wrong, "Hearts of the West" is a classic rendering of the American Dream gone right in spite of itself.

This film is deceptively artful (e.g., the coherence provided by the leitmotif of the bad guys' increasingly dusty and dented automobile). Its "simplicity" is the "simplicity" of all great comedy, which deals with the essences as well as the particular manifestations of situations. (Moliere would have liked this one!) It's a film that makes you want to rewind it immediately and watch it again.

Five minutes into "Hearts of the West," I decided I had to own a copy. Funny, redemptive, and to be watched again and again. The laughs will not stale.

What I wonder is this: did Howard Zieff also intend it as a critique of the mindset and films of the mid-seventies? Because it is that.

Don't miss this one. It will brighten even the dreariest day!