Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975) User Reviews

Off-beat Road Flick!

[shepardjessica · 7/10 · 5 August 2004]

This 1970's road movie is very special with likable folks and some weird supporting characters along the way. Alan Arkin was great in the 60's & 70's and this part fits him like a glove. MacKenzie Phillips as Frisbee brings her unique characteristics to her lonely young woman looking to connect. Sally Kellerman was so great in the 70's playing wackos or tight-asses in uniform; always a joy to watch.

A definite 7 out of 10. Best performance = Alan Arkin. There are excellent minor characters played by Alex Rocco and especially Harry Dean Stanton (one of the treasures of American cinema is this man's presence). This film may be too laid-back for most high-charged Americans. Reminiscent of SLITHER (also Sally Kellerman). A hidden gem that was rarely seen at the time. Check it out!

petty crime road trip

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 16 May 2021]

Hollywood driving test instructor Rafferty (Alan Arkin) is a 20 years veteran former Marine and lives a sad lonely life. He's drinking in the park when he's approached by McKinley 'Mac' Beachwood (Sally Kellerman) and Rita 'Frisbee' Sykes (Mackenzie Phillips). Frisbee pulls a gun and forces him to drive them to New Orleans.

It's a road trip of petty crimes and misadventures. The movie is interesting for the actors. Mackenzie Phillips is only about 15 and the movie was released before her big break on One Day at a Time. Alan Arkin and Sally Kellerman are both very good. It also has some good support actors. I do wonder if Mac and Frisbee should be lovers. The movie would function better with a love triangle and some more jealousy. Frisbee jumping out of the car is a good scene but it would be even better if her motive has some sexual tension. The trio turns more into an odd little crime family. It is interesting that so many older men turn into creepy sleaze around her. It points to some unresolved sexual abuse in her past considering her anger issue. She needs a heart-to-heart with Rafferty about that. The ending could be improved. The three of them should drive away into the sunset together and there is no way the nun would just let her go with some guy claiming to be her dad. At least, Rafferty should show a fake ID. This is a fascinating little grimy 70's road trip indie.

Road trip of broken dreams ..........

[merklekranz · 7/10 · 10 December 2010]

"Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins" is a character study, loaded with great character actors. It is also unpredictable, with occasional bursts of outrageous humor. Alan Arkin plays a hard drinking, totally inept, and burned out driving instructor. Sally Kellerman, is a wannabe country singer, accompanied by Mackenzie Phillips, a fifteen year old hustler. These three hit the road for New Orleans, scamming and thieving along the way. The colorful characters they encounter include Alex Rocco as a Las Vegas nut job, Charles Martin Smith as a soldier who gets scammed, and Harry Dean Stanton as a one legged veteran who gets hustled at pool. Also, there is a rather unexpected ending to this road trip of broken dreams. - MERK

Not bad, not bad at all

[bwaynef · 3 April 1999]

Not bad, not bad at all. Alan Arkin, an actor whose screen persona has been nearly as eccentric as Elliott Gould's, stars as a none too bright driving instructor abducted by a pair of oddball runaways, well played by the underrated Sally Kellerman and the even less appreciated MacKenzie Phillips. They endure each other's company, and along the journey (this is one of those "road" movies) become accomplices in what seems to be their mutual desire to escape from society's norms. I may be reading more into this film that what the writer has written, but it's an entertaining endeavor, mainly due to the cast.

Disappointed

[MissSimonetta · 6/10 · 22 April 2020]

RAFFERTY AND THE GOLD DUST TWINS has become something of a cult movie if you go by the comments on this website. I can understand to a degree its appeal: it's as of the 1970s as wood paneling and disco, it's about an aimless loser finding an unconventional family with a wannabe singer and her surly teenage companion, and most importantly, its heart is in the right place. But as with a lot of cult movies, this is only going to appeal to some and it really didn't click for me.

I appreciate what the movie is trying to do more than how it does it, if that makes sense. I found the characters mostly uninteresting and their contrived, predictable misadventures even less so. The episodes mostly failed to make me laugh or they came off as filler to make sure the movie was longer than 60 minutes. The direction is flat and unengaged too, which does not help.

Alan Arkin gave life to a great deal of misfits and outcasts at this point in his career, but I cannot call Rafferty one of the more memorable ones. He has some fine moments, but he never came off like a fleshed out individual and even after he decides to help out his two female associates, he still seems aimless, like he's just tagging along for the ride. Now perhaps that is the point, but if so, it's still not interesting to watch. Sally Kellerman outright annoyed me with her character's spaceyness and weird stoner vibes (is she supposed to come off that way?). Mackenzie Phillips is the only one who leaves an impression, even if she's playing a stereotypical teenage rebel. She had a lot of moments that touched me and I think she sold her character's loneliness better than anyone else.

I'm just baffled. I really wanted to like this, but I was left cold. Then again, that's just the nature of cult movies: you can't like 'em all, even if you're a cult afficionado like me.

A rambling, free-spirited movie

[JasparLamarCrabb · 7/10 · 10 May 2013]

A rambling, free-spirited movie directed by Dick Richards & written by John Kaye. Alan Arkin is a L.A. driving instructor who runs into kooky Sally Kellerman and juvenile delinquent Mackenzie Phillips, ending up on an aimless road trip with them. Kellerman is looking to kick start a singing career & Phillips is just trying to stay out of the orphanage (though she clearly longs for some sort of family situation). Arkin, so great at acting put-out doesn't disappoint here. He's hilarious as a career marine looking to begin his second life. The film is full of laughs, with a quirky supporting cast including Alex Rocco (as a loony grifter who'd rather burn down a restaurant than pay his bill), Harry Dean Stanton, and Charles Martin Smith (striking a perfect balance between creepy & funny as a GI who mixes it up with Phillips). If not a classic, it's certainly a cult classic, this film is lost in the mire of '70s road films & really should be re-discovered.

Rafferty says at one point that he joined the U.S. Marines . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 6/10 · 13 June 2021]

. . . "straight out of high school," so he's unable to appreciate the male-centered culture taught by the Nit. Lions in his native Pennsylvania and by the Wolverines at the nearby U of Michigan. The expression "He was a real man's man" was invented at schools like these, where no one would give a bear coed a second glance even if she was smoked like a brick ship house. As Beau's stepson recalled this week, "When the going gets rough, the doc says 'cough.'" The two dusty twins here cause Rafferty all sorts of grief, and this poor Jar Head lacks the collegiate background necessary to remain oblivious to the wicked wenches' wiles. Viewers know that "Gunny" is cruising for a bruising when he adopts a 15-year-old misanthrope from the New Orleans nunnery. Bomb voyage!

Something special about loners, losers and dreamers...

[moonspinner55 · 8/10 · 20 January 2001]

Alan Arkin plays a California driving instructor who is so bored with his job that he falls asleep in his student's car; getting kidnapped by two nuts like Sally Kellerman and Mackenzie Phillips is really just what he needs. Kellerman has done solid work in films such as "MASH" and "Slither", but she is truly remarkable here as a little girl in a woman's body, convinced she has musical potential and that street urchin Phillips can help her realize her dream of becoming a professional singer (she believes the best in everybody). Phillips is tough and guarded, but lets her walls down in surprising ways (at one point, Arkin sneaks a little kick at her and she kicks back--she's enjoying a grown up's closeness for the first time). As Rafferty, Arkin is wonderfully flexible and warm; alienated and confused, he isn't even hopeful enough to get a decent car (the one he does drive seems glued together). The friendship that develops between these three people is funny and touching. It probably catches them by surprise, yet the characters don't acknowledge their new bond (by discussing it, they may burst the balloon). I didn't care for a padded sequence mid-movie that has Arkin's brakes going out (the three leads "walk to town", only they're in the middle of nowhere), but I did love many scenes: Kellerman singing in a Tucson roadhouse; her visit to her father, an embittered cowboy who wants nothing to do with his daughter; Arkin desperately trying to hang onto his friends; Phillips nearly selling herself to buy Arkin a cowboy hat (the only present she's ever bought for anybody). An underrated, warm-hearted movie, "Rafferty" is a lost gem awaiting rediscovery. ***1/2 from ****

Louis Prima

[davjazzer · 4/10 · 21 October 2015]

This film has one of Louis Prima's last appearances. (He took ill in 1975). Louis can be seen in the Casino scenes along with longtime backups,Sam Butera and the Witnesses. They perform excerpts of "When Your Lover has Gone", "Che la Luna" and "Got you Under my Skin". Although the sequence is short and peppered with dialog,the old Prima magic shines thru. By this time,Louis was working with Sam and the Witnesses only. Keely Smith had been gone since 1961 and Gia Maione,Louis' singing partner and wife was only appearing with the group occaisinly The film is so-so,but worth staying with to enjoy Louis,Sam and the Band.

A sweet, engaging and shamefully underrated 70's road movie sleeper

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 6 December 2008]

Great character actor supreme Alan Arkin gives a nice, affable, loosey-goosey performance as Rafferty, an uptight, humorless, down on his luck Los Angeles driving instructor who's abducted by a pair of flaky female fugitives: sullen, pouty fifteen-year-old teenage malcontent Frisbee (an abrasively unsentimental, but still appealingly scruffy turn by Mackenzie Phillips) and kooky, frivolous hippie chick and aspiring singer McKinley (a delightfully daffy Sally Kellerman). The gals want Rafferty to drive them to New Orleans. En route to the Big Easy Rafferty loosens up and falls in love with McKinley.

This refreshingly offbeat, enchanting and utterly engaging road movie defies easy categorization. Dick Richards' assured, low-key, keenly perceptive direction makes the most out of the many amusing and beautifully observed minor moments which cohere into a pleasingly quirky whole (the scene where a bar full of folks sing along to the lovely country and western song "You Are My Sunshine" is especially touching and memorable). John Kaye's screwy, episodic and flat-out eclectic script maintains a deftly tricky balance between being funny and serious, thereby providing a handful of delicious seriocomic nuggets out of the most everyday people and situations. Ralph Woolsey's creamy, pictorial cinematography gives the film an eye-catching glossy shine. The three leads are all uniformly terrific; they receive excellent support from Alex Rocco as amicable and lovable Las Vegas sponge Vinnie, Charles Martin Smith as a shy, geeky, ungainly marine, and the always superb Harry Dean Stanton as Billy, a dour, foul-mouthed, one-legged Korean war veteran Frisbee beats in a game of pool. To be honest, this perfectly charming and eccentric little item never amounts to anything more than a flighty piece of insubstantial fluff, but there's a simply intoxicating sunny, loopy and laid-back allure to relished in both the strangely personable true-to-life characters and their rambling cross country misadventures which makes this unjustly overlooked sleeper both highly endearing and immensely entertaining in equal measure.

It has moments...but otherwise I wasn't fond of this one.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 16 May 2021]

"Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins" is a film that is not for everyone. It's practically plotless and has a very strange tone throughout. When you read through the reviews, you'll notice a lot of people love it and a lot hate it....that's just the sort of film it is.

Rafferty (Alan Arkin) is a bit of a mess. Since leaving the Marines, he's been living a meager existence....working as a driving instructor, driving a car that looks like it came off a junk heap AND drinking throughout much of the day. After he offers a ride to two very strange drifters (Sally Kellerman and Mackenzie Phillips), they kidnap him and demand he take them to New Orleans. He soon ditches them but realizes the gun didn't have real bullets and so, oddly, he goes back and picks them up and offers to take them anyway.

Nearly all of the film consists of the three of them going from Los Angeles towards New Orleans. Along the way, they steal, scam and argue...a lot. Of the three, Mackenzie Phillips plays the most tough to like character. She's a teen and acts like one who's been hurt badly...and hates the world and everything else as a result. She's simply surly and unlikable...sort of like a cobra with a toothache. The other two are trashy but not so mean. How much you enjoy watching these awful people as they make their ways across America and scam people will depend a lot on whether or not you'll like the film. In many ways, it plays like "Paper Moon" but with less comedy.

As far as road pictures go, this one is a very tough sell for me, as I kept looking for some reason to care about these people. But they were all sociopaths who hurt folks and didn't seem to mind. No, they weren't hardened criminals...more scammers and grifters...but sociopaths nonetheless...just low rent ones! While the film had a few nice moments, much of it seems directionless and tough to like.

a little-known, but great, sleeper comedy

[johnchowell · 10/10 · 16 May 2010]

After reading some of the reviews on here, I'm kind of surprised that a lot of reviewers didn't like this movie. I loved it from the first time I saw it, and I still love it today. I've always liked movies that feature characters that are offbeat, unique and well, real. That's exactly what the three main characters are. They just seem like real people. Flawed, lonely people living outside of the norm. My kind of people. Alan Arkin gives a great performance as Gunny Rafferty - a retired Marine who likes to hit the bottle. Sally Kellerman is Mac, a drifter and wannabe singer. Macenzie Phillips is Frisbee, a tough-as- nails teenage runaway that shows her heart in the end. The three hit the road together and have a series of adventures that wind up changing the course of their lives. Maybe I'm weird, but this movie really touches me in a way. I guess because all three of the characters are so far out of mainstream society yet they all are interesting, funny and quirky. The funny scenes are great, not forced and to me much funnier that a lot of 70s comedy that seem to set up pratfalls so when the audience will know when to laugh. The funniest scene in the movie is when Vinnie (Alex Rocco, so great in a small part) sets a restaurant on fire to get out of paying the check. He then takes the title trio to a liquor store to get them something to drink - by stealing it! All of the actors are great in their parts - Alan Arkin shows a loneliness and longing in this movie that is very touching. Sally Kellerman portrayal of Mac, who seems to live in her own little world, is letter-perfect. Mackenzie Phillips steals all of her scenes as Frisbee, the teenage runaway. When she leaves her friends in the desert and tries to hitchhike, she's hilarious when she flips off the old, fat guy that tries to pick her up. I would file this movie in the category of a road movie or a slice-of-life movie, but to me it's a cult classic comedy that I can watch again and again. In a way, this movie reminds me of Leaving Normal, another great quirky road movie that should be more well-known. Watch this and LN together for a great road trip double feature!

So funny I forgot to laugh

[Spuzzlightyear · 5/10 · 21 April 2006]

This movie was given to me with a large assortment of videos, and this was the first one I watched, lucky me eh? Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins is a road movie about a sad sack of a guy who is kidnapped by a pair of uh, how shall I say it, UNUSUAL female hitchhikers. A woman named Beachwood, played by Sally Kellerman, who seems to have some mental problems,. And a teenager named Frisbee played by Mackenzie Phillips who seems to have some personal issues that the film never REALLY gets around to explaining. Anyways, after some road hijinx, the three get used to each other and all agree to go to New Orleans, since Frisbee is from there. They travel to Vegas, get into some hijinx there, go to Houston, get into more hijinx, etc etc. No real plot, just a light.. really light character study. Arkin is the best actor here, Kellerman is just slightly strange and I'm not 100% sure if it's her character or what. Oh and she sings too (shudder) and lip syncs badly (shudders even more). Finally, what the hell was Mackenzie Phillips so annoyed about? Her face doesn't raise above a scowl for 95% of the movie. The only time she smiles is at the end of the movie. So did I, Mackenzie, but just because this movie was over.

SLITHER on Ludes

[TheFearmakers · 8/10 · 6 November 2020]

Combine the personalities of Sally Kellerman and Mackenzie Phillips, one a mellow dreamer, the other a gun-toting schemer, and you have Kellerman's entire character from the previous years' road movie, SLITHER, making her passive, affable performance seem like she's merely along for the ride, leaving all the edginess to her other/better half...

And basically making Alan Arkin's Rafferty, a boozing ex-Marine/DMV instructor kidnapped by the pair, along for the ride's ride as RAFFTERY AND THE GOLD DUST TWINS goes from scene to scene/town to town gathering mossy strangers along the way...

From victimized gas station attendants to Las Vegas con man Alex Rocco to irate Arizona rancher John McClliam to Texas barfly Harry Dean Stanton and young soldier Charles Martin Smith (sharing a terrific motel scene with AMERICAN GRAFFITI alumni Phillips), they all merely serve witness to the eclectic trio who find predictable camaraderie along the breezy trip...

Although Arkin lacks initial reluctance: Seconds after Phillips sticks a gun to his head (and even fires it off OVER his head), saccharine elevator music lazily orchestrates a wide shot of the freeway like a TV-production, which this often resembles a grungy and freewheeling version of...

Actually a good thing since RAFFERTY has nothing to lose or gain to either educate or annoy an audience, which refers to both the character and the movie -- one worth watching over and over for that reason alone: Lethargy on wheels can be infectious.

Boring comedy

[Wizard-8 · 9 May 2002]

I suspected this might not be a good movie since Pauline "Hates Everything Popular" Kael gave it a good review. Still, I gave it a chance, much to my regret. Though it's ostensibly a comedy, there is not one single laugh here - in fact, the movie often seems afraid of trying to generate any humor. None of the three leads is likable - Phillips is annoying, Kellerman bland, and Arkin is so boring it's no wonder we see his character asleep several times in the movie. To top it off, the movie is pretty much plotless, with the movie going whatever way it feels like, with no point in sight. This probably wouldn't have mattered had the movie been funny - but it isn't.

Should be on the list of bottom 100 movies of all time

[rhadagast · 1/10 · 2 June 2005]

Can I give this a minus rating? No? Well, let me say that this is the most atrocious film I have ever tried to watch. It was Painful. Boringus Maximus. The plot(?) is well hidden in several sub-levels of nebulosity. I rented this film with a friend and, after about thirty minutes of hoping it would get better, we decided to "fast forward" a little to see if things would get any better. It never gets better. This film about some dude getting kidnapped by these two girls, sounds interesting, but, in reality, it is just a bore. Nothing even remotely interesting ever happens. If you ever get the chance to watch this, do yourself a favor, try "PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE" instead.