Palo Pinto Gold (2009) User Reviews

A movie made by a bunch of friends of the director

[noskcirenoj · 2/10 · 30 March 2015]

This was 90 minutes of plastic acting by a bunch people who must be friends of the amateur director or whoever had access to the equipment. The plot felt like it was written by a high school drama class. The dialog must have been written by a Republican Bible school and was filled with clichés. Just before the big shoot-out, the bartender first expresses his confidence in the evil sheriff and then says, "If you're gonna dance with the devil, you have to pay the fiddler." Under normal conditions, the bad guy should have shot him, to the standing ovation of the audience. And all with the aged Roy Clark and Mel Tillis telling the story. Maybe Roy and Mel owed favors to the parents of all of the actors and director. It is filled with flash backs as the newspaper writer drags the story out of the two old boys with booze and flattery which makes it tedious.

I can say on the positive side that this movie has the greatest western hats I have ever seen in a movie. With the exception of some decent photography, this was equal to a few of the poorer B movie westerns of the 1950's without the nostalgia of having seen it in an actual theater. Even young people are too sophisticated for this drivel. Don't waste your time. Go back and watch something you've seen before ... before you watch this.

Great Old-Fashioned Western

[keeneyankee10 · 10/10 · 12 February 2011]

This is a Western like they used to make 'em. A cast of mostly unknowns do a fine job of putting together an action-packed film the entire family can enjoy. There's no sex, hardly a cuss word, and while there's plenty of gunfights, by today's standards the violence is pretty tame. A film highly reminiscent of the Westerns so popular in the past. I've seen many high-budget films that aren't anywhere near as well done as Palo Pinto Gold.

In addition to the almost non-stop action, the film also has an excellent score, a kind of combination of Western swing, Mexican, and spaghetti Western themes. The Texas Hill Country scenery is also real pretty, and the cinematography shows that well.

One minor complaint is some of the horseback chase scenes. You can easily tell the riders are not running or even galloping the horses, but are in fact holding them back. One horse almost gets revenge on his rider, the actress playing Kayla. Look closely when she tosses saddlebags on his back and you'll see what I mean, and one very angry equine.

Overall I was very disappointed in this movie.

[TxMike · 15 December 2009]

My movie-watching on DVD is a pretty simple exercise. I watch what my public library buys. On one searching session I came across this title, "Palo Pinto Gold." That it is set in the Texas Hill Country (just west of San Antonio) and featuring two old favorite country singers, Roy Clark and Mel Tillis, caught my attention. So, I settled in and watched it.

The first thing I noticed is that this is not a production that would rival any Hollywood western. The actors are not likely anyone you would have heard of (I know I hadn't, except for Clark and Tillis) and what you get are performances you might see in a small town community theater.

The plot is listed right here on IMDb, a lawman in the 1800s turns bad, kills his friend and mentor, and the dead man's son hunts him down when he grows up. Nothing here that hasn't been done before.

The movie is actually told as a flashback of sorts, when a writer shows up in town looking for someone who might be able to tell him how the gunfight really went off years ago. Roy Clark and Mel Tillis are the two old townsmen who tell the story to the writer. Clark and Tillis are the best things about this movie.

I will contrast it with a small movie made some years ago by Robert Rodriguez, called "El Mariachi." That is a fine movie made on a very small budget. Much better than this one.

I would not go so far as to say this movie has no entertainment value, but from this viewer's perspective it has nothing really new here, and the acting and production values fall far short of what I expect when popping in a DVD. I am not happy that I spent the time to view it.