I do not know enough about Director Don Taylor but I can assure you that after watching THE GREAT SCOUT & CATHOUSE THURSDAY I hope I do not have to suffer the torture of watching another mindless piece like this.
Taylor completely misuses an ageing Lee Marvin apparently trying to revive the role of Kid Shelleen in CAT BALLOU - without the booze; a statuesque and lively young Kay Lenz as Thursday, who for no discernible reason seems to be in love with old and frail looking Marvin, by then clearly affected by all the heavy drinking; Sylvia Miles having lesbian designs on Lenz seven years after servicing strapping John Voight in MIDNIGHT COWBOY; and Robert Culp in tow looking for $60,000 which Marvin does not care for - he wants Lenz, unfit though he seems for the part of making her happy. Throw in a few great looking jallopies competing with horses for space on the road in the late 19th century. Oh progress - why do you spoil everything?
It used to be just gunslingers, innocent souls getting in the crossfire and hookers livening things up but this bad old West has snakes in glass jars, Strothers Martin ready to pull the rug, Ollie Reed running around making faces and bulbous bulging eyes in the best tradition of no known Indian tribe...
Does it make any sense to you? Me neither.
Cinematography is sloppy, script nonsensical throughout, supposedly looking to recapture Marvin's glory day in screwball Western CAT BALLOU (1965) with expletives modernizing it to match 1976 lingo.
Single worst sin: a completely miscast Reed as an Indian with a Harvard background who just runs around with women's scalps in his inside pockets (wow, a novelty - I had never noticed those in Indian clothing before!)
Hysterical throughout. Everyone gets to shout, holler, yell, at various points in the flick... but definitely NOT hysterically funny!
Overlong, too. Despite superior cast, fair warning: best avoided. 5/10.
