Rustlers' Raphsody [1985] Tom Berenger

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Rustlers Rhapsody (1985)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089945/

Rustlers Rhapsody (1985) is an American comedy-Western film. It is a parody of many Western conventions, most visibly of the singing cowboy films that were prominent in the 1930s and the 1940s. The film was written and directed by Hugh Wilson and stars Tom Berenger as a stereotypical good cowboy Rex OHerlihan, who is drawn out of a black-and-white film and transferred into a more self-aware setting. Though supposedly Wilson received his inspiration from working at CBS Studio Center, the former Republic Pictures backlot, the movie was filmed in Spain.

Tom Berenger ... Rex OHerlihan
G.W. Bailey ... Peter
Marilu Henner ... Miss Tracy
Andy Griffith ... Colonel Ticonderoga
Fernando Rey ... Railroad Colonel
Sela Ward ... Colonels Daughter
Brant von Hoffman ... Jim (as Brant Van Hoffman)
Christopher Malcolm ... Jud
Jim Carter ... Blackie
Paul Maxwell ... Sheepherder No.1
Manuel Pereiro ... Sheepherder No.2
Margarita Calahorra ... Sheepherders Wife
Billy J. Mitchell ... Town Doctor
John Orchard ... Town Sheriff
Emilio Linder ... Sheepherder in Saloon


Rustlers Rhapsody isnt like western comedies such as Evil Roy Slade - its a spoof of the western genre itself, though its specific target is those hokey singing-cowboy oaters of the 30s and 40s. The narrator (Bailey, of Police Academy fame) on the soundtrack introduces us to Rex OHerlihan (Berenger), a golden age western hero akin to Gene Autry or Roy Rogers, who in the opening clip is doing the standard B western shtick of hearing a stagecoach under attack by masked bandits, and riding to the rescue. After talking nostalgically about OHerlihan, the narrator wonders out loud, Always made me kind of wonder what one of those B westerns would look like if they still made them today, and ZAP, OHerlihan and the bandits are not only transported to a world of color and Dolby stereo, but a world where a group of bandits realize they can take on one pursuing man instead of fleeing from him, and as OHerlihan finds out as he quickly turns tail and tries to jump and hide in a tree from his running horse, the good guy doesnt always make good decisions.

This setup - placing one of those pearl-toothed singing cowboys in a western environment that accurately recreates how uncouth and violent the real west was - is full of promise, one that most people could easily think of several good gags for in less than a minute. Strangely, after the subsequent opening credits, the movie completely throws away this setup in pursuit of something else - an omen of the comic execution to come. But before getting into that, a look at the plot coming from the new setup. In the town of Oakwood Estates, singing cowboy Rex OHerlihan rides in on his trusty steed Wildfire, and immediately knows something is up. Peter (Bailey), the towns drunk, tries to fill him in on the situation, pointing out the key players (Now over there is the sheriff, obviously a corrupt old coward who gets his orders from the Colonel.) But it turns out Rex already had a good idea of the situation - he tells the incredulous Peter that its like this in every town he goes to! To prove it, Rex asks him, Do you have [in this town] a very pretty but somehow asexual new schoolmarm? Is the editor of the paper a young idealist who hocked everything to buy his press?

Yes, years before the notorious bomb The Last Action Hero was made, there was a movie with a protagonist in a world where he is familiar with all of its conventions and clichés. The difference here, however, is that seeing this particular all-knowing hero knowing everyones way of thinking and the outcome of every situation proves to be amusing instead of tiresome and lame. It does help that the particular genre being targeted here is more of a fresh target than other spoofed-to-death genres, like tough cops or slashers (see Viewer Discretion Advised for a typically lame example of the latter.) It certainly helps that the all-knowing protagonist in this particular instance is a likable one instead of being a loud and smarmy smartass who quickly gets on your nerves. Though you might share my same initial reaction to Tom Berenger being cast in the lead role of a comedy, upon seeing the movie it quickly becomes apparent that hes a good choice for this particular kind of comedy. A singing cowboy isnt funny to watch when he purposely acts funny - he is funny to watch because of the seriousness he constantly projects, especially when the particular situation hes in is hopelessly cornball to us in the audience. Having a brash funnyman like Jim Carrey in the role would be a disaster, and would make us want to strangle the hero. Berenger plays it more or less straight, and though his character is all-knowing, he is never sarcastic or or a braggart about it to anyone.

The casualness Berenger brings to expressing his characters knowledge and using it to his advantage not only endears us to him, its also pretty amusing to watch someone so all-knowing having a kind of blasé attitude to it all. Berenger proves to also be game to give a straight face to the sillier aspects his character has to do - singing, for one thing - and his good attitude here makes us like and laugh at his OHerlihan character even more. But what really makes the movie laugh-out-loud funny many times is the way it makes fun of all the silliness and clichés found in singing cowboy westerns. Admittedly, it does go for the obvious at times - for example, most viewers will correctly guess ahead of time that OHerlihans flashy silk duds will inevitably provoke some varmint to crudely ask him what his sexual preference is. But aside from a few instances like that, the movie prefers to not only sink its knife into the hokum, but twists the blade a little so that under a new angle we see just how dumb it was to being with. When OHerlihan is ready to leave town and whistles for Wildfire, the horse come running with a piece of railing still tied to it. When a varmint tells the pals standing behind him to shoot at this holier-than-thou stranger, that same varmint is the one who gets hit because - well, hes standing in front of them. And in the inevitable subsequent scene when the varmints friends display their friends dead body at the ranch of the evil Colonel (Andy Griffith!), the Colonel screams at them, not understanding why anyone would put a dead bleeding corpse on a valuable antique couch.

Its not just singing cowboy westerns that get spoofed here. After the Colonel gets frustrated by repeated failed attempts by his men to assassinate this do-gooder, he gets desperate enough to hire some spaghetti western cowboys (lead by European actor Fernando Rey, a star of several such movies.) Though Peter observes these bounty killers are macho enough to wear those long raincoats in 110-degree heat, even they find themselves dumbfounded against this impossibly clean do-gooder. Finally the Colonel concocts a very clever cant-miss plan, which consists of sending for... well, I wont spoil it for you. However, I will reveal that OHerlihans initial face-to-face confrontation with this foe is one of the funniest sequences Ive seen for quite a while. It is so absurd in its idea, yet handled so straight-faced and almost casually that I couldnt stop laughing. The whole sequence could have been even funnier, had the movie not made the curious choice of previously giving us a sneak peek at just who this adversary of OHerlihans was several minutes before they actually meet for the first time. When we find out who this person is and then have to wait for he and OHerlihan to meet, we have already thought of the kind of gags that are coming, and as a result the actual confrontation lacks the full knock-out blow it would have had otherwise.