Rustler's Rhapsody (1985)
Rustler's
Rhapsody makes fun of some continuing themes and clichés. Here's a
thoughtful piece.
Here's a letter from a fan to one of the IMDB forums (for Rustler's
Rhapsody.)
"If goof didn't like it, I have to wonder if he ever liked the old-style
western serials? For those of us who grew up watching those old serials (either
when they were new, or like myself, when they were in re-runs -since I was born
in the '60s, these types of shows were THE MAIN STAPLE of every young boy during
the late '60s and early '70s -we grew up watching or listening to the Lone
Ranger, Roy Rogers, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, etc etc -and we feasted on the
spaghetti westerns.)
If you liked those shows, and have fond memories cradling your Daisy BB-gun
(that looked like the Riflemans' true and trusty lever-action rifle with which
every episode was opened up -or you had the pearl-handled cap pistols with the
belt and holster (with silver bullets in it) like the Lone Ranger...) then you
would really enjoy this movie. The actors in this movie kept true to the acting
styles of those old serials and spaghetti westerns (and the narration was right
on target -they (spaghetti western cowboys) always wore those cool overcoats,
even though it had to be over a hundred degrees (this was supposed to be the
wild west of America, after all) -and how about the ranch? You always heard what
must have been a hundred head of cattle in the background, but never saw a
single set of horns. The 'good guys' ALWAYS (well, nearly so) wore white, the
bad guys ALWAYS wore black hats. The Good Guys has horses that could perform
right up there with the 'dancing horses of spain', and perform on que (usually a
quick whistle or crack or a lead, etc) and oftentimes the sidekick (when there
was one) had a checkered past (i.e. the town drunk) or was meek in some way or
other -and often needed rescuing by the hero. You saw the 'ladies of the
evening' but you never saw anything untoward actually happen (this was true
FAMILY Television, after all. The Good Guys were always confident that 'good'
would prevail over 'evil', and the bad guys would always back down in a staring
contest -they always gave in, and rarely was anyone ever actually killed. They
got injured, or they rode out of town, but their wounds were rarely ever mortal
-but when they did die, it was a scene that was drawn out quite a bit and a bit
hammy by todays' standards).
The actors kept true to their parts, and the story was very well written as a
generalized all-encompasing spoof of those old, cherished, westerns. If you
don't get it, then you are either looking at the movie in way too serious a
light, or you probably were one of those guys who never cared for these serials
(or grew up when they weren't showing 'em anymore) -but the fact that you speak
of it as you do, leads me to believe that the latter is more likely the problem.
You cannot 'get' the movie because you cannot relate to the stories. Thats a
true shame, but its also a sign of the times."
