RUSTLER'S RHAPSODY
US, 1985, 84 minutes, Colour.
Tom Berenger, Marilu Henner, G.W. Bailey, Andy Griffith, Fernando Rey.
Directed by Hugh Wilson.
Rustler's Rhapsody is a pleasant small film. It is a spoof of the Gene Audry- Roy Rogers western musical of the '30s, '40s and '50s.
The film was made by Hugh Wilson, director of the original Police Academy success. Tom Berenger is pleasant as Rex O'Herlihan, the Singing Cowboy. He receives engaging support from Andy Griffith, Marilu Henner, Fernando Rey.
The plot is slight, is stretched to make a feature film - but is entertaining for those who appreciate what is being sent up. (Rex O'Herlihan is very similar to Woody Allen's creation Tom Baxter in The Purple Rose of Cairo.)
1. An entertaining comedy, western, spoof?
2. The memories of the old movies, the black and white opening, the studios, the loss of popularity of the singing cowboys, an updating? The use of the old conventions, the modern treatment? Homage and satire?
3. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and the popularity of their films? Rex O'Herlihan in this tradition? Squeaky-clean image, real, his clothes, behaviour, way of speaking? Good and evil? Audience expectations of him as hero? Confrontation of the villains? The encounter with the women - and temptation? His songs? Sidekick? The embodiment of the Hollywood image?
4. Rex in action: tough but gentlemanly, the range wars, the encounter in the town, the saloon.. the sidekick and his loyalty, the visit with the various colonels, the encounter with the goodtime girl, the contrast with the colonel's daughter, the build-up to the climax and shoot-out?
5. The colonels and the land barons, the railwaymen? Deals, callous treatment, enmities? The colonel and the love of his daughter? Cruelty, sneering, violence? The henchmen?
6. The humorous portrait of the western sidekick - the drunk, exaggerated loyalty, help, Rex not wanting him because it is inevitable that according to the conventions he will be killed?
7. The contrast between the good girl and the bad girl - surface behaviour, reality?
8. The action on the railway, in the town, the wars, the questions of land, the opening up of the rail? Familiar material - to laugh at and with?
