Hearts of the West (1975)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

They say that your best writing comes from experience. This is not the case by the ending of this dreadful 1975 film. The N.Y.C. film critics gave its best supporting actor award to Alan Arkin, who portrayed Bert Kessler, the director. With his high-pitched tone when he was angry, Arkin, as Kessler, utters the Yiddish phrase-"Ver Gerharget," meaning getting killed as he throws someone out of his office.With his boyish good looks, Jeff Bridges was a natural to play Lewis Tater, the young lad who sets out west as he feels that he is a western writer. Instead, he gets side tracked to making movies as he flees the guys who tried to fleece him into going to a writer's college in Nevada that really never existed.The film takes place in 1933, at the heart of the depression. Yet, we see little to no proof of this occurring. In fact, we're subjected to a party where smoked salmon and sturgeon are being served.With its dull color to reflect the period, the film is really a first-class stinker. Andy Griffith co-stars as Howard, a movie man who puts one over on Lewis, but saves him at picture's end. Sorry, but he couldn't save this film.

The mid-70's saw a misguided false nostalgia for early Hollywood. I'd like to think it was on account of the last few octogenarian (and up) moguls dying off (Samuel Goldwyn died at 94 in '74, Jack L. Warner passed in the fall of '78 at 86, Darryl F. Zanuck, ill with Alzheimer's, dying in '79) and that the younger turks sensed something. Unfortunately what spewed forth was mostly crap: Gable and Lombard, W.C. Fields and Me, the dull interpretations of The Great Gatsby, The Last Tycoon, and the cinematic nadir: Won Ton Ton the Dog that Saved Hollywood... a film so utterly awful that they must've thought Rin Tin Tin would sue. Nickelodeon belongs in there somewhere too. But along the way there were a few minor gems, namely, underrated The Day of the Locust (particularly for Burgess Meredith's performance) and Hearts of the West, which I saw in a theater in Portland it's brief release. I don't think it rated a week's screen time. Inarguably, the plot's thin stuff, but Jeff Bridges' Lewis Tater ranks as his best pre-Starman turn as an actor. He took naiveté to an entirely new plateau. Andy Griffith delivers a nice performance as an amiable, if duplicitous character actor who's descended into a life in poverty row oaters. The then-50-year old Griffith had just recovered from a serious medical condition and hadn't been seen in a feature film since a 1969 flop, Angel in My Pocket. Griffith here is far, far removed from anyone's image of Sheriff Andy Taylor. The supporting cast is superb, especially Alan Arkin who captures the essential cheapness of a Gower Gulch producer/director... he seems to be based on Mascot's Nat Levine. Don't look for the picture to go much of anywhere, just enjoy the ride. I liken the experience very similar to 1982's Cannery Row; you know you've seen better pictures, but you never somehow enjoyed one more and you don't exactly know why.

The interplay between Jeff Bridges and Andy Griffith alone is well worth the price of admission, but the entire supporting cast gets into the spirit of this film about writing western movies in the early 30's. Fun for the entire family. Richard B. Schull and Anthony James are marvelous as the Mutt & Jeff antecedents of the wet bandits.

Jeff Bridges portrayal of the innocent Lewis Tater combined with the slick performances of Alan Arkin and Andy Griffith make Hearts of the West a true Homage to the Republic pictures style of westerns Also keep an eye out for the sultry performance of Blythe Danner as Tater's love interest.