Pionniers malgré eux

Wagons East was a fun movie. I love the premise of settlers going "back east", principally, because I'm Native American. It was almost like watching a Mel Brooks' movie, not one stereotype was left untouched. John McGinley, who played Julian, is one of my favorite actors. He has an amazing range. However, it's too bad that this was John Candy's last film. You can that he didn't enjoy the shoot and that he wasn't feeling well. I recommend it.

A lady enters a bar somewhere in the wild west. She looks very refined and is, in fact, seeking the man who bought her as a mail-order bride. When she learns a group of men pooled their monies together, she sits down at the bar and orders whiskey. Chalk up one more disillusioned traveler to the land beyond the Mississippi. Phil (Richard Lewis) and others are also fed up with the harsh living conditions. Why don't they all get a wagon train to go back to civilization? They find a wagon train leader (John Candy) who says he's the man to take them across the mountains, prairies and whatever other terrain is necessary to see the good life again. But, he is harboring a big secret. Also, once news goes to St. Louis that people are heading in the wrong direction, an army officer vows to keep these people from telling others how bad it really is. The Indians, however, may be happy indeed that settlers are leaving their territories! From bathroom stops in the bushes to campfire revelations between the manly men, this journey has it all. Can it succeed? This movie is fun, fun, fun, as the Beach Boys say. There is so much to spoof about the rough and tumble western frontier that the humor is never forced and gives way to many a giggle. The scenery is quite beautiful and the film sports an authentic look. Most of the actors are fine but Candy, who died during the filming and whose part was digitally completed, never seems like himself. His usual go-for-broke spirit is just not present. That said, the film still works beautifully and is a great view for any Saturday night of fun. If you love Candy, however, be prepared to cry a few tears for his loss from the world which dearly loved him.

B'leve it or not, most people said this was a sad, sad, movie. Well, I'm here to tell ya I really liked it.

My former teacher reccomended it to my mother....she said she thought I would like it.... so my Mom brought it home, ostensibly for my little sister, and I watched it that night while everyone else was gone, because I really like John Candy and I recently fell in love with Richard Lewis (in "Once Upon a Crime" believe me it doesn't happen often) Anyway, I wasn't particularly expecting a funny movie, but I liked the premise, and then it started and I about died laughing. Candy is distinctly uncomfortable during it, something understandable, and the movie definitely pulls no punches. But even so, all the actors had such great comic presence.... I'm not usually a laugh out loud person, and so the only parts I laughed at was the revelation of Harlow's secret (I';m no snitch, I won't tell you what it is) and ensuing conversation, and the Big Tough General Larchmont asking for a bedtime story, and Lewis's conversation with his kids....amounting to the sort of things that would go on in a regular, modern-day car ride when you have a son and a daughter. But the biggest surprise: Lewis himself. Here we have a guy with a big chin and buggy eyes, who always appears as himself, constantly has shoulder-length greasy hair, and one of the oddest smiles since the days of Chico Marx.... and here we have me, laughing at him. Go figure. I love Chico Marx too.

Released around the same time as The Cowboy Way, Lightning Jack, and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold, Wagons East! was another attempt to recapture City Slickers success to diminishing returns. The film follows a group of misfits including tightly wound bank manager Ben(Star Trek Voyagaer's Robert Picardo), effeminate and very heavily implied to be homosexual bookshop owner Julian(played thanklessly by John C. McGinley), and former doctor turned flailing cattle rancher Phil(played by Richard Lewis at his most Richard Lewis) who are all sick of life in the west and hire alcoholic wagonmaster James Harlowe(John Candy in his final role) to bring them back to St. Louis. The movie's setup is nowhere near strong enough to sustain this 107 minute movie as most of it can be boiled down to "the West sucks" which serves as the crux for the humor in the films strongest point in the first 10 minutes, afterwards however the movie doesn't really do much with its core premise other than periodically reminding us of it as the catalyst for the film. Sprinkled throughout the journey are Wile. E. Coyote esque gags involving a hired gun named John Slade(complete with backfiring traps), Indians with names like Big Snake that makes women faint, and lowest common denominator gags galore including a piss drinking scene. There's nothing wrong with these gags IF they're done well, but the movie's pacing is so slow and poorly paced that there's no surprise factor to the gags and everyone feels overly telegraphed and lacking in punch. The fact that they had to restructure the movie around Candy's death must've been no small task for the crew to deliver a finished project and it definitely explains why Candy disappears for long sections of the movie with focus shifting to Lewis and Picardo with some rather telling ADR conversations between them over wagon B-roll footage used to link scenes together. I can say that Wagons East is in fact a movie, but it's not a good one.

This is a light weight movie but really quite entertaining and better than many recent offering at the theater. It could have been better in many ways. A few cast changes and a little more over the top release of the talent and you have a Rustler's Rhapsody level comedy.

The play off of corporate corruption is quite relevant to current issues and provides a nice opportunity to display the use of the military in the service of corruption.

The film is good for popcorn.

Why they restrained such talent as Candy and Lewis is confusing. Why get them if you're not going to let them play. Too much focus on the script and not enough play of the characters.