Written by / 5/15/2013 / No comments / , , , , , , , ,

GENE WILDER IS 'THE FRISCO KID' ALONGSIDE HARRISON FORD

Harrison Ford and Gene Wilder in The Frisco Kid YEAR: 1979
After STAR WARS, Harrison Ford went from a character-actor to cinema superstar, only his status wasn't fully realized till RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK as he was usually cast in movies with another big name up front. Sure, even Han Solo was secondary yet he stole the entire movie from just about everyone and everything...

Fresh from his Solo breakthrough, Ford was billed under Robert Shaw in FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE, playing a stern, humorless officer without the wit that made him a likable leading man. His first technically starring role was in the dreary war romance HANOVER STREET but Christopher Plummer’s snaky antagonist was almost as important. And his cameo as “Luke Lucas,” the exposition-spouting nervous wreck that helps send Martin Sheen on his mission in APOCALYPSE NOW, aside, he wound up as another second fiddle in THE FRISCO KID starring Gene Wilder as a Polish rabbi… who is actually fresh from Poland… traveling across the Wild West in search of a bride in San Francisco.

William Smith in Frisco Kid RATING: ***1/2
If you look at the DVD cover you’d think Harrison Ford, who plays scruffy bank robber Tommy, is the centerpiece – Ford’s image takes up most of the artwork leaving a tiny piece for Gene, not only the title character but it’s his journey we follow. But that doesn’t mean the flawed yet resilient Tommy’s role isn’t important and more than sporadic:

After an entertaining half hour setting things up for Wilder’s naïve Avram, reminiscent of a Mel Brooks comedy where the punch line… in this case a Jew in the Wild West… owns the film's initial structure, KID eventually becomes an adventurous pairing of two polar opposites. (And if you take away a pointless fifteen minutes when our heroes are captured by Indians, it’s a helluva neat ride.)

Directed by Robert Aldrich, our lead villain – played by the always-formidable William Smith – will make you forget this is an intentional comedy. Meanwhile, scenes where Tommy teaches the religiously stubborn Avrim how to survive on newly-acquired existential savvy feels like an actual cowboy picture... Leading to a bloody gunfight followed by the inevitable “do or die” showdown on a dusty main street.
Harrison Ford and Gene Wilder in THE FRISCO KID
Harrison Ford is who he learned from
Pouting beauty Penny Peyser's bride-to-be is the reason for the entire trip
Penny Peyser on the left is the reason for the trip for THE FRISCO KID
Gene Wilder's Avram learns how to fire a gun
Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford in THE FRISCO KID
Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

EDMOND O'BRIEN KILLS THE BAD COP NOIR 'SHIELD FOR MURDER'

Title: SHIELD FOR MURDERYear of Capture & Release: 1954 Bullet Holes: **** By the time this SHIELD FOR MURDER hit theaters, Edmond O&#...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM MOVIE QUOTE: "What kind of whiskey you sell here... everybody wants to fight." Jean Gabin in Moontide

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)ANATOMY OF A MURDER 10)THE CROWDED SKY 11))THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE SYSTEM 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)NIGHT CREATURES 22)CURSE OF THE DEMON 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE BREAK 25)AIR PATROL 26)DUEL IN THE JUNGLE 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE ROARING TWENTIES 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)STANLEY KUBRICK 4)ORSON WELLES 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)JOHN LANDIS 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)VAL GUEST 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

FOR HORROR MOVIE REVIEWS


Reviews for the British series The Sweeney

Most Popular Last Year

RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE