Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

One of the best films i have seen

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The American Western had gotten kind of tired by the early 60's and ended up moving overseas during that decade where it begat the Spaghetti Westerns or Euro-Westerns. There is no doubt these films really revitalized the genre, but what was especially interesting is the influence they in turn had on the American genre in the 1970's. This is most obvious perhaps in early American Clint Eastwood Westerns like "Hang 'em High" and "High Plains Drifter" which traded on Eastwood's mercenary "Man with No Name" character. The more left-wing political Eurowesterns, meanwhile, probably had at least some influence on American films like "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and "Pat Garret and Billy the Kid" (as well as on overtly political pseudo-Westerns like "Billy Jack"). This rather obscure American film is especially interesting though because it really betrays the influence of the third type of Eurowestern, the slapstick-comedy Westerns typified by the "Trinity" films of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.This movie is also interesting in that it casts two the scariest screen heavies of all time--Lee Marvin and Oliver Reed--in roles that sre not only sympathetic but funny. Reed plays an Indian(!), which easily could have been a disaster, but he turns out to be quite funny as a resentful half-breed who kidnaps a bunch of prostitutes in order to infect them with a dose of clap he has in order to create an epidemic that he hopes will reach all the way to the White House! He quickly forgets about this hare-brained scheme, however, when Marvin's character enlists his aid in getting revenge on an old partner (Robert Culp) who swindled them both and stole the Marvin character's perpetually unfaithful wife (Elizabeth Ashley). Rounding out the gang is character actor Strother Martin and Kay Lenz as "Cathouse Thursday", one of the prostitutes who decides to stay with her abductors. And this itself becomes a problem because she is the favorite of a lesbian madame (Sylvia Miles), who commands her own gang and owns the only motorcar around. It all comes to a head at a boxing match/political charity for the election of William Howard Taft.Besides Marvin and Reed, the other main asset of this film is Kay Lenz. Lenz was a very appealing actress but not a traditional Hollywood beauty (she was kind of like Sissy Spacek or Hilary Swank), which often got her cast in "loser" or "outsider" roles like the title role in the ridiculous TV movie "The Initiation of Sara". After her memorable debut in "Breezy", she also kind of got typecast as a younger woman romantically involved with much older male partners ( William Holden in "Breezy", Lee Marvin in this). She was definitely very cute (she was once married to 70's heart-throb David Cassidy) and Hollywood should have done a lot more with her.This isn't really a classic Western (and it's pretty hard to find right now), but is an interesting and entertaining film.

This film was available from Vestron Video many years ago. You can see the whole film on HULU, but there are commercials in it. I have noticed that Hulu has a lot of MGM/UA films available for viewing. This also encompasses many Americal International titles, such as the one listed above. This film is really funny. Oliver Reed is the best as Joe, sporting his crazy antics. Lee Marvin and Strother Martin make a good comedy team. I sometimes thing this film is funnier than "Cat Ballou," There are many funny scenes to make note of, but the best one has to be the curing of the gonorrhea scene. MGM/UA should release this one on DVD.

One of the funniest movies I've yet to see. Great cast with funny, funny script. We watch it every chance we get and can't wait for the DVD to be produced. This is one of Lee Marvin's best movies....teamed with Robert Culp, Elizabeth Ashley & Oliver Reed the movie creates unforgettable fast-paced humor. Elizabeth Ashley's portrayal of "little girl" is priceless and the final chase scenes in the movie are right up there with "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. When Joe Knox gets drunk and kidnaps a Lady for each Night of the week (thus Cathouse Thursday) followed by Sam's tricking him into visiting the doctor for a "painless" cure is one of the funniest story lines I've yet to see. The movie deserves much higher than its mediocre rating.

I was 11 when I saw this in the theater...it was my first R-rated movie. (Thanks Mom!) I remember laughing to the point of tears.Years later I saw it again on TV, and part of it on cable, and it was as funny as ever. Watching it as an adult I can recognize its silliness and dated comedy, but it was still fun.Rent the un-cut version, as the swearing by some of the characters is pretty important to their personalities.