Amateur movie with Big budget

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Two drifters from Montana named "J.D. Reed" (Jerry Reed) and "Will Eubanks" (Tom Selleck) arrive in Nashville needing a place to stay. As luck would have it, a person they met a couple of weeks prior by the name of "Lonnie Grimes" (Randy Powell) offers them the comfort of his home while he is away in Memphis. Not realizing that Lonnie is a private detective they are surprised when a young lady named "Kate Harper" (Morgan Fairchild) comes to the house and offers them a thousand dollars to find her missing sister, "Carla" (also played by Morgan Fairchild). One thing leads to another and soon both J.D. and Will are escaping one attempt on their lives after another while they pursue leads all over Nashville. Now, obviously being a "made-for-television" movie it require that the script had to be "tamed down" to accommodate a general audience. I understand that. Even so, there was no excuse to waste the talents of two decent performers like Tom Selleck and Morgan Fairchild with such a ridiculous plot, extremely corny dialogue and repeated unsuccessful attempts at humor. Again, what a waste of talent.

The movie was worth watching just to see Jerry Reed and Tom Selleck ham it up with such a great supporting cast of characters, many of whom are no longer with us. The plot was contrived, but who cares! Jerry Reed, as usual, stole the show! Now that he has passed on, Concrete Cowboys is a tribute to the fact Reed's appearance rescued the movie. The plot includes the usual car bomb, shoot-out, cop-car chase, and bad guy fight scenes that keeps the action moving, but just to see so many great artists in their prime is worth watching the film. Also interesting is the set decor, costumes, vintage cars, and those tame nightclub dance moves. Best of all: there was no filthy language, sleazy sex scenes, or female meat-market pandering! This is a good movie to watch with your kids and not have to censor the kind of disgusting garbage vomited out of Hollywood today. Although "Hollywood" has long been morally bankrupt, we can thank God we still have some old and timeless classics, and some B movies worth watching like this one.

A country-fried buddy movie, and potential pilot for a series (that later emerged with Reed, but with Geoffrey Scott in Selleck's role), this concerns two cross-country cowboys on their way to Hollywood who become embroiled in a missing person/murder investigation and find themselves on the edge of danger. When Reed loses the pair's money in a shady card game, he and pal Selleck take up residence in a buddy's luxury apartment in Nashville. However, once there, they are mistaken for private investigators by a (hilariously) brunette Fairchild and, in order to regain the funds they lost, opt to take on her case. They've barely begun to sort out the clues when their lives become threatened. In standard issue, TV show fashion, they make the rounds, interviewing various suspects and witnesses while trying to piece together the mystery. In a finale that isn't all that hard to guess (but with a subplot or two that help keep things from becoming too predictable), the gentlemen wrap things up and proceed on their way to H-town. Reed yuks it up and delivers a lot of sassy dialogue, clearly enjoying himself in a rare leading role. (in fact, video releases have eliminated his picture from the cover and sometimes his name, despite his top-billing!) Selleck is his typically easy-going and charming self. He would soon land the iconic role of "Magnum PI" and launch a more significant career for himself. Both men wear pants that are almost criminally tight and are at times distractingly so! Fairchild isn't put to any tremendous task in her dual role, but adds a bit of camp factor to the proceedings thanks to her dated styling and soap opera-esquire acting. Akins appears as a country music star who seems uneasy about the case while real-life singers Acuff, Mandrell and Stevens have cameos as themselves. Benson gets an amusing little part as a cathouse madam and familiar face Zabriskie has a role as co-proprietress of a country music wax museum. Easy-going and lacking a significant budget, it's harmless, undemanding entertainment for those who aren't expecting a great deal. Commercial breaks are punctuated by a series of illustrations and chapter names which add a whimsical feel to the movie.

Always enjoy Tom Selleck, (Will Cubanks) films and in this picture he plays a rather low key person who loves studying a dictionary and was a former ex-cowboy who has a good friend and sidekick, J D Reed, (Jerry Reed). These two guys decide to travel to Hollywood and they wind up in a freight car which takes them to Nashville, Tenn. where they meet up with many Country Western Music Stars, like Claude Akins, Barbara Mandrell and Roy Acuff which are all cameos. However, Barbara Mandrell had a few lines more than the rest of her other actors. There is plenty of humor and slapstick and Morgan Fairchild, (Kate) gives a great supporting role and also a double role to perfection. If you like to see a very young Tom Selleck, you will enjoy a completely different acting by Tom. Enjoy.