Really Surprised!

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I must admit that even though I usually don't pre-judge a film, I'd already decided that The Great Scout And Cathouse Thursday was going to be pretty terrible. Surprisingly, it isn't. Not that it's particularly good either, but at least it doesn't fall horribly flat as it could so easily have done. It must have taken a mighty brave studio to have the nerve to cast hellraisers Lee Marvin and Oliver Reed in the same movie… but here they are, mugging away something rotten in this slapstick western – clearly having a good time, some of which occasionally transmits across to the audience. Oddball western character-actor Strother Martin is in there too, essaying another of his effortlessly watchable performances as a lovable eccentric.In the latter-day Wild West, oddball partners Sam Longwood (Lee Marvin), Joe Knox (Oliver Reed) and Billy (Strother Martin) spend their time drifting from one town to another getting into various misadventures. In one town, they spot their old pal Jack Colby (Robert Culp) who stole a fortune from them when they struck gold some fifteen years earlier. Since then Colby has gone on to become a pampered playboy, dipping his toes into political campaigning and promoting big sports events. Meanwhile, Sam and the boys have struggled by, making a few dollars by whatever means they can. The luckless trio decide to confront Colby and claim back their rightful money, leading to a series of increasingly madcap events in which they try to recover it. They are joined in their adventures by young prostitute Thursday (Kay Lenz), who finds herself craving an unlikely love affair with the grizzled old-timer Sam.Directed economically by workmanlike veteran Don Taylor, The Great Scout And Cathouse Thursday is amusing fun. Marvin hams things up unashamedly but is enjoyable to watch, while Reed as an educated half-breed with long hair is in full-on pantomime mode. There's a rambling shapelessness to the story which sometimes creates tedium, but these dull stretches are counterbalanced with several funny sequences and good-natured hijinks. John Cameron's score is jaunty and high-spirited throughout and adds to the general air of barnstorming light-heartedness. No-one will ever claim this film is their no.1 favourite of all-time, but it's a brisk and goofy time-filler which whiles away a couple of hours inoffensively enough. It certainly isn't the total pile of garbage that I was afraid it might be when I sat down to watch it.

This is American International Pictures mid 70s drive-in movie idea of Blazing Saddles meets Cat Ballou via Paint Your Wagon. Believe it or not, it is actually funny. Renowned for making budget imitation versions of popular genres or other blockbusters, AIP often just made their own remake of whatever was popular. Bonnie And Clyde? AIP make A Bullet For Pretty Boy or BoxCar Bertha or Bloody Mama, etc. Westworld? AIP make Futureworld. on it went. Until after Superman they made Meteor and went broke. Sad really because AIP had a place in pre Video and DVD Hollywood after Republic Pictures and Allied Artists also went out of the biz. GREAT SCOUT is a Lee Marvin western style 'romp' with an excellent cast. It imitates those initial films above (possibly also The Cheyenne Social Club) and adds some phoney animation (cartoon dots supposed to be a beehive attack) rude Native American Indians played by Oliver Reed (!) and Black Bart style gunslingers. It's all slight and silly. Cross reference the films mentioned and it is all no worse than something Ann Margret and Arnie and Kirk Douglas once made. GREAT SCOUT is a sitter for a cult revival on DVD.

It's not a great comedy, but THE GREAT SCOUT AND CATHOUSE THURSDAY is a spoof western that plays around with such themes as settling long standing scores and recapturing a lost love from youth. In the proper hands mighty great tragedies of loss of innocence or happiness have been built on such themes like THE SEARCHERS. Here it is sent up - with a heavenly nuttiness.Lee Marvin, Strother Martin, and Oliver Reed (as a truly vengeful Native American - more below) all worked a gold site with Robert Culp when they were all younger and (these three) more innocent. Culp ran off with the money, and used it to become a powerful gold mine owner. Marvin accidentally tracks him down, and gathers the other two to confront him and demand their share. And he laughs in their face, and uses his goon squad to chase them away. But they come up with a plan to kidnap Culp's wife (Elizabeth Ashley) to force him to give them their money. Marvin, now an old saddle bum, recalls how Ashley and he were once quite hot for each other. He figures that there should be little real problem. A touch of O'Henry comes here - "The Ransom of Red Chief". It seems that marriage and prosperity brought out the worst in both Culp and Ashley. Both are used to their comforts, and neither are particularly nice people, nor do they care for each other (Culp has been promoting a prize fighter for the heavyweight championship - the gentleman has been sleeping with Ashley!). So after having the "pleasure" of kidnapping Ashley, Marvin discovers Culp couldn't care less.The film has some wonderful touches in it. Reed's "Joe Knox" is the most interesting vengeful Indian in American movies. Forget slow torments over roasting fires, or flaying alive, or "running the gauntlet" or scalping. Seems Joe has venereal disease, and plans to spread it all over the west. Martin, when he learns this, is frightened ("Damn it Joe, we drank out of the same cup!", he squeals). Reed foresees that his one-man assault on the U.S will reach the White House (he sees Teddy Roosevelt screaming about it). Lee Marvin does convince him to see a doctor, but Reed is aware (apparently) of the current treatment with mercury and a needle. Marvin tries to reassure him ("It's all done with a little pill now!"). Reed believes him, until he sees the doctor, and runs out.Culp and his relationship with Marvin is also interesting. When they were younger and working together, Culp was a member of the Democratic Party like Marvin (and Martin, presumably). But now he's a man of property and position. He is not only a good taxpayer and a Republican (as Brian Keith would have said in THE HALLALUJAH TRAIL) but he is pushing the election of Republican Candidate William Howard Taft over William Jennings Bryan. Marvin can't believe this apostasy, and Culp is obviously annoyed by Marvin's confronting him on such an important matter. When they finally confront each other in a fight, Culp says he is not only going to beat up Marvin for trying to get his money back, but he's going to force him to vote for the better man for President. Whenever he punches Marvin, Culp says, "You will vote for Taft!". Seldom has political principle gone to such a length.It was a good comedy, and is worth watching. It also (in it's conclusion) gave Marvin an opportunity to sing in a movie again, as he had done in PAINT YOUR WAGON. But this time the song is livelier, and there are others singing it with him.

This was one of the most enjoyable movies I have ever seen. Oliver Reed and Lee Marvin were two of a kind, and they worked well together. Frejac