Wonderful character development!

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

My God, what an awful "dreck" this movie is!! I guess this must be the proverbial "one-joke-movie", but I couldn't find that one joke. :-( Why has this movie been made after all? And how did it get THIS cast ???? I usually LOVE to watch James Coburn, but seeing him in this pile of unfunny *beep* makes me cry.The only possible answer I got to me asking, why in Gods name anybody turned a script as unfunny as this one into a movie is that probably someone tried to repeat the success of CAT BALLOU from two years ago (1965), but to be honest "Cat Ballou" wasn't that funny either (but still mucho better).After that they finally (thanx!) dumped the lame idea of having a movie commented by a song, which sounds as someone sitting at the toilet having problems getting it out (until "There's Something About Mary" came along 20 years later, where it worked a bit better).Does this movie have any defenders? If so, where did you laugh? I'd really love to find out where I missed a joke (if there was one)! zero out of ten!

Haven't seen Waterhole #3. Having just read 'writerasfilmcritic's review, will enjoy so doing. 3 will offend those who believe what we laughingly call civilisation commenced in the late 60's, when stunt-growth subversive whelps of 30's Trotskyite parents began the slow train wreck called Political Correctness. Those offended by 3 wouldn't last two seconds during 3's era. Mindrot 'Victim Hagvocates','Facilitators','Sensitivity Trainers' and other lice, steeped in the delusion that Mammon and lawyers can save them would flee in horror from that tool of the Old West known as the rifle. They'd scream 'Gun! Gun! Call 911!'. Confronted by a hissing rattler - hiss far more dramatic than rattle - they'd recite an insipid roster of environmentalcase memberships and sue for peace. The rattler would do as do rattlers always, bite and slither away. Call it pest control.Refreshing to hear of 3's cultural outlook. In the 50's and 60's schools had gun clubs and rifle ranges yet were islands of tranquil learning. Worst offenses? Gum chewing and note passing. Yes, I said the 60's. Not all of us behaved as dirty hippies only to morph into big fat bloated money grubbing Korpseorate Oligarchs in the 90s and '00s. We were too busy studying and having fun to waste time on communist front groups like feminism, environmentalism, peace rallies, ban-the-gun-ism and other Trotskyite Beasts That Would Not Die.Many of we much maligned Boomers despise vapid PC trappings of litigation, restraining orders, and endless whining on LeftWing LezBag TV carnivals like dOprah. Got a beef? Discern your part in it. That'll stop it. Someone bugging you? Never ever even joke about Restraining Orders. They're Leninist contrivances crafted by devious deviant lawyer-mutants, promoted by psychopaths for the purpose of dividing society the better to destroy it. Walk from trouble if you can. If not, educate those who make it as to its steep costs.Might Waterhole #3 make a good litmus test? You know, those offended by 3 we'd keep at polite distance while those who enjoy 3 we'd put on our A list? Makes sense here. PC shills like lawyers and Victim Hagvocates lie for criminals so as to destroy society. Why do they scorn the Old West? Because in that era they'd be marked as twisted serpetine rejects. They'd be stuffed into the nearest boobie hatch - to resounding applause.See this film. It sounds like a breath of fresh air in a world slowly strangling itself with endless 'reforms', laws, and PC trash.Dr. Paul Vincent ZecchinoManasota Key, Floridawww.etherzone.com26 September, 2006 "Fear is the price of our instrument. But I can help you bear it."H. Lecter, M.D.c. Thomas Harris,"The Red Dragon"

This is one of my two favorite westerns. Years ago, I bought the soundtrack album, with narration by Roger Miller. It is one of the first things that Dave Grusin, fresh from Colorado U. did. Many of the verses in the ballad are unforgettable, and help me to recreate the best movie scenes in my mind.Lewton Cole is the prototypical Anti-Hero. (Whenever somebody uses that term, I think of Lewton.) "This tale has a hero, his name...Lewton Cole They say he was born with an ace in the hole! They nursed him on bourbon, they teethed him on steel, And his first words were "shut up and deal!"Everyone gets het up about the rape, but ultimately, Billee gets over it. Roger says "Billee decided that she'd already lost everything she was going to, so she decided to go after her man."And the last verse of the ballad, sums up the anti-hero riding off into the sunset."Old Mexico lies just ahead, so Gambler, move along! They ain't nobody there to care if you done right or wrong. You shot a thief, you found some gold, You stole a kiss or two... And the world's a better place because of you."

WATERHOLE #3 (4 outta 5 stars) I've always loved this movie... mostly for the a great song by Roger Miller ("The Code of the West") that plays throughout. James Coburn is a con man and grifter who comes across a map that leads to a fortune in stolen US Army gold. Carroll O'Connor is the crooked sheriff who stays on Coburn's tail. The movie kind of meanders along in a lazy way... with amusing comedy bits and some violent gunplay along the way. As I said, the Roger Miller soundtrack is what really propels this movie along... without it I think the movie would be barely mentionable. The only flaw in this movie... the reason I can't give it 5 stars is for the awful subplot about James Coburn raping the sheriff's daughter and having her fall in love with him for the rest of the movie. I guess a case could be made that the movie is supposed to be "satirizing" the casual treatment of rape by its characters but such "playful" moments as describing rape as "assault with a friendly weapon" seem calculated as laughs AT women rather than AGAINST the menfolk. This probably didn't bother people a bit in 1967 but nowadays... well, you can see why this doesn't play much on TV anymore.