Stubborn Frank (the always excellent Sonny Carl Davis) and his easygoing inventor buddy Loyd (a delightful performance by Lou Perryman) are a couple of lifelong pals and wannabe entrepreneurs who concoct a get rich quick scheme involving Loyd's latest contraption that combines a mop, floor cleaner, and vacuum cleaner into one handy device. Alas, bitter reality and the pair's own hopeless naiveté put a severe damper on their ambitious plans.
Director Eagle Pennell, who also co-wrote the sharply observant script with Lin Sutherland, not only astutely captures the raw regional tang of Texas and the colorful folks who populate the state without ever resorting to cheap sentiment or cardboard stereotypes, but also offers a thoughtful and touching cinematic mediation on failure, friendship, and the basic human need and desire to make one's life count somehow. Davis and Perryman display a wonderfully natural, engaging, and utterly convincing chemistry as our lovably feckless protagonists; they receive fine support from Doris Hargrave as Frank's loyal, but long-suffering wife Paulette, Erin Henshaw as the hostile Olan, David Weber as Frank's sensitive son T. Frank, and Cindy Hanson as the vibrant Rhonda Lynn. Beautifully shot in crisp black and white and further graced by Chuck Pinnell's folksy and delicately harmonic score, it's a lovely little gem.
Director Eagle Pennell, who also co-wrote the sharply observant script with Lin Sutherland, not only astutely captures the raw regional tang of Texas and the colorful folks who populate the state without ever resorting to cheap sentiment or cardboard stereotypes, but also offers a thoughtful and touching cinematic mediation on failure, friendship, and the basic human need and desire to make one's life count somehow. Davis and Perryman display a wonderfully natural, engaging, and utterly convincing chemistry as our lovably feckless protagonists; they receive fine support from Doris Hargrave as Frank's loyal, but long-suffering wife Paulette, Erin Henshaw as the hostile Olan, David Weber as Frank's sensitive son T. Frank, and Cindy Hanson as the vibrant Rhonda Lynn. Beautifully shot in crisp black and white and further graced by Chuck Pinnell's folksy and delicately harmonic score, it's a lovely little gem.