Westerns were on the way out when The Good Guys and The Bad Guys came out in 1969. This didn't stop director Burt Kennedy from going ahead with a project that mixed comedy with the typical western action-adventure. It's supposed to be set 20 years after the James gang terrorized the Midwest, around the turn of the century. The fictional western town of Progress is replete with a plethora of automobiles-really too many for 1900, not to mention that some of those cars look like they're more from 1920 than twenty years earlier.
You might accuse me of quibbling a bit, but I really do appreciate films that aim for some concrete verisimilitude. Besides, the cars do play a big factor in the plot, as we shall see in a moment.
Even worse is the casting. Here the stars, Robert Mitchum (who plays the protagonist, the supposed over-the-hill Deputy Jim Flagg) and his arch-rival, outlaw "Big" John McKay (George Kennedy), are way too young for the parts. Mitchum was 52 when the film was made and Kennedy, 44; and they expect us to believe that these two would be considered cows ready to be put out to pasture?
The theme, of course, is reverence for the elderly; those who have grown older still are worthy of our respect. At film's end, Flagg and McKay join forces to foil a train robbery, pitted against some realistic bad guys led by Waco (David Carradine).
Much of the alleged comedy stems from the machinations of the mealy-mouthed Mayor Wilker (Martin Balsam), who promptly sends Flagg into retirement after disbelieving his warnings about the reappearance of McKay and younger confederates. Yes, we get it that Wilker is duplicitous but he's simply not funny. That includes his interactions with Carmel (Tina Louise of "Gilligan's Island" fame), the errant "married woman" with whom he's having an affair. Louise has a wasted part, with little to do but look stupid as she fawns over him.
Equally disappointing is the banter between Flagg and McKay. The running joke is that Flagg intends to turn McKay into the authorities no matter what. He keeps his promise after they thwart the big train caper, reassuring McKay that he'll get off lightly due to his assistance in stopping the bad guys (McKay hardly protests against Flagg's specious promise!). In essence, these two supposed tough guys really are infused with "hearts of gold"-especially McKay, who hardly seems like much of an outlaw at all (rather a big teddy bear!).
Midway through the bad guys shake the town up after one of them shoots an old codger, introduced early on as a friend of the Marshal. The showpiece is the final scene where Flagg and McKay climb on board a steaming locomotive and prevent it from stopping in a town where Waco and his bad guys plan to relieve it of all the cash on board.
While Mitchum and Kennedy manage to entertain as they appear to climb on top of a moving train and shoot it out with conductors (curiously good shots with pistols), the fate of the train itself (falling off a bridge under repair), is laughable (due to the obvious miniature props employed). Even more silly are the townspeople in their new-fangled "Horseless carriages," chasing after the outlaws, who could have easily picked any of them off with a good shot or two.
The final shootout with the bad guys is wholly predictable, including the Marshal and his rival basically riding off into the sunset. Mitchum and Kennedy still are somewhat entertaining despite the weak material. This is not the not worst western that was ever made, but so lightweight that you'll probably forget about it after a day or two, after it promptly recedes from your memory.
You might accuse me of quibbling a bit, but I really do appreciate films that aim for some concrete verisimilitude. Besides, the cars do play a big factor in the plot, as we shall see in a moment.
Even worse is the casting. Here the stars, Robert Mitchum (who plays the protagonist, the supposed over-the-hill Deputy Jim Flagg) and his arch-rival, outlaw "Big" John McKay (George Kennedy), are way too young for the parts. Mitchum was 52 when the film was made and Kennedy, 44; and they expect us to believe that these two would be considered cows ready to be put out to pasture?
The theme, of course, is reverence for the elderly; those who have grown older still are worthy of our respect. At film's end, Flagg and McKay join forces to foil a train robbery, pitted against some realistic bad guys led by Waco (David Carradine).
Much of the alleged comedy stems from the machinations of the mealy-mouthed Mayor Wilker (Martin Balsam), who promptly sends Flagg into retirement after disbelieving his warnings about the reappearance of McKay and younger confederates. Yes, we get it that Wilker is duplicitous but he's simply not funny. That includes his interactions with Carmel (Tina Louise of "Gilligan's Island" fame), the errant "married woman" with whom he's having an affair. Louise has a wasted part, with little to do but look stupid as she fawns over him.
Equally disappointing is the banter between Flagg and McKay. The running joke is that Flagg intends to turn McKay into the authorities no matter what. He keeps his promise after they thwart the big train caper, reassuring McKay that he'll get off lightly due to his assistance in stopping the bad guys (McKay hardly protests against Flagg's specious promise!). In essence, these two supposed tough guys really are infused with "hearts of gold"-especially McKay, who hardly seems like much of an outlaw at all (rather a big teddy bear!).
Midway through the bad guys shake the town up after one of them shoots an old codger, introduced early on as a friend of the Marshal. The showpiece is the final scene where Flagg and McKay climb on board a steaming locomotive and prevent it from stopping in a town where Waco and his bad guys plan to relieve it of all the cash on board.
While Mitchum and Kennedy manage to entertain as they appear to climb on top of a moving train and shoot it out with conductors (curiously good shots with pistols), the fate of the train itself (falling off a bridge under repair), is laughable (due to the obvious miniature props employed). Even more silly are the townspeople in their new-fangled "Horseless carriages," chasing after the outlaws, who could have easily picked any of them off with a good shot or two.
The final shootout with the bad guys is wholly predictable, including the Marshal and his rival basically riding off into the sunset. Mitchum and Kennedy still are somewhat entertaining despite the weak material. This is not the not worst western that was ever made, but so lightweight that you'll probably forget about it after a day or two, after it promptly recedes from your memory.