User Reviews

This pilot for a short-lived TV series had a likable cast and was a nice story...but nothing that memorable to warrant a second viewing. Perhaps that's why it only lasted a year on TV. It's clean, language-wise, with just some damns and hells, so anyone of any age could safely watch it.

Chad Everett's character, "Wyatt Earp III," does it all in this movie - in one day, too! He saves the honor of people, thwarts bank robbers, stops wife abusers, saves animals and probably more good deeds that I forgot.

My major complaint was that it just wasn't as humorous as advertised. That goes for Jim Varney, too, a guy that usually makes me laugh, but he didn't do that in this film. The character wasn't as entertaining as Varney's "Ernest" and other characters.

What's good to see is a father-son relationship as pictured here, where each respects each other. It's a nice film and I'm sorry it didn't succeed.

I don't know why no one has commented on this cute little flick about a bouncer at a circus Wyatt Earp III (Chad Everett) grandson of the original legendary Wyatt Earp, his feisty mother (Mimi Rogers) and his dim witted brother, Evan (Jim Varney). This has a little bit of every thing, all tongue in cheek fun, car chase with exploding car, armored car robbers, a helpful lion, yes lion, rescuing an abused woman from her very nasty boyfriend, a blazing shoot out with the robbers with Wyatt using a Buntline Special (replica of course) and believe it or not, it all ties together quite nicely. This is one of those movies for a quiet evening when you just want a humorous easy going flick with no profanity, sex scenes or the like. I enjoyed it! 6 stars out of 10.

The made-for-TV pilot "The Rousters" which later turned into a short-lived TV series on NBC from 1983-1984 was good. Created by Stephen J. Cannell ("The A-Team", "Hunter", "Ridtide",etc.) Chad Everett ("Medical Center") plays Wyatt Earp III who's a bouncer which people don't believe that's he related to Wyatt Earp, at the Sladetown Carnival run by 'Cactus' Jack Slade (played by the late singer/actor Hoxt Ayton who wrote the 1971 Three Dog Night's hit "Joy to The World"), with his brother Evan (the late Jim Varney known better as Ernest), lived with their bounty-hunter mother Amanda Earp (Maxine Stuart), and Wyatt III's son Michael (Timothy Gibbs). Also Mimi Rogers appears as Ellen.

This pilot was released on VHS by Vidmark Entertainment and I give it a 8/10.

And I like that tag-line "The Rousters are gonna sink The Love Boat".

I worked on this show as a local 724 construction laborer. The whole "sink the love boat" theme was as ill-advised a marketing strategy as I've ever seen (I'm now a corp communications pro). But, the actors were very nice people, and I enjoyed working myself crazy on the show. Our location was at Pt.Fermin, at the end of San Pedro, Calif., near LA Harbor. We were on a bluff below an old Army base with a Korean War memorial at the top of the hill. Fantastic views and a nice breeze off the water. I did have to commute more than 2 hours to get home every day (the Harbor Fwy...Ugh) but I got the chance to do a lot of different things. I also worked on Hardcastle and McCormick and Riptide (three days in the water building a boat ramp for a stunt...chilly....), another pair of Cannell Prod. shows. But I'll always remember The Rousters -- the trailer with four wild walls, Georg Stanford Browne directing an episode as though it were a Class A feature, Shaky Dave the sign painter, Reggie the foreman, Ron Macdonald the labor foreman... The carnival crew that rigged the big top and ran the carny rides... Wild times.

This made for TV Pilot movie did well I say. Here you got a descendant of a legendary gunman Wyatt Earp III(Chad Everett) his dim-witted brother Evan(Jim Varney, "Ernest P. Worrell" 1949-2000) and the rest of the gang. They live on a carnival run by Jack Slade(Hoyt Axton, 1938-99), they fight crime, they help out people, but don't ever, EVER, mess with an Earp! I liked the chase scenes, the shoot-em ups, and the all the comedy that this movie's got. I liked the part where Amanda(Maxine Stuart) pops the guy upside his head with a frying pan. And I liked the part where Evan and Wyatt was taking out the bad guys at night. When Evan bought those $15 guns, one gun lasted on two bullets: One shot fired regularly, the second shot resulted in explosion. Note to Evan: Never buy guns that cheap! Then the fun part began when the bad guys gets the engine shot, the car goes into a fireball. A fun ride, too bad the show didn't last long enough. I liked it!