Red Headed Stranger

I was surprised this was released in 1986 as watching it the film felt much more like a western from the early 70's in both tone and filming style. I don't know if this was planned or due to the limited budget but either way it perhaps helps and gives the film some more charm.

It opens, and indeed the first hour, is very mild mannered and quite a family friendly western story... I won't go beyond that but I did find the change of pace and tone jarring initially. However by the end of the film it all actually all works well.

There is a great performance by R. G. Armstrong given more room to act here than his normal roles often gave him. Other than perhaps Barbarosa, I've never been 100% convinced by Willie as an actor, that said his charm shines through every scene and he's always very watchable.

I very much enjoyed this film, it is flawed and a tiny bit dated, watching it you do wonder quite how the marriage at the beginning of the film ever came to be. But while the pace is perhaps leisurely as it opens the story does keep moving and there are a lot of great original scenes and great performances. And there is the music too of course.

This independent western has generally been dismissed by critics. It certainly has some big faults - some terrible direction (some key scenes are shot *at a distance*), and yes, Morgan Fairchild is indeed awful in her role.

I would say that one of the biggest faults of the movie, however, is with its pacing - this is a *very* slow-moving movie, and with a total running time of about 110 minutes, this slowness becomes even more deadly. The other big fault I had with the movie is that we never know what's going on in the head of Willie Nelson's character. His preacher character doesn't have that much dialogue, and what he says doesn't really give us that much insight into him. The explanations to the big decisions the character therefore decides upon remain a mystery.

Nelson isn't a great actor, but he manages to be watchable here by keeping his performance low-key. And even though the movie has its deadly slow pace and all those other problems, I did find it watchable - though in the sense of something being watchable during a boring weekend. Plus, there is occasionally some good stuff to see. For instance, the production values are dead on - all the weathered and rickety buildings look like they were indeed built in the middle of nowhere over a century ago. The cinematography is pleasing as well.

Verdict: Will do the job... but only for those who love westerns, have a high patience level, and have nothing else to do.

When one thinks of singers trying to act, the first culprits that come to mind are Frank Sinatra in "From Here to Eternity" and "The Manchurian Candidate", or Elvis Presley in anything. Usually, the crossover does not work because a particular kind of singer may just have too much personality (or "baggage") to fit himself into a particular role.

Here, though, the transfer works, and it is a result of the kind of singer Willie Nelson was, and always has been. His style of delivery as a musician is all understatement, quiet nuance, and behind-the-beat phrasing. There is a sort of conversational verisimilitude in his singing that crosses over into acting (screen acting, at least). His style of singing is almost the equivalent of the "method" school of acting -- it is all psychological and physiological recall.

So, Nelson is nearly perfect as Parson Shays, for that reason, and for another; the character was already fully-realized in the musical album version of "The Red-Headed Stranger." The screenplay is largely just a fleshing-out of Nelson's narrative vision. If you doubt that, give the album another listen; it has a surprisingly coherent, and direct storyline that connects all of the songs (even several not penned by Nelson himself, most particularly Hank Williams's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain").

Now, of course, the question still remains: how good is the story itself, and how well has it been rendered on-screen? This is not a Western on par with Leone's, Ford's, or Eastwood's. Nor it is meant to be. It is, however, remarkably well-crafted bit of movie-making. For those who object to the seemingly amoral content (the murdering of women), the only response is that a piece of narrative fiction is not a sermon, and artistic judgment is not the same as moral judgment. Furthermore,the old-school, "white hat/black hat" type of Western was already on its way out around the time of "Shane."

It must have been an absolute delight for Willie Nelson to be in a position to turn his classic Red Headed Stranger album into a movie. The greatest country album of all-time serves as the soundtrack and, like the record, the film moves at a steady pace through a story saturated with heartache, revenge and redemption. Nelson's acting has certainly improved since his earlier efforts, while the still-beautiful Katharine Ross turns in a charming performance. The production values are a little lacking, but the story more than makes up for it. Add a half-star to the rating.

Average western drama highlighted by the always welcome presence of charismatic Willie Nelson in the lead role. The story is simple but effective for western style: a preacher (Nelson) became a furious and violent gunman after his wife (Fairchild)leaves him for another man. As a gunman, he must fight against cruel landowner (Dano) and his violent sons for the right of use of a water fountain in a distant and poor town.

Good scenes of fight and a decent photography made this one really watchable. A bit too predictable and slow at same points. But the good cast (R.G. Armstrong, as Nelson' old friend is terrific)is another great background.