Norwood

Some of the people from in front of and behind the camera of True Grit bring us this easy going country story starring Glen Campbell and Kim Darby. It's not quite in the same caliber as True Grit however.

Glen Campbell is returning from Vietnam to his home in the metropolis of Ralph, Texas which is a stone's throw from the Arkansas border. He goes his separate ways from Joe Namath a fellow Marine and returns home to his sister Leigh French and drip of a brother-in-law Dom DeLuise. Glen is never without his guitar and never turns down a song request. However he'd like to make a living at it and hopes to get a big break on the Louisiana Hayride country radio show, a rival of sorts to the Grand Ole Opry.

After that it's an episodic adventure with him delivering a stolen car from conman Pat Hingle to New York, of course Glen doesn't find out it's stolen until he's on the road. During the course of the film he gets involved with would be actress Carol Lynley, hippie chick Tisha Sterling, and eager young bride Kim Darby. Guess whom he winds up with.

Glen's singing of several country/western ballads makes the film easy to take and glosses over a lot of his lack of acting ability. Had he come along thirty years earlier Campbell might have been a good singing cowboy star, but those days have passed. No real plot in Norwood just a series of incidents on his journey to New York and back.

Whatever else it is Norwood is not True Grit, but Glen Campbell fans might like it.

Glen Campbell and Joe Nameth, both in their career primes, give surprisingly creditable acting performances about two Marines just back from the Viet-Nam War finding their places back in society. The theme of this film is somewhat out-dated, yet with the current war in Iraq raging on, maybe it's not as out-dated as I think. Campbell is Norwood and has the major role, while Joe Nameth has more like a guest staring part. Campbell embarks on a road trip and meets a host of different people. Trish Sterling looks beautiful, but is really wasted here. Coogan's Bluff still rates as her best on-screen role. I saw this film as a young teenager at the Cinema Theater on Miami Beach. I remember liking it a lot and sort of wondering if I would one day be living this type of experience myself. With the draft and the war, this film was very realistic for the times, now not so much. Yet, it's an enjoyable film on the same take as Bus Riley's Back in Town.

I just wrote a long, long review of Sam Peckinpah's The Getaway and I have just about ten lines of blathering left in me, so here goes! I saw Norwood over thirty years ago on ABC and I still have a fond memory of it. I barely remember the plot, but I do know I thought the story of a just-back-from-Vietnam soldier (Glen Campbell) on some sort of road trip was a pleasant use of my time.

The film has an interesting cast including Kim Darby, Joe Namath, and Tisha Sterling. There is a moment where Campbell says the "S" word and Darby scolds him for his bad language (ABC bleeped out the word, but you could tell exactly what he said).

I won't fool you--this is all I remember, but I intend to add it to my mail-order movie rental queue--not super high on priority, but above The Notebook!

Hillbilly comedy casts Glen Campbell as Norwood, a U.S. Marine returned home from service, who finds life changed--and not for the better--in his Texas hometown. He has his sights on playing guitar and singing country music for a program called the Louisiana Hayride, and travels cross-country to New York City for an audition (this section of the movie, with Norwood in a cowboy hat walking the big city streets, feels like a G-rated version of "Midnight Cowboy"). The details in this scrubbed-clean scenario aren't rich and the characters Norwood meets on his journey aren't vividly drawn. Feature film debut for director Jack Haley, Jr. has warmth and a big heart, but no substance. Campbell keeps his face slack (like a rube) and his manners polite, and he's appealing if fidgety. Producer Hal B. Wallis reunites Campbell with his "True Grit" co-star Kim Darby, and the two have a warm rapport (especially in the scene at the food counter). Football star Joe Namath makes his acting debut as a soldier, Billy Curtis is fun as a little person who becomes Norwood's traveling companion, and there's also a college-educated chicken (don't ask). Adapted from a novel by Charles Portis (the author of "True Grit") by "True Grit"'s screenwriter, Marguerite Roberts; however, there's nothing gritty about this yokel fantasy, which is completely out-of-touch with reality and presented only as escapist fare. ** from ****

After the success of TRUE GRIT, Glen Campbell and Kim Darby re--teamed for this lighter than air comedy, like TRUE GRIT based on a Charles Portis novel but definitely more of a homespun Andy Griffith-hayseed type flick. The novel was set in the 1950s, so some of the plot devices play like wheezing cliches (e.g., the story's uninteresting pregnancy flap and some of the relationships are straight form TV sitcom land). Yet, a lot of the dialog from the novel made its way into the movie and that makes for some good humor. Carol Lynley practically steals the movie in her brief cameo, and Dom DeLuise has some of the best shtick on view. Campbell is good natured and sings a few decent Mac Davis tunes. He is so like the Norwood character, so typecasting helps here. Darby is wasted. Pat Hingle has a few good moments but Tisha Sterling and Joe Namath are embarrassments. Meredith Macrae makes an impression, but like so many characters in this episodic fiasco, she is buried under the hokum. You could do worse if stuck with nothing to watch in the early morning hours.