Rancho Deluxe

Last updated

Rancho Deluxe
Rancho deluxe.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Frank Perry
Written by Thomas McGuane
Produced by Elliott Kastner
Starring Jeff Bridges
Sam Waterston
Elizabeth Ashley
Clifton James
Slim Pickens
Cinematography William A. Fraker
Edited bySidney Katz
Music by Jimmy Buffett
Production
company
Elliott Kastner Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • March 14, 1975 (1975-03-14)
Running time
93 min
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Rancho Deluxe is a 1975 neo-Western comedy film directed by Frank Perry. [1] Jeff Bridges and Sam Waterston star as two cattle rustlers in modern-day Livingston, Montana, who plague a wealthy ranch owner, played by Clifton James.

Contents

The film also stars Harry Dean Stanton, Richard Bright, Elizabeth Ashley, Maggie Wellman, Patti D’Arbanville, and Slim Pickens as the aging detective Harry Beige hired to find the rustlers.

Jimmy Buffett contributed the music, and performed "Livingston Saturday Night" with alternate lyrics within the film in a scene set at a country and western bar.

The script was by novelist Thomas McGuane. [1]

Plot

Jack McKee and Cecil Colson are a couple of young, restless rustlers. Jack has turned his back on his wealthy family and his wife. Cecil is a Native American. Together, more out of boredom than anything else, they have begun rustling cattle, cutting them up with a chainsaw and paying bills with fresh meat in lieu of cash.

Equally bored are wealthy Montana rancher John Brown and his wife, Cora. They once ran a beauty parlor in Schenectady, New York, but now they have bought up most of the land in this corner of Montana. Cora is so bored that she tries to catch the eye of her husband's dim ranch hands, Burt and Curt, but she can't seem to work up much interest on their part.

The rustling of his livestock lights a fire under Brown, who sends Burt and Curt up in a helicopter to try to catch the thieves in the act. Jack and Cecil continue to single out Brown's cattle, even kidnapping "Basehart of Bozeman Canyon", his US$50,000 prize bull (equivalent to $271,923in 2022), for ransom.

Brown decides to call upon Henry Beige, said to be the scourge of rustlers everywhere. A legendary stock detective who once served time on a prison farm for rustling, Beige turns out to be a feeble old fool who doesn't seem to be interested in anything except watching TV and being waited on hand and foot by his beautiful niece, Laura, who is almost sickeningly sweet.

Jack and Cecil are feeling cocky, so much so that when Burt and Curt figure out that they must be the rustlers, Jack and Cecil bribe them into a scheme to steal a semi-truck full of John Brown's cattle.

Curt, however, has fallen head over heels in love with the luscious Laura, even though she still mistakenly calls him Burt. She is nowhere near as innocent as she seems, as she proves in a sexual encounter in the woods. Burt intends to use his rustling profits to take an expensive vacation in Mexico, but Curt has chosen to propose marriage to Laura.

Henry Beige's seeming ineptitude and lack of interest in identifying the rustlers is infuriating to Brown, who angrily fires him. A distressed Laura explains to Curt that she needs to take care of her uncle and therefore will be leaving with him, unable to marry Curt.

Curt decides to help Henry catch the rustlers instead. Henry proceeds to do exactly that, making a show of it before the town's citizens. Burt and Curt are also arrested, Curt coming to realize that Laura's sweetness and love for him were all an act.

Henry Beige comes to Brown to say goodbye, nonchalantly accepting his payment because he says he's in it simply for the sport. Brown can see now that Henry is shrewd, not doddering at all, and Laura is a sexy, all-business woman, not innocent in any way.

Jack and Cecil end up sent to the Montana State Prison Ranch at Deer Lodge, presumably the same prison where Henry Beige served time in his youth. They spend their days on horseback, seemingly no more or less bored than they had been before. The final scene shows the two rustlers riding under a sign reading "Rancho Deluxe".

Cast

Production

Principal photography began on April 29, 1974 in Livingston, Montana. Other locations including Paradise Valley, Montana where most of the valley sequences were filmed. The whole community of Livingston were also included for when the cast and crew were filming in town, including at a local bar named The Wrangler, The Holiday Inn motel, a popular local sporting goods store, individual houses and ranches in the area. For the final scene, the crew traveled to Deer Lodge, Montana to film the movie-ending sequence where the two characters are on horses at the prison ranch with the sign that reads Rancho Deluxe. Filming lasted for two months and production wrapped in July 1974.

Bridges met his future wife, Susan Geston, while filming. She was working as a waitress at a ranch. [2] [3]

Release

Rancho Deluxe was released in theatres on March 14, 1975.

Reaction

The film was described as a form of "parody Western" by critic Richard Eder in his Nov. 24, 1975 New York Times review. [1] "It is so cool that it is barely alive," he wrote of the film's general tone. [1] Among the positive elements: "Slim Pickens for once has a strongly written comic role. He plays it with great effect, and Charlene Dallas, as his sluttish assistant, is almost as good." [1]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Rancho Deluxe only one-and-a-half out of four possible stars. He wrote: "I don't know how this movie went so disastrously wrong, but it did."

On Rotten Tomatoes, Rancho Deluxe holds a rating of 73% from 22 reviews. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slim Pickens</span> American rodeo performer, film and television actor (1919–1983)

Louis Burton Lindley Jr., better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American actor and rodeo performer. Starting off in the rodeo, Pickens transitioned to acting, and appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows. For much of his career, Pickens played mainly cowboy roles. He is perhaps best remembered today for his comic roles in Dr. Strangelove, Blazing Saddles, and 1941, and his villainous turn in One-Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnson County War</span> 1888-1893 range conflict in Johnson County, Wyoming

The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River and the Wyoming Range War, was a range conflict that took place in Johnson County, Wyoming from 1889 to 1893. The conflict began when cattle companies started ruthlessly persecuting alleged rustlers in the area, many of whom were settlers who competed with them for livestock, land and water rights. As violence swelled between the large established ranchers and the smaller settlers in the state, it culminated in the Powder River Country when the former hired gunmen to invade the county. The gunmen's initial incursion in the territory alerted the small farmers and ranchers, as well as the state lawmen, and they formed a posse of 200 men that led to a grueling stand-off. The siege ended when the United States Cavalry on the orders of President Benjamin Harrison relieved the two forces, although further fighting persisted in the following months.

<i>The Cowboys</i> 1972 film by Mark Rydell

The Cowboys is a 1972 American Western film starring John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Bruce Dern, and featuring Colleen Dewhurst and Slim Pickens. It was the feature film debut of Robert Carradine. Based on the 1971 novel of the same name by William Dale Jennings, the screenplay was written by Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank, Jr., and Jennings, and the film was directed by Mark Rydell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Bassett</span> American rancher (1878–1956)

Ann Bassett, also known as Queen Ann Bassett, was a prominent female rancher of the Old West, and with her sister Josie Bassett, was an associate of outlaws, particularly Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch.

<i>The Virginian</i> (1946 film) 1946 film

The Virginian is a 1946 American Western film directed by Stuart Gilmore and starring Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, Sonny Tufts, and Barbara Britton. Based on the 1902 Owen Wister novel of the same name, the film was adapted from the popular 1904 theatrical play Wister had collaborated on with playwright Kirke La Shelle. The Virginian is about an eastern school teacher who comes to Medicine Bow in Wyoming and encounters life on the frontier. The film is a remake of the 1929 movie with Gary Cooper and Walter Huston. There have been several versions of the story, beginning with a 1914 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and including a 1960s television series that bore little relation to the book other than the title. The film was originally distributed by Paramount Pictures, and is currently owned by EMKA.

Cattle Queen of Montana is a 1954 American Western film shot in Technicolor directed by Allan Dwan and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. The supporting cast includes Gene Evans, Lance Fuller, Jack Elam, Chubby Johnson, and Morris Ankrum.

<i>Ace of the Saddle</i> 1919 film

Ace of the Saddle is a 1919 American silent Western film directed by John Ford and featuring Harry Carey. The film is considered to be lost.

<i>Rancho Deluxe</i> (soundtrack) 1975 soundtrack album by Jimmy Buffett

Rancho Deluxe is the soundtrack from the film Rancho Deluxe starring Jeff Bridges and Sam Waterston. It is the sixth album by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was initially released in 1975 as United Artists Records UA 466G and later re-released on labels licensed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer including Capitol and Rykodisc.

Charlene Diane Dallas is a former beauty queen contestant who was Miss California for 1966, as well as first runner-up to Miss America for 1967.

<i>The Mysterious Rider</i> (1938 film) 1938 film

The Mysterious Rider is a 1938 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander and starring Douglass Dumbrille, Sidney Toler, and Russell Hayden. Written by Maurice Geraghty based on the 1921 novel The Mysterious Rider by Zane Gray, the film is about a notorious outlaw who returns to the ranch he once owned and takes a job disguised as a ranch hand. Unrecognized by the ranch's current owner, he waits patiently for an opportunity to expose the men who murdered his partner twenty years ago, framed him for the crime, and then stole his ranch. The film was later released for television in the United States as Mark of the Avenger.

<i>Public Cowboy No. 1</i> 1937 film by Joseph Kane

Public Cowboy No. 1 is a 1937 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Ann Rutherford. Based on a story by Bernard McConville, the film is about a singing cowboy who chases down rustlers who are using airplanes, shortwave radios, and refrigerated trucks to steal cattle.

Keep the Change is a 1992 American made-for-television Western drama film directed by Andy Tennant. It stars William Petersen, Jack Palance, Lolita Davidovich, Rachel Ticotin and Buck Henry. It won a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America in 1992.

<i>Treat Em Rough</i> (1919 film) 1919 film

For the 1942 film starring Eddie Albert and William Frawley, see Treat 'Em Rough.

Stuart's Stranglers was a well-known vigilante group in Montana that was founded in 1884 and led by Granville Stuart in response to widespread livestock theft at that time. They were also less commonly known as the "Montana Stranglers."

<i>Hopalong Rides Again</i> 1937 film by Lesley Selander

Hopalong Rides Again is a 1937 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander and written by Norman Houston. The film stars William Boyd, George "Gabby" Hayes, Russell Hayden, Nora Lane, Harry Worth, Lois Wilde and Billy King. The film was released on September 3, 1937, by Paramount Pictures.

<i>The Last Straw</i> (1920 film) 1920 film

The Last Straw is a lost 1920 American silent Western film directed by Denison Clift and Charles Swickard and starring Buck Jones, Vivian Rich, and Jane Talent. It cost $31,000 to make, considerably exceeding its planned budget. It was Jones' first starring role.

<i>Alias – the Bad Man</i> 1931 film directed by Phil Rosen

Alias – the Bad Man, also known as Alias Bad Man, is a 1931 American pre-Code Western film, directed by Phil Rosen and starring Ken Maynard, Virginia Brown Faire, and Frank Mayo. It was released on July 15, 1931.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Downing</span> American Wild West outlaw

Bill Downing a.k.a. William F. Downing was a notorious outlaw during the Wild West era in Arizona. Downing had fled from the Texas Rangers posse who was after him when he came to Arizona. In Arizona, he was involved in the killing of William S. “Slim” Traynor and in various train robberies including the robbery of the Train Depot in the town of Cochise. Downing was so unpopular that even members of his gang couldn't stand him.

The Lone Rider in Texas Justice is a 1942 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield and written by Steve Braxton. The film stars George Houston as the "Lone Rider", Al St. John as his sidekick "Fuzzy" Jones and Dennis Moore as Sheriff Smoky Moore, with Hillary Brooke, Karl Hackett, Lee Powell and Forrest Taylor. The film was released on June 12, 1942, by Producers Releasing Corporation.

Two-Fisted Jones is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by Edward Sedgwick and written by Scott Darling. The film stars Jack Hoxie, Kathryn McGuire, William Steele, Harry Todd, Frank Rice, and Paul Grimes. The film was released on December 6, 1925, by Universal Pictures.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Eder, Richard (November 24, 1975). "Rancho Deluxe (1975) The Screen: 'Rancho':Spoof Western Opens at the D.W. Griffith". The New York Times .
  2. ↑ "THR Cover: Jeff Bridges' Revealing New Interview". The Hollywood Reporter . January 12, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Photo Captures a Hollywood Superstar's Fateful First Meeting with His True Love". HuffPost . December 7, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Rancho Deluxe". Rotten Tomatoes .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.