Rancho Deluxe (1975)

Director:

Frank Perry

Writer:

Thomas McGuane (writer)

Release Date:

14 March 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Western

Tagline:

Oh, give me a home, with a low interest loan. A cowgirl and two pickup trucks. A color TV, all the beer should be free. And that, man, is Rancho Deluxe.

Plot:

Two drifters, of wildly different backgrounds, become cattle rustlers in modern-day Montana.

Plot Keywords:

Rustler | Montana | Native American | Telescopic Rifle | Landlady

Cast

Jeff Bridges	...	Jack McKee
Sam Waterston	...	Cecil Colson
Elizabeth Ashley	...	Cora Brown
Clifton James	...	John Brown
Slim Pickens	...	Henry Beige
Charlene Dallas	...	Laura Beige
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Curt
Richard Bright	...	Burt
Patti D'Arbanville	...	Betty Fargo
Maggie Wellman	...	Mary Fargo
Joe Spinell	...	Mr. Colson (as Joseph Spinell)
Bert Conway	...	Wilbur Fargo
Anthony Palmer	...	Karl
Richard McMurray	...	Mr. McKee
Danna Hansen	...	Mrs. McKee

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Livingston, Montana, USA

Company:

Elliott Kastner Productions

Trivia:

At the Wrangler, Jimmy Buffett's backup band features not only local Livingston resident (at the time) Warren Oates, but also neighbor and film screenwriter Thomas McGuane (with the long hair playing mandolin).

Quotes:

Henry Beige: [digging a bullet out of a dead steer] If I wasn't so dad-blamed old, I wouldn't know what this is.
John Brown: What is it?
Henry Beige: It's a fifty-caliber bullet!
John Brown: From what kind of gun?
Henry Beige: A Sharps buffalo rifle! This is gettin' downright romantic!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Who Killed 'Winter Kills'? (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Wonder Why You Ever Go Home

Slim Pickens Finest Hour

Never mind the movie, Monsieur Pickens' performance in this film is a significant event in the history of cinema. If he'd never done any other films, except perhaps Dr. Strangelove and Blazing Saddles, he'd live forever in my memory simply for the scene in Rancho Deluxe where he describes his dream of being in Egypt in the days of the Pharaoh, and expresses consternation at having that dream disturbed. And the speech he gives at the end was another of those earth-shattering moments that stick with you like flies to mayonnaise. Ah, what an actor. Every time he's IN the movie, he's the one you're watching to see what he does, because you know it'll be something you'll remember.

I've learned over the years that it's the supporting players who make the movie. And in some respects, in many of his other movies, Slim Pickens always seemed a kind of updated Andy Devine, western comic relief but not much else. In this (and in the other two films I mentioned) we get to see another side of M. Pickens. More than a clown, he's a one-man show, as much of a scene stealer as, say, a vaudevillian in a movie full of Shakespearan actors. To tell the truth, the rest of the movie is occasionally disappointing, although Sam Waterston was fascinating to watch, showing a promise which sadly never fulfilled itself. Clifton James and particularly Elizabeth Ashley are great fun. Curt and Burt, played respectively by Harry Dean Stanton and Richard Bright, are more or less adequate. Jeff Bridges acts just like Jeff Bridges.

However, hands down, this is Slim Pickens' movie. The man was brilliant, what can I say.