Caravana al Este

My wife and I actually quite enjoyed this movie. It was by no means John Candy's best but it was certainly better than we expected. Perhaps that's why I disagree with what most critics say.

Perhaps I love it for sentimental reasons knowing that Candy died just before the movie was completed. Nonetheless we had a good laugh and I do recommend this as a good pop corn movie.

The main premise of the movie is that there are a group of individuals in a small western town that have had it with "The Code" of the west. They hire a drunken guide (Candy) to take them back east and thus starts the comedy of errors as they go against the grain.

Admittedly the acting is only fair at best, but then again most of these characters are comedians do a pretty good job of playing off each other.

Wagons East was a fun movie. I love the premise of settlers going "back east", principally, because I'm Native American. It was almost like watching a Mel Brooks' movie, not one stereotype was left untouched. John McGinley, who played Julian, is one of my favorite actors. He has an amazing range. However, it's too bad that this was John Candy's last film. You can that he didn't enjoy the shoot and that he wasn't feeling well. I recommend it.

Released around the same time as The Cowboy Way, Lightning Jack, and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold, Wagons East! was another attempt to recapture City Slickers success to diminishing returns. The film follows a group of misfits including tightly wound bank manager Ben(Star Trek Voyagaer's Robert Picardo), effeminate and very heavily implied to be homosexual bookshop owner Julian(played thanklessly by John C. McGinley), and former doctor turned flailing cattle rancher Phil(played by Richard Lewis at his most Richard Lewis) who are all sick of life in the west and hire alcoholic wagonmaster James Harlowe(John Candy in his final role) to bring them back to St. Louis. The movie's setup is nowhere near strong enough to sustain this 107 minute movie as most of it can be boiled down to "the West sucks" which serves as the crux for the humor in the films strongest point in the first 10 minutes, afterwards however the movie doesn't really do much with its core premise other than periodically reminding us of it as the catalyst for the film. Sprinkled throughout the journey are Wile. E. Coyote esque gags involving a hired gun named John Slade(complete with backfiring traps), Indians with names like Big Snake that makes women faint, and lowest common denominator gags galore including a piss drinking scene. There's nothing wrong with these gags IF they're done well, but the movie's pacing is so slow and poorly paced that there's no surprise factor to the gags and everyone feels overly telegraphed and lacking in punch. The fact that they had to restructure the movie around Candy's death must've been no small task for the crew to deliver a finished project and it definitely explains why Candy disappears for long sections of the movie with focus shifting to Lewis and Picardo with some rather telling ADR conversations between them over wagon B-roll footage used to link scenes together. I can say that Wagons East is in fact a movie, but it's not a good one.

Not only is it John Candy last movie (He passed away whilst filming) it's also one of his worst. Through no fault of his own, it just doesn't work, which is ridiculous seeing as there's a load of comedians in it. Maybe it's because I'm not American but I found absolutely no worth in the movie whatsoever. Nothing. So God bless John Candy. Shame on the rest of you for such a dud movie.

the movie says on the box, and at the beggining of the credits, "Dedicated to the memory of John Candy". I must say John Candy was probably my favorite comedian, and still is. This movie was a little under rated, but it was still one of his lesser films. Sadly he passed away during filming, you see he was in it until the end of the film, his character was not just dropped, I think they probably were going to do some more editing to the film to make it better, but he passed away so they had to produce what they had, a somewhat unfinished film. Towards the end of his career his comedies really started going downhill. Although I liked Canadian Bacon, Harry Crumb, Wagons East, and films like these were just a bit, well stupid. Like I said Wagons East wasn't all that bad, but it's nothing compared to his best-planes trains and automobiles, or Uncle Buck(I've commented on both of those as well). I just wish when planes and trains 20th anniversary finally comes up, they'll re-release it on DVD with forgotten scenes, and a special dedication video to John Candy, same with Uncle Buck. John Candy was a great and it's too bad this was dedicated to his memory, because I think if he's watching down on us, he's as sad as I am. Anyway, the plot of the movie is After a town by the name of Prosperity, decides the west isn't what it's cracked up to be, they decide to move back east. They find a Wagon master named Harlow(Candy) to lead them back. They must survive Indians, starvation/no water,hired guns, and more,as the comedy builds up to an okay climax. 2 and a half stars out of 5, it's a good movie to rent out, but while you're at it, rent out some of Candy's best films too. I also dedicate this comment,to the memory of John Candy