Red Headed Stranger

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."

I really enjoyed Red Headed Stranger, which is a great movie project for Willie Nelson. The film has some similarities to Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider. Obviously, both films have preacher characters that stand up for justice (and deliver, Old Testament style). Willie Nelson's Shay shows more vulnerability and is not as hard ( invincible) as Clint. Well, nobody did westerns quite like Clint. The film here is pretty solid and showed how violent and corrupt the untamed land could be. The movie looks great and is paced well with a mix of Willie Nelson's music to go alongside the story. Western icon RG Armstrong gives one of his best performances as Sheriff Scoby. Morgan Fairchild is some serious eye candy as The Preacher's ill fated wife. Everything here was done well in my opinion and I really enjoyed watching this.

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.

Based on the album by the same title, Willie Nelson stars as a preacher who goes by the name of "Julian Shay" who has recently married and subsequently sent out west to the small town of Driscoll, Montana. Unfortunately, when they get to their destination both he and his bride, "Raysha" (Morgan Fairchild) soon realize that their new hometown is extremely cold and inhospitable. This prompts Julian to roll up his sleeves and get to work. Raysha, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with it and leaves at the first opportunity. This is when the trouble really begins. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a strange but interesting movie primarily due to the acting of R. G. Armstrong (as "Sheriff Reese Scoby"), Royal Dano ("Larn Claver"), the aforementioned Willie Nelson and the presence of two beautiful actresses like Katherine Ross ("Laurie") and Morgan Fairchild. On the flip side, the story itself could have used a bit more substance and character development which might have helped it to seem less raw and to flow more smoothly from one scene to the next. In any case, it was still entertaining for the most part and I rate it as slightly above average.

I love this movie because I like the music and feel it is probably the best one Willie ever did. Willie Nelson is as good an actor as he is a singer and this movie made me appreciate that all the more. The songs are ones you can sing along to and that is a real bonus. The plot, the scenery is all real. R.G. Armstrong, who is noted for strong performances as a bad guy is exceptional, especially in the bar scene where he wants the young man to kill him. Look into those eyes!!!! Morgan Fairchild and Katharine Ross don't hurt anything either. I have seen this movie several times, never get tired of it. Maybe because beyond the music I feel Willie's pain and can relate to the frustrations of the preacher.