Desperado

Hey folks,

This is the first of four Desperado films from the late 1980s, and the series of four are really pretty good oaters for those of us who like the western flicks. While they may not be on the level of Lonesome Dove and Open Range, they are a lot more exciting than many of the oaters I used to enjoy as a youth.

Alex McArthur's Duell McCall is exciting to watch as the good "bad guy," and Lise Cutter as his love interest, Nora, is very credible as well as being most easy on the eyes. Nora is also a good shooter and does not leave it all to the guys. In this first of the series, there are a host of well known supporting actors in the cast including: Donald Moffat, Pernell Roberts, Yaphet Kotto, Dirk Blocker, Robert Vaughn, and even Gladys Knight.

My only complaint is this show probably had too many stars for them all to shine as brightly as one might have wished. In spite of that, the Desperado series is a fun one, and all four shows are fun to re-watch every few years.

Best wishes, Dave Wile

I am not much of a communicator but I hope to share what a thrill this movie is. I haven't seen the movie in I guess 20 years or so but I still get a thrill remembering it.. From the Desperado theme to Duell's smile to Nora's passion for her man...it is one wild ride from beginning to end. Heart retching makes your heart-ache Romance, intrigue, comedy I cannot convey the passion in this play. I just can't do it justice. One theme of the Westerns I love and admire is strong men and the strong women they love.... Although it is Duell's movie Nora comes on strong with quite a blast It's rock and roll with the beauty of ballet. Although I love our friends in Canada don't let some disgruntled Canadian dissuade you from this great fun. This movie is not to be missed.

I thought I saw some character development that resembled Valdez Is Coming, but didn't know why. Thanks to Wizard-8, I now realize that the same pen couldn't help but leave a few crow's feet in the characters. The youth in this one, and the fact that it was created by a director 30 years after the 1950s filmmakers, helps me to visualize the direction Westerns are taking nowadays. Thanx again, Wizard-8. I saw the story on the Encore Westerns Channel late on the Saturday of daylight savings, and got a kick out of the simplicity in which the 19th-Century protagonists lived. Directors now seem to play more with the personal side of each character, discarding the age-old idea that action and reaction are the main drives of an entertained audience. But... I guess the future is going to be even more loaded with feelings than with feelingless action. Hallmark Channel has a lot of these stories, and is happy to banner them for today's viewers. Oh, HBO's Deadwood has dealt another personal-side blow, too.

Lots of action with tragedy, romance, dirty dealin' and honor. I think this and the others in the Desperado series were some of Alex McArthur's best work. When they first came out on TV, I was glued to the set... never missed an episode. Now I'm fortunate enough to have the series on DVD and am immensely enjoying them all over again! I recommend this and the subsequent sequels to anyone who enjoys a good western. If you've never seen these before, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the twists and turns in the stories. Oh, and Alex McArthur's not too hard on the eyes either, for those of you that like your western heroes to be of the eye candy variety.

The basic plot and plot turns in this made-for-tv western (probably a pilot for a proposed series) will be very familiar to even those who seldom watch westerns. What's really a surprise is that this was written by famed writer Elmore Leonard, who in the past wrote superior western stories (some of which have been filmed, like "Valdez Is Coming".) And though it is just 90 minutes long, it feels very stretched out (was this originally written as a 60 minute pilot?)

Still, there's occasionally some good dialogue, and it has a acceptable gritty feeling without the "gloss" associated with made-for-tv movies being made today. There are also a few striking visuals as well as some good action sequences. It's nice also that the ethnicity of Kotto's character is never once referred to (and he makes a good henchman.) Western fans will probably be satisfied, though it sure won't make any converts.