Red Headed Stranger

Moves slowly as some have pointed out and Willie ain't exactly Gary Cooper, but the general plot line too many bitch about is hardly as off the wall as most of Eastwood's or Peckinpah's stuff. Royal Dano plays a great villain, and some of the lines are priceless. I particularly like the one where Katherine Ross asks (paraphrase) if a horse is worth a man's life and Willy answers "can't say- didn't know him." Now THAT is a moral tale.

The closing gun fight scene is realistic and the old town looks like many did. Costuming is fine and the armorer did a good job. Willy's character is too complex for Willy to play completely well and Morgan Fairchild seems out of place, but that's probably why she ran away.

Better than many and worth a two hour viewing.

Emil Franzi, Tucson

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 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.

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."

Average western drama highlighted by the always welcome presence of charismatic Willie Nelson in the lead role. The story is simple but effective for western style: a preacher (Nelson) became a furious and violent gunman after his wife (Fairchild)leaves him for another man. As a gunman, he must fight against cruel landowner (Dano) and his violent sons for the right of use of a water fountain in a distant and poor town.

Good scenes of fight and a decent photography made this one really watchable. A bit too predictable and slow at same points. But the good cast (R.G. Armstrong, as Nelson' old friend is terrific)is another great background.