Hollywood Cow-Boy

In "Hearts of the West" Jeff Bridges is an aspiring western pulp-novel writer. He worships Zane Grey and lands what is for him a fantasy-come-true job as a stunt man in Hollywood B-westerns in the 1930s. There he works with a crew of losers under Alan Arkin.

Bridges has some good comic stunts and spends much of the time eluding con-men pursuers. Andy Griffith all but steals the show as a wily former star who first befriends him and then cheats him. Blythe Danner is good as the female production manager who takes a liking to Bridges. Howard Zieff, recalled for his "Slither," directed this very likable piece.

"Hearts of the West" is not a great film...but it is interesting and fun. And it looks nothing like any other film I've seen!

The story begins in the Midwest in the early 1930s. Lewis Tater (Jeff Bridges) is an incredibly naive and dim young man who wants to write western novels. So he does what any naive person would do in this situation...he enrolls in a correspondence school for western fiction writers! It is hard to imagine such a specific program could exist...and it's not surprising that it's all a scam. But as I said, he is naive and dim and decides to travel to Nevada to see the school in person...and it turns out to be just a mailbox. But he does end up meeting with the two scumbags behind the scam...and they turn out to be very violent jerks who chase him into the desert. In the process, Tater wanders onto a movie shoot...with cowboys! Where does it go from there? See the film and find out for yourself.

The film is light and enjoyable...and not especially believable. But as I said, it's enjoyable and a nice homage to the B-westerns of the era.

Jeff Bridges portrayal of the innocent Lewis Tater combined with the slick performances of Alan Arkin and Andy Griffith make Hearts of the West a true Homage to the Republic pictures style of westerns Also keep an eye out for the sultry performance of Blythe Danner as Tater's love interest.

At some stage in 1976 there was a misguided attempt to release this charming feature under the name "Hollywood Cowboy". Post THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT 1974 most studios seemed to flood the market with 30s movie biographies since moviegoers apparently were fascinated with Hollywood's history courtesy of the MGM doco successes.. HEARTS OF THE WEST fits into the release pattern of GABLE AND LOMBARD, W C FIELDS AND ME, DAY OF THE LOCUST, NICKELODEON, and ultimately the horribly unfunny WON TON TON THE DOG THAT SAVED Hollywood and UNDER THE RAINBOW...each and every one about Hollywood in the 1930s. I think they all lost money. However except the last two, all are very good and HEARTS is possibly the most endearing but sadly unseen. The always affable Jeff Bridges proves he was hilarious and watchable even at 25. The Bruce Willis film of the 80s called SUNSET owes a lot to HEARTS. Young guy Jeff in this one, gets to Hollywood attempting to write westerns and ends up in stunt roles in what look like Republic or Monogram oaters. Beautifully made at MGM and well worth finding and delighting friends and family.

The mid-70's saw a misguided false nostalgia for early Hollywood. I'd like to think it was on account of the last few octogenarian (and up) moguls dying off (Samuel Goldwyn died at 94 in '74, Jack L. Warner passed in the fall of '78 at 86, Darryl F. Zanuck, ill with Alzheimer's, dying in '79) and that the younger turks sensed something. Unfortunately what spewed forth was mostly crap: Gable and Lombard, W.C. Fields and Me, the dull interpretations of The Great Gatsby, The Last Tycoon, and the cinematic nadir: Won Ton Ton the Dog that Saved Hollywood... a film so utterly awful that they must've thought Rin Tin Tin would sue. Nickelodeon belongs in there somewhere too. But along the way there were a few minor gems, namely, underrated The Day of the Locust (particularly for Burgess Meredith's performance) and Hearts of the West, which I saw in a theater in Portland it's brief release. I don't think it rated a week's screen time. Inarguably, the plot's thin stuff, but Jeff Bridges' Lewis Tater ranks as his best pre-Starman turn as an actor. He took naiveté to an entirely new plateau. Andy Griffith delivers a nice performance as an amiable, if duplicitous character actor who's descended into a life in poverty row oaters. The then-50-year old Griffith had just recovered from a serious medical condition and hadn't been seen in a feature film since a 1969 flop, Angel in My Pocket. Griffith here is far, far removed from anyone's image of Sheriff Andy Taylor. The supporting cast is superb, especially Alan Arkin who captures the essential cheapness of a Gower Gulch producer/director... he seems to be based on Mascot's Nat Levine. Don't look for the picture to go much of anywhere, just enjoy the ride. I liken the experience very similar to 1982's Cannery Row; you know you've seen better pictures, but you never somehow enjoyed one more and you don't exactly know why.