Outlaws: The Legend of O.B. Taggart

Wow, what a stinking pile of garbage this movie was. The acting was terrible, even from veteran actors such as Rooney and Beatty. Of course they didn't have much to work with because the writing was about the worst I've ever seen. The lines they had to speak were so lame and contrived. Of course the writers probably couldn't do much with an overall plot and concept that stunk to hell. This is one of those movies that even fails to be entertaining for how terrible it is. It's just all-around a rotten movie. I only bought the DVD because it was $4 and I like westerns.

...or lose 2 and a half hours with commercials - probably the best way to go because you'll need to regain your equilibrium fairly frequently. This film has to be seen to be believed, and yet it's very, very difficult to watch with any degree of attentiveness.

Despite an interesting cast of well-known names, it's pretty dismal, even for light entertainment. We have to suspend enough disbelief to accept a 74-year-old Mickey Rooney's portrayal of a grizzled gunfighter as he waddles around in 20 layers of wardrobe apparently stolen from 'Fiddler on the Roof', spewing obscenities though caramel-corn teeth. Watch as men twice his size and half his age cower before his dangerous might...In fact, watch as a man half his size cowers, too (Billy Barty as 'Piggy', a typically humiliating role).

I was particularly saddened by the appearances of film greats Ben Johnson and Ernest Borgnine, who both appeared to be too exhausted from years of scenery-chewing to do anything but phone in their performances (did Mickey Rooney really write that dialogue?!?). And you gotta love Ben's flowery orchid scarf, perched on top of his elderly girth like an exclamation point. Jack Lord would be proud.

Laughably, Mickey has 3 strapping, handsome grown sons: two ably played by singers Larry Gatlin and Randy Travis, the third - the 'slow' one' aptly named 'Slocum' - is Nick Guest, fresh from his triumph as the Dad in Aerosmith's "Jamie's Got A Gun" video. A few more people pop up - Gloria DeHaven has to rub Mickey's feet; Ned Beatty has a daughter violated by Slocum - and after a predictable plot about buried loot and family loyalties, and more capering by Billy Barty, the movie ends on a tragic note with an artsy freeze frame as Mickey's voice echoes into eternity and we all look on in disappointment. Mind you, this review is coming from a longtime Rooney fan; rank and file viewers will be most likely be disappointed to an even greater degree (if humanly possible).

Only really notable for Rooney's incredible resemblance to Yoda, and the fact that even though we see him approach his horse and ride his horse, we never see him actually climb on or off the poor thing...Most likely because this was accomplished off camera by an army of gaffers, grips and riggers, and a block and tackle.

"Outlaws: The Legend of O. B. Taggart" is a strange film. On one hand, it has quite a few recognizable faces in the story (Mickey Rooney, Randy Travis, Larry Gatlin, Ned Beatty, Ben Johnson, Ernest Borgnine, Gloria DeHaven and Billy Barty). But on the other, despite these names, the film seems to have been made for about $1500!

When the story begins, O. B. Taggart (Mickey Rooney) is released from prison. His three sons meet him. One is brain damaged and is favored by O. B.. The other two are evil (Randy Travis and Larry Gatlin). As they travel about, bad things and misunderstandings occur...and all sorts of murdery things take place.

The notion of itsy bitsy Mickey Rooney playing a scary ex-con is silly. I am not sure why they didn't have Ben Johnson or Ned Beatty (both also in the film) play the part....it would have made sense. But this is the least of the problems, as the writing and some of the acting were pretty bad. In particular, the scene where the brain damaged son supposedly scared the young ladies...neither case made any sense due to bad acting as well as bad direction. As for the disabled son, he also was played in a way sure to offend some as the act was really broad.

The bottom line is that although the film makers got some famous names for the story, the movie doesn't have a lot more. The writing, dialog and opening song were pretty bad. It looks more like a movie made directly to video for a pittance than anything else.

By the way, one of the few interesting things about the film is a brief reunion between Rooney and Billy Barty...who both played brothers in the old Mickey McGuire shorts from the late silent/early sound era.

Despite all of the big names in this movie, it is bad. Mickey Rooney did the writing, and apparently has never written before. I don't know how so many famous actors came to be in this film. They have very little to work with.

I actually enjoyed this movie just not so much for the ending, but I suppose Mickey Rooney wanted to stress that greed for money can't help you find your dreams costing Taggart his whole family. What was especially fun was seeing all the old actors possibly in their last performance one after the other. And also finding Randy Travis and Larry Gatlin to be pretty fair actors although they didn't get to sing until the closing credits. You might say the movie is a cross between "Of Mice and Men" and "Unforgiven".