Tex, the Passive-Aggressive Gunslinger

This is one of the reasons that I am so happy to have access to Independent Film Network. This short film is absolutely hysterical. The way Bob Balaban and Charles Rocket play off each other is priceless. My only caution is to be sure to listen closely at the end for the payoff.

I discovered this wonderful short film by happy accident: It aired on IFC after a movie I was videotaping, so I happened to capture it on tape and discovered it "accidentally" when I replayed the movie I intended to tape. Bob Balaban is

perfectly cast as Tex, and delivers a note-perfect performance as the

Passive-Aggressive gunslinger. Charles Rocket could easily be mistaken for Will Ferrell from SNL; he's also very good as Tex's star-crossed nemesis. This

10-minute movie is consistently funny; my only complaint is that the editing

falters a little bit -- certain cuts toward the end of the film diminish the comedic impact of the material. Nevertheless, this is a BRILLIANT little comedy -- I'd love to own it on DVD or video!

I love everything about this compact joy of a film, a sly anachronistic wink of a work that both honors a timeless genre while lacing it with the psychoanalytical hemlock of our screwy, modern world. Only Bob Balaban among our current crop of A-list character actors could pull this off to perfection, and he does! Makes you wonder, truth to tell, what an analyst might do with Billy the Kid or Jesse James on the couch. The supporting cast couldn't have been chosen more carefully or put to better use, all the way from the bad guy gunslinger whose clothes (even his hat!) seem miraculously pressed, to the old-timer Fuzzy Knight lookalike and the hoot of a saloon girl that Miss Kitty would love to hate. The black and white cinematography is just right, and, combined with a movie set right out of one of those old Warner Brothers TV Westerns of the 1950s _ heck, it might even BE one of those old sets _ sucks you right in, just as "Maverick," "The Rifleman," "Restless Gun," "Johnny Ringo" and the like did way back-when. Even the opening, with the deserted street and the tumbling tumbleweeds, nails the feel of those old shows. "Tex" pokes fun both at us as gullible Old West fans and the genre that we innocently and somewhat misguidedly created in the mid-20th century. We meant well _ but, oh my! A work of love, this. Bravo!

This is the best short comedy film since "The Dove". In fact, someone ought to put these two together on a DVD; it would be a sure-fire bestseller.

Unless they're extremely lucky, sooner or later everyone encounters this personality type, but there's nothing garden-variety about Bob Balaban's Tex: He's the Godzilla of Passive-Aggression. Full of tough-guy bluster and baffled fury, Charles Rocket has his best role in years as the hapless gunfighter who calls Tex out, only to discover in the end that he's no match for the wiles of our title character. Balaban is perfect. The very thought of this meek-and-mild-looking actor as a fearsome gunslinger is a major hoot. That is, until you experience the utter fiendishness that is Tex.

Fans of Christopher Guest's superb movies (Best of Show, A Mighty Wind, etc.) will recognize Bob Balaban as a regular in those great movies. He gets to star in "Tex" and is great - in the spirit of Guest's movies. In fact, I was surprised not to find Guest in the credits in some role. I really wish there were some mechanism to get a DVD, VCD, tape or whatever of the 10 minute video (IFC plays it but only as part of "short films", not listed individually ahead of time). Did I say "see it if you possibly can"? See it!