I think it's fair to say that excellence on the gridiron didn't translate very well to the big screen for Joe Namath. If I hadn't seen this Western flick I wouldn't have believed how bad an actor he could be. Maybe he was better in other film appearances but you couldn't prove it here.
I guess it didn't help that the story wasn't all that intriguing. Namath's character 'Captain' Hollis and partner Matt Graves (Jack Elam) have just learned that the Civil War is over and decide to ditch the Confederate cause straightaway. They stumble upon a lynching party about to hang a black man (Woody Strode), and making the save, the three ride off together to a nearby town. As Hollis suckers a pool hall gambler into forking over a huge pile of cash at a hundred dollars a ball, Matt feels it's only fair that he be cut in for a good portion of the loot. This enterprising concept of income redistribution didn't sit well with Hollis, who trusted his new accomplice Duncan (Strode) with the money while Hollis turned to what he really knew best. That would be entertaining the ladies.
Filmed in Rome, one might think this flick would have a spaghetti Western flavor, but none of the essential elements are there. The biggest disconnect is the music; since I regularly enable captioning while watching movies, I was particularly amused at one point to read that 'classic rock music' was playing. Not that I needed to be informed that way, my ears heard what was going on but it was like punctuating how out of character the sounds were with what was occurring on screen.
As a curiosity piece this might merit your taking the ninety minutes or so to see the former New York Jet in a film role, but don't expect much. The acting is bland and just as in the oaters of the Forties and Fifties, a fair amount of horseback riding and scenery shots are used for filler. Virtually unrecognizable to me was old Bronco Layne himself, Ty Hardin from the late Fifties TV series. If you make it past the first hour, you'll definitely groan when Jack Elam shows up in KKK garb to make another run for Hollis's cash.
I guess it didn't help that the story wasn't all that intriguing. Namath's character 'Captain' Hollis and partner Matt Graves (Jack Elam) have just learned that the Civil War is over and decide to ditch the Confederate cause straightaway. They stumble upon a lynching party about to hang a black man (Woody Strode), and making the save, the three ride off together to a nearby town. As Hollis suckers a pool hall gambler into forking over a huge pile of cash at a hundred dollars a ball, Matt feels it's only fair that he be cut in for a good portion of the loot. This enterprising concept of income redistribution didn't sit well with Hollis, who trusted his new accomplice Duncan (Strode) with the money while Hollis turned to what he really knew best. That would be entertaining the ladies.
Filmed in Rome, one might think this flick would have a spaghetti Western flavor, but none of the essential elements are there. The biggest disconnect is the music; since I regularly enable captioning while watching movies, I was particularly amused at one point to read that 'classic rock music' was playing. Not that I needed to be informed that way, my ears heard what was going on but it was like punctuating how out of character the sounds were with what was occurring on screen.
As a curiosity piece this might merit your taking the ninety minutes or so to see the former New York Jet in a film role, but don't expect much. The acting is bland and just as in the oaters of the Forties and Fifties, a fair amount of horseback riding and scenery shots are used for filler. Virtually unrecognizable to me was old Bronco Layne himself, Ty Hardin from the late Fifties TV series. If you make it past the first hour, you'll definitely groan when Jack Elam shows up in KKK garb to make another run for Hollis's cash.