Rating: 
Summary: Ignorant focus groups are the Villain of good DVD releases.
Review: "The Villain" is a fun little guilty pleasure, a Looney Toons cartoon disguised as a live-action Western and featuring some major names. The comedy is so slapstick and the dialogue so screwball, one cannot help but wonder what the heck Kirk Douglas is doing in a film like this! Perhaps he was cleansing himself of the debacle that was "The Fury". That being said, all the actors in the film play it with the earnestness all good comedy needs to succeed. Hal Needham, in the middle hour of his directing heyday, acquits himself well without his usual lead actor Burt Reynolds. Needham plays up the material for all it is worth, achieving the same type of real world/cartoon symmetry "Roger Rabbit" is famed for. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes a hilarous splash against type as a noble cowboy whose name constitutes one of the best gags in the film. In fact, it is the three leads that make "The Villain" a worthwhile and easy watch, as their "for keeps" performances eliminate the self-mocking mail-in performances that doom many mediocre projects. Therefore, either for the cult film enthusiast or casual viewer, this would be an easy recommendation for purchase or rental. HOWEVER, the DVD release of this film gets the glaring 1 (wish it was zero) rating for the increasingly emerging cardinal sin of DVD's - a pan & scan only release with minimal to no extras. According to reports, various consumer focus groups and studies have led studios to believe people are intimidated by the letterboxing black bars and want the safety, familiarity, and cropped comfort of full-screen. Why they wouldn't offer both (especially with no extras) is beyond me. Why they would think a film with a small, but dedicated following would accept this is equally beyond me. Sorry, Hal, Kirk, Ann, and Arnold, until Columbia ponies up a more worthy version of your film, "The Villain" won't be hiding out in my collection anytime soon.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic comedy Western
Review:
This is, in my opinion, the finest comedy Western ever produced. With Kirk Douglas as "Cactus Jack Slade," (alias Wiley Coyote) and Arnold Schwartzeneggar as--well--NOT the road-runner, but rather a puritannical "Handsome Stranger," and the beautiful Ann Margaret as the lusty "Charming Jones," along with a great supporting cast, it is without a doubt the funniest spoof of a Western action movey I've ever seen...
Joseph (Joe) Pierre
author of Handguns and Freedom...Their Care and Maintenance
and other books
Rating:
Summary: A classic comedy Western
Review:
This is, in my opinion, the finest comedy Western ever produced. With Kirk Douglas as "Cactus Jack Slade," (alias Wiley Coyote) and Arnold Schwartzeneggar as--well--NOT the road-runner, but rather a puritannical "Handsome Stranger," and the beautiful Ann Margaret as the lusty "Charming Jones," along with a great supporting cast, it is without a doubt the funniest spoof of a Western action movey I've ever seen...
Joseph (Joe) Pierre
author of Handguns and Freedom...Their Care and Maintenance
and other books
Rating:
Summary: The Villain - - Starring Kirk Douglas & The Terminator
Review: A must see flick for you comedy enthusiasts out there. This is real laugh out loud side aching humor at its best. This favorite could be done in black and white and no sound and get almost the same response from its viewers. Kirk Douglas makes you believe that Wiley Coyote himself has come to life. A very young Arnold Schwarzenegger as your naive hero dressed in bulging white with leading lady Ann Margaret bulging in her own way onto the screen with headstrong hormones. What a cast, what a flick. But guess what kids, this is not available anywhere as a rental. So, do as I have and purchase yours...
This is David giving you two thumbs up yours.!!!!!! teehee.!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: The Villian
Review: Anyone who loves The Roadrunner will love this movie!! It is hillarious from start to finish!! Definately my all time favorite western!!! A MUST SEE!!!! It is really refreshing to be able to actually watch a movie with your children and not have to worry if it is family rated - no bad language, no blood guts and gore, no sexually explicit scenes. Arnold, Kirk, Ann Margarete and Paul Lunde do a great job with it!! I also love the horse - who lets Kirk know who is the boss!!
Rating: 
Summary: A cinematic cartoon
Review: As other reviewers have already indicated, this is like a Road Runner cartoon only with real actors - Kirk Douglas, Ann Margaret and of course Arnold who plays the handsome stranger. As if everthingelse isn't funny, seeing Arnold play a cowboy with a hulking physique and sounding like Dracula is amusing. 1 star reviewers don't get it, this movie was never intended to be a John Wayne type of western--it's supposed to be and is funny!
Rating:
Summary: A 1979 cowboy tribute to Roadrunner and While Coyote.
Review: Cactus Jack Slade and his horse Whisky, two robbers, wonder into a town and Cactus Jack ends up in Jail, when he blows up a bank. Catus Jack is released from Jail by the owner of the bank and is offered a job. He is sent to stop a young woman called Charlin from reaching her father, Cactus Jack has to set traps to stop Charlin, who travels with Handsome stranger from seeing her father, as ususal, His traps go wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Villainous , but Funny for the whole family
Review: First of all you take a bumbling hero, add an even more bumbling villain, stir in Ann-Margaret. Eliminate all expectations of a coherent plot and you can sit back and laugh. The Pan And Scan did this movie no favors, but Whiskey makes the movie.
The Horse at times had the best lines in the movie, even saying that Hal Needham movies are not to be taken seriously anyway.
The supporting cast headed by Paul Lynde, and Jack Elam is more than solid. If you liked Uncle Arthur on Bewitched, you'll appreciate Nevous Elk.
My four kids range from 19 - 5 and most of the jokes were caught by the intended audience. The mild inuendo my 18 and 19 year olds caught. The broad slapstick the 7 & 5 year old caught. To keep them silent through a movie is surprising.
The scenery is beautiful. So is the landscape.
Enjoy adults not acting, but having fun...
Tim Sanko
Rating:
Summary: A movie? Nah -- a Roadrunner cartoon!
Review: Hansom Stranger (Arnold Schwartzenegger), a heroic dim bulb, tries to protect the person and property of a sweet young thang (played by Ann-Margret) on a trek across the desert. The Villain (Kirk Douglas) pursues them, sometimes with difficulty (as when they drive into a tunnel painted on a rock). The smartest character in the movie is Kirk's horse. You'll love the ending.
Rating:
Summary: This is my favorite movie ever
Review: I caught this movie on a late late show in the late 80's. I think this is a GREAT movie. one of the funniest movies ever made.. too bad all everyone in the movie industry thinks it was a flop and non of the actors should ever admit making it. The 7 Shot 6 Shooters are the Best!! I should get some more wood for the Fire!
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