adonis98-743-186503
Just saw The Villain for the first time and i got to say the 0% at Rotten Tomatoes is so freaking wrong. This is basically a Cartoon with Kirk Douglas as Coyote chasing Arnold Schwarzenegger & Ann Margret who could be described as Road Runner 'Beep Beep' it's pretty funny how the ending used the Bugs Bunny Theme which i found hilarious. If people except logic they will definitely be disappointed but for everyone else who appreciated the cartoons and need to laugh a little bit then this movie is for you all. Arnold as Handsome Stranger was the best part of the movie for me he was hilarious and not your typical Arnold movie to see him in and Kirk Douglas as Cactus Jack was great as well and pretty funny. If you love Arnold Movies you definitely going to love this one also.
Maziun
THE GOOD : Ann Marget looks sexy . Arnold Schwarzenegger fits surprisingly well the role of Handsome Stranger . Kirk Douglas is obviously having fun with his role of Cactus Jack . The acting is the strongest part of the movie. I did laugh two or three times at some less lame jokes .THE BAD : The whole movie feels like a cartoon that was turned into a movie. I like cartoons. Still , I don't like movies that want to look and feel like a cartoon. Why ? The answer is simple – what works in cartoon doesn't work in a movie . The jokes that are funny in the cartoon won't be funny in normal movie simply because they will look stupid . Not to mention that some of the jokes here are taken straight from the cartoons . Take a look at the tunnel joke – I swear it was a rip off from one of the Road Runner cartoons.THE VERDICT : If you can avoid it. Better watch normal cartoon. I give it 1/10.
MARIO GAUCI
This is just the kind of movie whose existence (both in terms of the premise and the people involved) make even knowledgeable film buffs do a double-take – I know I did when I chanced upon it first in a VHS catalogue in the mid-1980s! For this reason – a live-action version of a Road Runner/Looney Tunes cartoon with Kirk Douglas(!) evoking the hapless but dogged figure of Wile E. Coyote – I'd always been curious about it…even if I had the good sense to not to expect much of the eventual outcome.That said, while certain gags don't really translate or else fall miserably flat (not only because they're already familiar from countless cartoons but the fact that animation has a much more 'believable flexibility' as it were), parts of it are definitely amusing (with Douglas, one of Hollywood's most durable leading men, willing to spoof his own image by undergoing a series of pratfalls throughout). Having the typical desert setting, the makers opted to make this a Western; therefore, it can also be read as yet another (broad) genre lampoon. Of course, it's not a patch on Mel Brooks' classic BLAZING SADDLES (1974); incidentally, here we also get a handful of wisecracking Indians (led by Paul Lynde, from the "Beach Party" series, in his last film) a' la Texas ACROSS THE RIVER (1966) which, as it happens, I've also just watched.The thin plot involves Douglas being paid by unscrupulous banker Jack Elam (after the former's disastrous attempt to blow up the latter's safe!) to thwart heroine Ann-Margret's journey (who's just withdrawn a large sum of money) back home. She's something of a nymphomaniac herself and is being escorted by the foolishly-named Handsome Stranger (played with all the woodenness he can muster by, of all people, Arnold Schwarzenegger!) but who seems totally impervious to her charms; by the way, she is called Charmin' and dad Strother Martin goes by the unlikely moniker of Parody! Douglas conceives many a cartoonish ruse in the accomplishment of his mission: every single one of these backfires, however (sometimes with the help of his "treacherous" steed itself) – with the intended victims being completely oblivious of the whole thing; the latter's scenes together are fairly dull but, thankfully, the lion's share of the running-time is devoted to Douglas' ill-timed antics! In fact, the two parties only come face to face twice during the course of the film: first, when Douglas disguises himself as a preacher (his hammy turn here seems to be tapping a typical larger-than-life performance by Jack Palance!) and, then, at the climax where, having finally had enough of Schwarzenegger's cluelessness, Ann-Margret decides to side with the villain (actually the film's original American title). This unforeseen turn-of-events sends Douglas leaping over rooftops in an impromptu fit of uncontainable ecstasy, as often seen in Tex Avery cartoons and which easily gets the film's biggest laugh – though other undeniable chuckles have him slipping high in the air on an empty beer bottle, squashed at the front of a speeding train and knocked about when the platform he's standing on falls apart in the aforementioned preacher sequence! I told you it plays like a cartoon… P.S. Incidentally, as part of my Christmas schedule, I should also be re-acquainting myself with two of the same director's other 'chase' comedies – the "Cannonball Run" films, both of which I haven't watched since the mid-1980s
shawshank86
this is just a great, fun-filled adventure. sort of a spoof on all the westerns that had been coming out at the time by applying all we've learned from loony tunes. in fact, kirk douglas ends up bouncing from the roof tops hooting and hollering like daffy duck. the entire plot is set up like the coyote and the road runner, and the character names are just wicked; arnold schwarzenegger plays handsome stranger and he has to escort a gal named charming, and the entire time, kirk douglas is trying to rob them while reading an instruction manual on how to be a bad guy. what a great concept. i highly recommend this movie if you adore silly
