Watch Fools' Parade For Free

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The first must-see film of the year.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This great movie was made in my home town. During the late 1970s I was a newspaper reporter at The Moundsville Daily Echo. Everyone was still talking about that big event. That is my only claim to fame. The entire town of Moundsville was used as extras; some paid, but most unpaid. The filming of the movie was the biggest thing to come to the sleepy little riverfront burg since the Mound Builders build the 50' conical mound, the namesake of the town. Schools dismissed for weeks and local power plant and chemical plant workers took blue-flu days. I highly recommend that you please publish this old movie on DVD and sell it on Amazon. At least 50% of the population of West Virginia will buy it. (500,000 people). Thanks

It was Stewart's most compelling role when I saw it as an 11 year old boy. The idea that an old released convict explosives expert could have a glass eye and $25000 that George Kennedy (Doc Council) wanted to steal from him was a simple setup but really caught my attention.Stewart was the kind of old man any young kid would want to hang out with, and I identified with Kurt Russell, his young sidekick who had served in prison with Stewart. Russell was a naive devotee of Stewart and he aspired to join Stewart in an honest, simple career, opening an general store.George Kennedy and his evil gang was the only thing standing in the way of Stewart going straight, and we see Kennedy in his best villain role as an unshaven, foul, redneck who wore a dirty white suit and hat and canvas Keds. God, I hated him good in this film and will never forget it.Spoiler- The biggest thrill of the film was when Stewart quotes from the Bible that God would "pluck out the eye" of a man who offended him, in order to freak out a guy who was brandishing a gun on Stewart. As Stewart finishes the quote, he plucks out his eye and holds it out in the face of the enemy, who then becomes vulnerable to be disarmed.It is a shame this film is impossible to see nowadays, not yet on DVD.

The plot is simple: 3 convicts have done their time and are being released from prison. Mattie Appleyard (James Stewart) has saved a large sum of money while behind bars and plans to open a small store with his two compatriots. However, we know from the very first scene that prison authority 'Doc' Council (George Kennedy) is not a friend of inmates nor those who have paid their debt to society, and this is where the story begins. Both Stewart and Kennedy give very solid performances, and as to why this movie is not widely recognised for being one of the best in either actors' careers is very much beyond me. No, it doesn't have space aliens blowing up New York, or laser beams shooting out of mutants' eyes, or even alleged terrorists fighting each other with bio-chemical weapons in some far flung country. However, what it does have are actors practicing their individual crafts as best as they know how to and providing the viewing audience with an extremely good product. This is what is called entertainment.

I grew up in Moundsville W.Va. where the movie was filmed and got to watch many of the areas they filmed, i was able to get several signatures from the actors, Jimmy Stewart, Struther Martin and George Kennedy. I never got to meet Kurt Russell. It was a really good movie, not Oscar material, but very enjoyable. The last comment about why the movie never made it to copy, is because (this is what I've heard) Anne Bancroft did not like her portrayal and would never authorized a release in copy. She is now deceased, so i can only hope this will allow copies to be made and distributed. I for one would be the first in line to get it!.