Watch Hearts of the West For Free

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

First the bad news: The pace is a little slow and there's a little too much talk, simply for the sake of talking. Trimming would help. The film's 102 minutes could easily be brought down to 92 without sacrificing any of the storyline.Now the good news: For those of us who are into old movie nostalgia, this charming evocation is written, directed and played with just the necessary light touch -- and that's s quality that's very difficult to bring off without going overboard on either slapstick or melodrama. This film has genuine charm, as well as attractive photography and music. Locations are especially well utilized.All the players from Jeff Brides down to Marie Windsor are a real credit to the acting profession. Andy Griffith is superb. In fact, it's difficult to recognize him as the movie's unscrupulous extra.A movie that can be enjoyed over and over, "Hearts of the West" has genuine charm, as well as superlative photography and a great music score. The production team has managed to bring off what "Nickelodeon" attempted on a much higher budget -- and yet failed!

The mid-70's saw a misguided false nostalgia for early Hollywood. I'd like to think it was on account of the last few octogenarian (and up) moguls dying off (Samuel Goldwyn died at 94 in '74, Jack L. Warner passed in the fall of '78 at 86, Darryl F. Zanuck, ill with Alzheimer's, dying in '79) and that the younger turks sensed something. Unfortunately what spewed forth was mostly crap: Gable and Lombard, W.C. Fields and Me, the dull interpretations of The Great Gatsby, The Last Tycoon, and the cinematic nadir: Won Ton Ton the Dog that Saved Hollywood... a film so utterly awful that they must've thought Rin Tin Tin would sue. Nickelodeon belongs in there somewhere too. But along the way there were a few minor gems, namely, underrated The Day of the Locust (particularly for Burgess Meredith's performance) and Hearts of the West, which I saw in a theater in Portland it's brief release. I don't think it rated a week's screen time. Inarguably, the plot's thin stuff, but Jeff Bridges' Lewis Tater ranks as his best pre-Starman turn as an actor. He took naiveté to an entirely new plateau. Andy Griffith delivers a nice performance as an amiable, if duplicitous character actor who's descended into a life in poverty row oaters. The then-50-year old Griffith had just recovered from a serious medical condition and hadn't been seen in a feature film since a 1969 flop, Angel in My Pocket. Griffith here is far, far removed from anyone's image of Sheriff Andy Taylor. The supporting cast is superb, especially Alan Arkin who captures the essential cheapness of a Gower Gulch producer/director... he seems to be based on Mascot's Nat Levine. Don't look for the picture to go much of anywhere, just enjoy the ride. I liken the experience very similar to 1982's Cannery Row; you know you've seen better pictures, but you never somehow enjoyed one more and you don't exactly know why.

What fun this movie is! Naive tenderfoot writer Jeff Bridges goes off to Hollywood to write B Westerns. And, every note is enjoyable. Andy Griffith is magnificent as bigger-than-life Howard Pike. Alan Arkin has all-kinds-of-fun as the egomaniacal director and Blythe Danner lights up the screen in her role. This is a great piece of Americana.

Jeff Bridges portrayal of the innocent Lewis Tater combined with the slick performances of Alan Arkin and Andy Griffith make Hearts of the West a true Homage to the Republic pictures style of westerns Also keep an eye out for the sultry performance of Blythe Danner as Tater's love interest.