WAGONS EAST!
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1994 Ben Hoffman
Too bad that John Candy's last film should be such a poor, one-joke movie. All the Westerns are about the trek West, the hardships, the Indians, the U. S. Cavalry, the circling of wagons when attacked. Here, they form a square. This one is just the opposite. Even the exclamation point in the title will not help create any excitement or laughter.
When the people of Prosperity have had it up to here with boredom, primitive living and the dangers of the West, they think the unthinkable: What are we doing here? Let's head back East.
James Harlow (John Candy) is the inept wagon master who will lead the wagons that want to return East. The first joke is that when he gives the signals for the wagons to start moving and he shouts "Eastward, Ho!" he leads in the wrong direction, West, where they are captured by Indians. That's typical of the inane humor.
On paper it may have seemed like a good idea: The Indians will help them get out of the usurped territory, the Cavalry and the land barons are the bad guys. The wealthy landowners have invested lots of money and if a trend were started to go back East, it would ruin them. The Eastward-heading wagon trains must be stopped. But the movie from its very beginning is unfunny and hackneyed.
Also in the cast are Richard Lewis as a surgeon, his wife Melinda Culea, Ricardo Picardo as a banker, and Ellen Greene, a working girl ... all tired with the West and ready to return to civilization.
Directed by Peter Markle.
1 Byte 4 Bytes = Absolutely must see. 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
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