Movie: The widow of a murdered sheriff attempts to clean up the crime in her small town with help from the man hired to kill her.
First shown: 10/9/93
Opening: “Blowing” up Tom’s head
Invention exchange: The scanner planner, new whiffle items
Host segment 1: Funeral talk
Host segment 2: The Gypsy Express
Host segment 3: Tom demonstrates quantum linear super-position
End: The ’70s: A pretty foul decade, deep fried letter, Dr. F. scans Frank!
Stinger: “What about our clothes?”
(69 votes, average: 3.74 out of 5)
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(ratings thingy now working again)
• “This is like Silverado, except it’s good…”
• Well, here we go, the penultimate episode, the last regular episode before big changes occur. I generally like this one. Corman always brings out the best in them, and while it’s isn’t a slam dunk, it’s pretty consistently entertaining.
• Did Gypsy mean to throw the dice onto the floor behind the desk or what that a goof?
• Jim blows a line in the opening bit. They keep going…
• The opening bit it downright hilarious, a brilliant melding of attitude and great prop building.
• I love how Frank does the classic Harpo Marx “gookie” when being scranned.
• Dr. F. says this is their first western. Doesn’t “The Painted Hills” count?
• Segment 1 is great. It’s kind of a funeral for the Joel years (at least it feels that way to me) and it’s got great writing. However, is it my imagination or is everybody a little short with each other in this sketch?. I may be imagining things.
• Segment two: meh. It goes on a little too long. Oh and: peanut butter and Dijonnaise?? Ew!
• One of the season’s funniest running gags; the riffs about the doors that open the wrong way. They just get funnier.
• Joel, seeing the end approaching, seems to be a bit impatient with the movie. “Man, this movie is just sitting on my head and crushing it.”
• I forgot this episode has a “I thought you were Dale”!
• Crow wasn’t far off when he said Corman did “Swamp Diamonds” on Tuesday and this on Friday. According to Daddy-O: “The seven-day shooting schedule for this movie was laden with accidents. JOHN IRELAND and BEVERLY GARLAND were attacked by red ants during their romantic tree-sitting scene. In another accident, Beverly Garland’s ankle became so swollen after she twisted it that her boot had to be cut off. ALLISON HAYES broke her arm after falling off a horse.”
• Segment 3 is one of the best of season 5, witty and intelligent, but not too talky.
• We are entering the “Honey” period of this show—the epoch when everyone was calling each other “honey” constantly. There are at least four instances in this ep.
• I imagine they had a ton of letters to Joel laying around. Deep frying them seems like a nice bit of closure.
• Fave riff: “Oh, rut like crazed weasel. You?”
I thuink this is a great episode. i really enjoyed them making fun of the fact there is about 10 people in this town. I always wonder why the allison hayes character had to kill everyone just because the railroad didn’t go through the town? Actually john ireland was nomianted for a supporting actor award in 1949 for all the king’s men.
I like this episode, too. Hard to go wrong with Corman. Two things to respond to:
1. Yeah, that dice rolling was a goof.
2. Yes, you are imagining things, honey– but we won’t hold it against you.
And who can forget the floor show in that 10 x 20 saloon? What, did they fit four tables in that place? So, the Red Dog is open 24 hours, eh? WHY? There’s, like, 15 people in town. Yeah, a real booming business, that.
I liked all the host segments in this ep. I’ll have to watch it again to think up some favorite lines.
Back in about two hours.
I really liked Wormy in this one. He shows up in tons of Corman’s films, and it’s always good to see him. Which leads to my fave riff:
“Little man, mah man!”
Of course, the opening scene with Joel shouting “Cue the horses!” Gets me every time. They’re just sittin’ there!
Once again they decide to mess with the bots. I loved how after Tom’s balloon pops, Joel casually puts his regular head on in the theater.
I’ve read comments it the past about the “noticeable” tension among the cast in funeral skit, but I just don’t see it.
Not that I’m a great judge of human behavior (or ‘bot behavior for that matter) but I don’t see it, either.
Yeah, tension? The bots seem really enthusiastic about their envisioned funerals while Joel looks a lot more bored than usual, but other than that…
Last time I watched this with a friend, I couldn’t contain my laughter at the end, knowing “–OH MY GOD! AUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!” was coming up.
The funeral segment is interesting only to hear Joel talk about how “everybody dies”, and how he has a soul. It’s total foreshadowing on how Joel is leaving soon.
Also, during Segment 1, you can see Servo’s control rod in the bottom of the casket.
“Whoo, that was a turd, wasn’t it?”
Oh yeah, this was the “regular” Joel episode. The movie’s pretty good; best part of the movie was, as Tom said, Bev in jack boots. RReeooww!
And I personally love the Gypsy Express segment. I really don’t know why, but I’m partial to it.
Marshal? Marshall? Hmm.
I don’t see the tension in the funeral scene, either. I think it’s just them playing their roles, like Joel is trying to get them to understand something, and they, being robots, aren’t taking it too seriously. I don’t think it’s the real actors having tension between them. Character Joel is just frustrated with Crow and Servo.
My favorite line is when Caine says, “The good die first.” And Servo says, “Most people are morally ambiguous, which explains our random dying patterns.”
I also like Joel’s line to the Mads during the invention exchange – “Don’t you realize that when you kill each other, you’re only hurting yourselves?”
They put those titles up on the screen in the movie telling you when all this takes place. I can see their breath when they talk. Must’ve been the coldest June in the O-l-l-d West.
Some other lines I like:
When Rose shoots at her husband’s killers and they get away, she goes back in the Marshall’s (two l’s) office and Joel says, “How do I explain this to…oh, that’s right.”
Servo: “What was that thing, there?”
Crow: “Whatever it was, it wasn’t invented yet.”
Servo: “Bye, everybody.”
Crow: “We’re all dead.”
Joel: “Well, it’s back to the fellowship hall for bars and punch.”
Caine says he’s been looking for Polk since 1865, and Joel says,”A hundred YEARS?”
Joel: “Boy, he’s a fortunate lawman, he just walks right into crime.” (About the deputy).
When Rose says to Caine that some criminal is hiding out in Nine Mile Canyon:
Crow: “How long is that canyon?”
When Caine and Rose are shooting at each other:
Joel: “I think we should date other people.”
And Rose gets in a nice dig at Erica. Erica says she should get out of those pants and find a man, and Rose says she’s wearing those pants because she LOST a man – “A better man than ever slipped YOU a dollar.” Ouch. Zing.
Does anyone know what Joel says after he says, “Boy, that American Hotel sure puts on a good buffet.” He says something under his breath, I think, or is he just making a random noise?
I too liked the jokes about the door opening the wrong way – “What’s all your stuff doing in the hallway?” “Come in – or – out.”
They make a Red Dwarf reference in this ep.
That saddle or whatever it is on the doorway – “Oh, it’s a chocolate gorilla foot.” “Now it’s a hat made out of an udder.”
I notice at the slain Marshall’s funeral when Rose hands the deputy the gun she just shot that guy with, Crow makes a motion like he’s putting the gun in his mouth. Never noticed that before.
You know, I NEVER though of the juxtaposition of this show until now and the funeral sketch makes SOOOOO much sense! Spooky.
“Painted Hills” was more of a drama than western in my book. “Gunslinger” was good, old-fashioned guns and horses and killing and stagecoach robberies and burning barns and Indians and shootouts and… what was I talking about?
My full review is here.
You know, I NEVER though of the juxtaposition of this show until now and the funeral sketch makes SOOOOOOO much sense! Spooky.
“Painted Hills” was more of a drama than western in my book. “Gunslinger” was good, old-fashioned guns and horses and killing and stagecoach robberies and burning barns and Indians and shootouts and… what was I talking about?
Pretty good. It always makes me a little sad to think about this episode because I know Joel is leaving soon. Movie is decent, not top of the list but still pretty good. Host segments are nice. I especially like the scanner planner. The whole concept just cracks me up every time.
Mark me down as yet another viewer who doesn’t see any unusual tension in the funeral sketch. But what made them put in the theme to “Family Affair”?
And, yet another Sally Struthers callback: “Do you want to make people’s heads explode? Sure, we all do!”
BTW, anyone realize who the actor is that plays Beverly’s murdered husband? It’s William Schalert from the Patty Duke Show.
I see to recall a reference to Red Dwarf in Operation Double 007 too. But where was the reference in this film?
Dunno if it’s ever been mentioned, but compare the Red Dog in this movie with the Gabriel’s Horn inn in The Undead from season 8 (“STAAAAAAY!”) — both Corman produced, both with Bruno VeSota and Allison Hayes, and both using that same damn set!
Ned – They do look alike. Maybe Rog thought that he could get away with it since it looks like they shot it from different camera angles and of course, The Undead (STAAAAYYYY!!!!) was in black and white and Gunslinger was in color.
It’s the staircase that gives it away for me. (Especially since people actually use it — you figure Corman had that made once and made sure to reuse it as often as he could!)
Omega #17, it’s not that good of a reference.
Erica asks, “May I go to the Red Dog (saloon) now?”
Rose answers, “You may go to the Red Devil for all I care.” (Another good zing! btw)
Joel riffs, “to watch Red Dwarf with Red Buttons.”
This is one of my favorite eps, if only for the reason that I was smart enough not to tape over it and have watched my tape dozens of times. Since I taped it as a re-run I was pretty much oblivious to the fact that it portended The Change, and I, like others, never read the Funeral Sketch as more than usually curt. I would say that part of the reason it might read that way is Cambot’s unusually tight panning back and forth between the characters as they give their lines.
Seems to me Joel referred to the bots as “Honey” quite frequently in Season 4, but I can’t think of a good example now.
Favorite riff, after a thug throws Jonathan Haze over the countertop:
JOEL: You know, he shoulda slid him across the bar.
SERVO: They hadn’t invented that yet.
Westerns always seem to bring out a lot of “That hadn’t been invented yet” riffs – another one of my favorites is “What’s a sideline, sir?” from “Last of the Wild Horses”.
For some reason, I always giggle at the “whiffle possibilities.” Esp. the whiffle drinking glass – “We-ah haven’t worked out all the kinks, just yet.”
I also love when Weenie man is giving Caine the evil eye, and Tom says, “I don’t like you,” in a Droopy Dog voice.
#18 -20: I’ll wager Corman didn’t actually build that set. It’s probably just some low-cost rental lot owned by one of his sleazy Hollywood friends.
Whenever I see those hideous Crocs I wonder how prescient J&TB were — they’re wiffle shoes!
#16 – The Brains realized it was William Schalert. One of them, I forget who now, says in Beverly’s character’s voice (before hubby gets shot): “Any problems with Patty?”
I like this line: “Let me get this straight.” (Crow): “Youre a man playing a woman playing a man!” And the invention exchange the scanner planner when Dr. F. is scanning Frank, you hear that noise that Brain Guy activates his brain.
Excellent episode. Very strong. Good choice of film and they work all the angles.
My only thought about the Funeral Sketch is that the Beach funeral sounds like a really nice idea.
#11: I think you hit all my high points.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this elsewhere (pretty much to anyone who’ll listen), but Alison Hayes was Hot!
a great episode. I love when they break into a 2001 monolith chorus moaning during the oddly lit two-scene between Beverly Garland and John Ireland. I like when they do that in general.
Beverly Garland is quite pretty. and is it me, or does John Ireland seem stewed throughout this picture?
interesting- this movie isn’t listed on his wikipedia page.
My favorite line, when Servo says in response to Joel’s description of his dignified funeral: “Oh dignity-schmignity, Joel. I want elephants!”
One of the season’s funniest running gags; the riffs about the doors that open the wrong way. They just get funnier.
These, and the “false fronts” riffs are what make this episode for me. That, and when they start having characters refer to Jonathan Haze not as “Little Man” but simply, “Little.” And then Crow’s wincing, “Ooh, right in the little man!”
Joel, seeing the end approaching, seems to be a bit impatient with the movie. “Man, this movie is just sitting on my head and crushing it.”
A fond, fandom memory: A large group of us, gathered in a hotel suite watching “Mesa of Lost Women.” The darkness of the movie sets seemed to swallow us, and by the end, one groaned, “I feel like that movie has been sitting on my head!” Not to quibble, but I think “Mesa” is much more of a head-sitter.
One admirable thing about the film: the Civil War backstory is essentially accurate. The battles of Fort Donelson and Missionary Ridge took place as the mayor and John Ireland’s character describe them. Very odd considering Hollywood’s usual standards for such things.
As for the riffing, the “random death patterns” was my favorite, along with Tom’s segue from a scream of horror to “that was a turd.”
Well, my favorite points (Scanner planner, “random dying patterns” and the false front/quantam linear superpositioning sketch) have all been mentioned, but I would like to mention that the ‘Gypsy Express” sketch wasn’t really funny, it just seemed really drawn out and tedious. Was it just one of those “Time Filler” sketches (ala “It Conquered The World’s” endless reiterations of Peter Graves’ speech)? “Oh, sure, I’ll deliver your plans for the telegraph, no problem!”
It was the point of the sketch, really, to go on for a long time (like Mike listening to that endless song on his stereo equipment, the way it went on endlessly – then REPLAYED in Creeping Terror). The point was, Joel was standing right there and Servo could’ve just told him what he wanted for lunch. Also, emphasizing the fact that the actual Pony Express, compared to today’s mail, must’ve taken an excruciatingly long time. Not that they’d notice back then.
This was a moderately good effort to me. Upon first viewing, it didn’t impress me much. But with every viewing more jokes work, and its been slowly working up my list of MST episodes worth further considering.
The presence of both Beverly Garland AND Alison Hayes certainly doesn’t hurt!
Maybe it’s me and I don’t pick up on suddle details very well, but I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary during the casket sketch. Seems to be the usual back-and-forth verbal spats Joel & the ‘Bots had from time to time. I’m sure Joel was anxious to move on by this point personally, but to me that side of him never showed on-screen.
Nothing like a Corman film to get these guys back into their groove again! After stumbling with the last three episodes (Operation Double, 007,Girl in Lover’s Lane,Painted Hills)they regain their footing here with a strong showing.
From the opening sequence where you see the killer horsemen awaiting their cue beside the building, to the really dumb deputy, to “Wormy”, to the ridiculous gunfight at the end, this one had me laughing out loud all the way through. As Sampo suggests, Corman always seems to bring out the best in them. Great episode.
R.I.P Allison Hayes and Beverly Garland.
Another movie that took a few viewings to grow on me. (I’ve always thought that constantly showing the day and date were SO superfluous and absurd!) The host segments definitely outshine the movie.
Favorite moment has to be at the end of host segment 3…
Joel: “We’ll be right back.”
Servo: “No…THEY’LL be right back…WE’LL be right here.”
Joel: “Honey…don’t….”
It’s that tone of voice Joel uses on the last line that always cracks me up.
My other fave, during segment 1…
Crow: “I’ll lie in state for several days at the Corn Palace while a choir of castrati sing ‘Hooked On A Feeling’!”
It conjurs up such a thoroughly surreal image………Pure Crow!