Hearts Of The West (1975) We anticipated we'd give this film a great big hug, the same way that most film critics did when they first laid eyes on it.........
Sure enough, we did.
It's a shame its overall mildness, its studied gentility and sweetness in dealing with Old Hollywood of the 1930's didn't quite resonate with moviegoers.
Despite the critics' love, it never found a wide audience and we're thinkin' the heartland popcorn crowd found it just a tad too precious and twee.......like an 'in' joke they weren't entirely in on.
What's fascinating about this and other similar 1970's 'Old Hollywood' movies.......the way that the rapidly crumbling movie studios became fixated on Hollywood's golden age....("Nickelodeaon", "Day Of The Locust", "Won Ton Ton", "The Last Tycoon", "Silent Movie", etc, etc)
Almost every one of them, regardless of who functioned as their cameramen, featured the usual, visually monotonous soft focus, brownish orange cinematography........(to signify the films took place a long time ago.....in a galaxy far, far away......in other words Depression-era L.A.)
Since we've already covered why "Hearts Of The West" didn't exactly set people's hearts aflutter, let's stick to what we love about the movie........
#1. The very young Jeff Bridges, as an Iowa naif with big dreams of becoming a pulp western novelist like Zane Gray. His quest leads him westward, naturally, where he runs afoul of the crooks behind the phony correspondence writing school he foolishly signed up for.
Bridges' irrepressible mixture of shy naivete and noble bravado is what carries this movie from beginning to end. He's the the beating heart that makes you want to hang in and see where his adventures take him.
(Forced to escape the correspondence creeps after inadvertently grabbing their bankroll, Bridges plunges into the desert where he stumbles upon a low, low budget movie crew grinding out cornball westerns to regale the Depression-afflicted populace. Recruited as a stuntman, he's smart enough to realize he could get his foot in the door as a writer.......
#2 Andy Griffith, as the weathered cowboy stuntman and secret novelist who becomes, in the course of the story, a mentor, a betrayer and a savior of Bridges. Already in the 'beloved TV star' part of his career, Griffith once again reminded us what a skilled movie actor he could be when given the opportunity. ("A Face In The Crowd", we rest our case)
#3. The wondrous supporting cast, top loaded with instantly familiar veterans (Dub Taylor, Frank Cady, Herb Edelman, Matt Clark, Burton Gilliam, Anthony James, Thayer David, Woodrow Parfrey)......and very funny major supporting roles for Alan Arkin, as a half-crazed director and Donald Pleasance as a luxury-living movie mogul.
and finally:
#4. Rob Thompson's deft screenplay, in which Bridges' youthful, innocent ambitions collide with the world-weary cynicism, duplicity and plain lunacy of the Hollywood dream factory.
and finally, finally......
#5. What we probably love most about "Hearts Of The West" is that such a modest and pleasurable little movie could be put into production and find its way into theaters......a unique byproduct of the 70's upheaval and steady deconstruction of the studio system.
Nobody knew what worked anymore (if ever)......so many, many films like these got thrown against the wall, in the hopes that some of them would stick......
As far we're concerned, this one did. 3 & 1/2 stars (***1/2)
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