Doesn't it irritate you when a good guy has the drop on an an opponent in a movie and the dialog between the two turns the tables so the bad guy comes out on top? Not so for Thomas Van Leek (Louis Gossett Jr.). He has no such trouble, because technically, he's not a good guy. But more importantly, he'll shoot someone in the back because that's the way he was facing!
If you approach this film as the parody Western it was intended to be, it can be quite fun. I got the biggest kick out of the El Diablo bunch arguing over the distinction between a gully and an arroyo. Those subtle little bits of dialog are peppered throughout the story to make it even more humorous. Along with the identity of Kid Durango (Joe Pantoliano), who's appearance was a distinct polar opposite of the Forties Western cowboy hero Durango Kid, as portrayed by Charles Starrett. Heading up the cast is a young Anthony Edwards as a total greenhorn school teacher from Boston, intent on rescuing a young female student (Sarah Trigger) from the Diablo gang. Billy Ray Smith (Edwards) can't do anything a cowboy can do, but that doesn't let it stop him from rounding up a varied cast of desperadoes to go up against a band of Mexican villains.
Western history buffs might take note of the Dolan-Murphy sign on a large barn as Billy and Van Leek make their way back to Independence after rescuing Nettie Tuleen. Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan were New Mexico businessmen in the 1870's who feuded with an opponent name John Tunstall. Their murder of Tunstall was the catalyst of the Lincoln County War which involved Billy the Kid on the side of the Tunstall faction. How that would have had a connection to the events in this picture is questionable though, since the story takes place in Independence, Texas. But then again, a guy named Truman Feathers tried to pass himself off as Kid Durango.
If you approach this film as the parody Western it was intended to be, it can be quite fun. I got the biggest kick out of the El Diablo bunch arguing over the distinction between a gully and an arroyo. Those subtle little bits of dialog are peppered throughout the story to make it even more humorous. Along with the identity of Kid Durango (Joe Pantoliano), who's appearance was a distinct polar opposite of the Forties Western cowboy hero Durango Kid, as portrayed by Charles Starrett. Heading up the cast is a young Anthony Edwards as a total greenhorn school teacher from Boston, intent on rescuing a young female student (Sarah Trigger) from the Diablo gang. Billy Ray Smith (Edwards) can't do anything a cowboy can do, but that doesn't let it stop him from rounding up a varied cast of desperadoes to go up against a band of Mexican villains.
Western history buffs might take note of the Dolan-Murphy sign on a large barn as Billy and Van Leek make their way back to Independence after rescuing Nettie Tuleen. Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan were New Mexico businessmen in the 1870's who feuded with an opponent name John Tunstall. Their murder of Tunstall was the catalyst of the Lincoln County War which involved Billy the Kid on the side of the Tunstall faction. How that would have had a connection to the events in this picture is questionable though, since the story takes place in Independence, Texas. But then again, a guy named Truman Feathers tried to pass himself off as Kid Durango.