Ten Statements About....THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY JR. Episode One: 'Pilot' (1993)

If you can resist the sight of Bruce Campbell
dressed as Bat Lash riding a Rocket--with a
saddle, no less--then you can no longer be
my friend....

"You're not quite what I expected, Mr. County."

"Well, expectations lead to disappointment, Socrates. That's why I try not to have any."

1) It is a shame that R. Lee Ermey has spent the bulk of his acting career playing variations of his drill sargent in Full Metal Jacket--because here, as Brisco's father, we see him stretch a little, giving us a surprising amount of grace to what could be a very standard, regulation sacrificial lamb.

2) I had forgotten that they didn't introduce Brisco himself until over ten minutes into the pilot--at which point the whole premise of the series has been set up save for some of the deeper parts of the mythology. And, since Brisco is a fusion of modern and pulp western sensibilities, when we meet him, he's about to hang for something he didn't do (which makes me think what I bring up about one of Brisco's spiritual godfathers two points down is true)...

3) This show never loses sight of the fact that this is a fusion of two genres in a steampunk setting...but it does so very subtlely. Even setting it in 1893--like 1993, not long before a new century begins--is a key to understanding that the show is going to jump between the now and the then, using the past to illuminate the future while telling a cracking pulp adventure. It's not an easy task, but it's to the credit of Jeffrey Boam, Carlton Cuse and David Simkins.

4) Those people who say Bruce Campbell has a very limited range--namely, that he only plays Bruce Campbell--never have seen this show. Yes, Brisco is a Campbellian hero--but one whose a lot more cerebral and thoughtful than Ash, Autolycus, and the others. He has his own philosophy, and seems to want to think his way out of things rather than bull through them. And incidentally, I have to wonder if Brisco's look, with the ornate pattern vest and blue shirt, was not a nod/shout-out/whatever to the DC hero Bat Lash, considered one of the first 'modern' western comic book characters.

5) How can you not love a television series that, in its pilot, gives significant roles to Julius 'So 'Nuff' Carrey, James 'Lo Pan' Hong, and John 'Gomez Addams' Astin? If that doesn't make it clear that it wears its genre love on its sleeve, I don't know what does...

Why am I putting a photo of Kelly Rutherford as Dixie Cousins
here?  Why are you asking this question?

6) It's kind of hard to explain just how much of an impact Kelly Rutherford had in this series--especially given how she never quite matched the whole 'sex on a stick' quality she had as Dixie Cousins in any of her successive roles in shows such as Melrose Place and Kindred: The Embraced. But...wow.

7) It's easy to see why John Pyper-Ferguson's Pete Hutter quickly outmatched all the other bad guys--even the supposed main baddie, Billy Drago's John Bly--and became a fan favorite. His strange mix of intellectualism and Old west gibberish is unique and endearing, and unlike anything else in the show. It's not a surprise at all that his death in this episode is retconned a few episodes later.

8) I absolutely love how this pilot is structured like an old serial, with each act preceded by a chapter card, and ending with a cliffhanger.

What happens when you let a gun-obsessed outlaw go off
on rants about French impressionists and existentialism?
You get one of the show's most popular characters....

9) I know I have sung the praise of Christian Clemenson elsewhere--and I will do so here again. As Socrates Poole, Clemenson has taken what should have been the thankless role of the clueless sidekick/facilitator and given it a life and energy of its own. Poole is much more in the vein of the original John Watson, and not the Nigel Bruce version that I despise so much. His smarts are applied in ways that make him a vital part of the series. But then....

10) This is the charm of what Cuse and Boam have in mind with this series. Every one of the characters they've set up to be recurring is not who they seem to be, from Lord Bowler on down to Professor Wickwire. There are logical twists that make them resonate with modern themes while remaining true to the Wild West context of the show. And given how well the show is cast, it just adds fuel to the series' momentum.

In short....a brilliant pilot that allows us to have a done-in-one adventure if we choose to go no further...but sets up a wonderful world of pulp adventure and steampunk tomfoolery to explore in if we decide to go further.

Ten Statements About....THE GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1969)

"....And that boy grew up to be ZAPATA!"

Note: Since DYE!DYE! is specifically geared towards movies, I'm going to attempt to do 10 Statements for all the movies I've seen, including those I watch on DVD.

1) It occurred to me as I watched this that The Magnificent Seven films are pretty much super-hero films. Each member of the team has a specialty that is sometimes portrayed as a super-power, each one has a specific uniform, etc. Even the number of heroes becomes the generally agreed upon ideal number of members for super-teams. That being said...

2) This is one of those American Westerns that tried to reflect both the changing political and cultural mores and the popularity of Spaghetti Western...and all the stuff which seems to address racial inequality and post-traumatic stress disorder seems weird in the context of this as a gigantic comic-book-y adventure.

3) This 'changing with the time' attitude results in a strange, downbeat ending of the climatic gunfight....which is then made even stranger when George Kennedy is given the typical 'thank you, stranger...you're tops' coda.

4) Okay...am I to believe that little Emil, played by Tony Adams, grows up to be legendary political icon Zapata? 'Cause I ain't buying it much....

"...and for my next trick, I'm gon' blow up like a balloon
and start showing up in any ol' movie that'll pay me."

5) Man, does Joe Don Baker, playing the stressed out, one armed Civil War vet, look weird without all that body fat.

6) George Kennedy seems an odd choice to replace Yul Brynner as Chris (he was apparently cast off his Academy Award win for Cool Hand Luke). But I think a lot of people forget how tough Kennedy could come off as before he started taking any old goofy assignment for cash. Plus his gentler, comedic talents works in the scenes where Chris uses guile and intelligence to get what he needs.

7) Boy, does James Whitmore look like he's having a ton of fun.

8) It's really funny how, even though the script struggles with relevance, it still embraces racial stereotyping when it comes to the noble Mexican rebels. Every time Reni Santoni's Max opens his mouth with another Mexican saying like 'A cat wearing mittens never catches the rat,' it set my teeth on edge.

"...and for my next trick, I'm also gon' blow up like a balloon
and start showing up in any ol' movie that'll pay me."

9) Boy, does the whole subplot involving Scott Thomas' consumptive gun-fighter and the hot peasant chica seem tacked on and arbitrary. It's almost like the script felt the character had to have some sort of story arc to justify his tragic end at the climax.

10) Given that this is a movie about seven men aiding Mexican rebels, the actual Mexicans are given only the sketchiest of dimensions. Outside of Max's Charlie-Channing it with all these aphorisms, no one is really gone into in depth--Hell, even the villain, Michael Ansara's Colonel Diego, isn't given much character.

In short...there's stuff here to enjoy if you like Westerns, especially in Kennedy's nuanced performance, but it certainly serves as a textbook example of how the original concept of the American western was doomed when Leone and his ilk started hitting our shores with their ambigious morality plays painted in shades of grey....