"...life is Uphill All the Way..."

jmak_2002

I saw this movie on a rented VHS from a local video store. My grandparent's and I watched the movie one Saturday night around the time it was relatively new. We were big watchers of HEE-HAW and so it was a natural film to want to see, considering the movie starred Roy Clark and featured Gailord Sartain, both from HEE-HAW. I had not seen the movie since those three play's from the rented VHS but I remember the theme song's title.... "life is Uphill All the Way..." and it carries a western arrangement, obviously. At the time, the scenes I found hilarious were the ones with Glen Campbell...10 or 15 years later, if I were to see the film again, I'd probably find other subtle things funny as well but at the time Glen Campbell's role was hilarious.

It's a nice family movie even if there's some scenes involving women of the night. I saw this film when I was younger, I was 10 years old at the time, spending the weekends with my grandparent's. It would be nice to see the film again...straight through...to get a different perspective. The film was released in 1986 but of course because it's set in the old west it looks older than what it really is. Burl Ives and Elaine Joyce have good roles as well. Naturally, this sort of film isn't going to set the world on fire or inspire millions. It's simply a good ol' boy film...like a western version of DUKES OF HAZZARD minus the probation sub-plot of the TV series.

Booger and Ben, the two lead characters, are on the run after being accused of a crime they didn't commit. It being the old west there wasn't such a thing as a judiciary system as we know it...back then if you were accused of a crime and the mayor, sheriff, or boss of the small town was corrupt you didn't have much of a chance to show your innocence...so the only thing left to do was go on the run or be executed for a crime you didn't commit.

There was a limited release DVD of this movie about 12 years ago but I had no idea of it's availability...it's long out of print now. Hopefully it comes up on DVD again at some point but I doubt it will seeing that it's been 12 years since it's first DVD release. For family-fun and those who like the chase movies like "Cannonball Run", "Smoky and the Bandit", and the TV shows "Hee-Haw" and "Dukes of Hazzard", then this movie is right up your alley.

score 9/10

jmak_2002 18 July 2009

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2097858/