RELEASED IN 1994 and directed by Peter Markle, "Wagons East" details events when a dozen settlers in the remote Southwest town of Prosperity give up on the West and hire a drunken wagon master (John Candy) to lead them back East. Later, some Sioux tribespeople decide to assist them, hoping it will become a trend. Meanwhile, a dastardly villain (Edward Matthew Lauter) is hired by a railroad mogul to stop the small wagon train à la Wile E. Coyote in The Road Runner.
If you like comedy Westerns like "Texas Across the River" (1966) and "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox" (1976), you should like this one as well. It mixes laugh-out-loud scenes with quietly amusing ones. I think it's superior to the overrated "Cat Ballou" (1965) and even better than the heralded "Blazing Saddles" (1974). It's not intentionally offensive like the latter, although there's a little black humor. In some ways it's kinda cute and heartwarming (e.g. the relationship between the big guy and the former prostitute). The locations are spectacular.
There are several familiar faces in the cast who were popular around that time, e.g. Richard Lewis, John C. McGinley, Robert Picardo, Ellen Greene, Melinda Culea, William Sanderson, Rodney A. Grant and Russell Means.
THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour & 47 minutes and was shot in Condado De Chavez & Sierra de Organos, Mexico. WRITERS: Matthew Carlson (screenplay) & Jerry Abrahamson (story).
GRADE: B
If you like comedy Westerns like "Texas Across the River" (1966) and "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox" (1976), you should like this one as well. It mixes laugh-out-loud scenes with quietly amusing ones. I think it's superior to the overrated "Cat Ballou" (1965) and even better than the heralded "Blazing Saddles" (1974). It's not intentionally offensive like the latter, although there's a little black humor. In some ways it's kinda cute and heartwarming (e.g. the relationship between the big guy and the former prostitute). The locations are spectacular.
There are several familiar faces in the cast who were popular around that time, e.g. Richard Lewis, John C. McGinley, Robert Picardo, Ellen Greene, Melinda Culea, William Sanderson, Rodney A. Grant and Russell Means.
THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour & 47 minutes and was shot in Condado De Chavez & Sierra de Organos, Mexico. WRITERS: Matthew Carlson (screenplay) & Jerry Abrahamson (story).
GRADE: B