First the bad news: The pace is a little slow and there's a little too much talk, simply for the sake of talking. Trimming would help. The film's 102 minutes could easily be brought down to 92 without sacrificing any of the storyline.Now the good news: For those of us who are into old movie nostalgia, this charming evocation is written, directed and played with just the necessary light touch -- and that's s quality that's very difficult to bring off without going overboard on either slapstick or melodrama. This film has genuine charm, as well as attractive photography and music. Locations are especially well utilized.All the players from Jeff Brides down to Marie Windsor are a real credit to the acting profession. Andy Griffith is superb. In fact, it's difficult to recognize him as the movie's unscrupulous extra.A movie that can be enjoyed over and over, "Hearts of the West" has genuine charm, as well as superlative photography and a great music score. The production team has managed to bring off what "Nickelodeon" attempted on a much higher budget -- and yet failed!

I saw this film for the first time last night on TCM,who were showing Andy Griffith films after his recent death, and was mildly amused. But reading the other reviews here you would have thought that it was much funnier and had more to say about old Hollywood,and B westerns, than it actually did. Although young Jeff Bridges is mildly amusing I don't think I actually laughed out loud once,and his character as written is so obtusely naive it's hard to believe He would ever survive his first experience lost in the desert,much less excel in the film business. The other point of the film seems to be pulling back the curtains on the fact that B western cowboys weren't really cowboys and they couldn't act either. But is this really something that was a hidden conspiracy? It really doesn't have much to say,and it doesn't go anywhere, I kept waiting for it to be better and more interesting,but it never got there.I do think it was worth watching once,but it's not one that I want to watch repeatedly. You can,however,see the glint of Gwyneth Paltrow in Blythe Danners' eye!

"Hearts of the West" opens by suggesting Iowan "farm boy" Jeff Bridges (as Lewis Tater) wants to be a Hollywood western star, then he tells his family he's going to a Nevada writers' correspondence school. He wants to be another Zane Grey. The "University of Titan" turns out to be a scam, and Mr. Bridges quickly lands in Los Angeles. He gets extra work and a shot at movie stardom after washing dishes. Helping out and sometimes not, is "B western" player Andy Griffith (as Howard Pike). Providing feminine companionship is script girl Blythe Danner (as Miss Trout). Others characters come and go...Bridges is convincing as an early talking pictures western actor; however he combs his hair, it looks terrific. The film benefits from familiar character actors. Winning the "New York Film Critics" supporting actor award for the year is "director" Alan Arkin (as Bert Kessler). A wall advertisement next to the "Rio Cafe" heralds Garbo Talks! in "Anna Christie" (1930), though MGM would have more likely painted it for a 1960s reissue. The setting can be taken right up to the "present" 1970s black-and-red typewriter ribbon Bridges uses. He smartly switches to an all-black ribbon for a letter dated "August 4, 1933".***** Hearts of the West (10/4/75) Howard Zieff ~ Jeff Bridges, Andy Griffith, Blythe Danner, Alan Arkin

The mid-70's saw a misguided false nostalgia for early Hollywood. I'd like to think it was on account of the last few octogenarian (and up) moguls dying off (Samuel Goldwyn died at 94 in '74, Jack L. Warner passed in the fall of '78 at 86, Darryl F. Zanuck, ill with Alzheimer's, dying in '79) and that the younger turks sensed something. Unfortunately what spewed forth was mostly crap: Gable and Lombard, W.C. Fields and Me, the dull interpretations of The Great Gatsby, The Last Tycoon, and the cinematic nadir: Won Ton Ton the Dog that Saved Hollywood... a film so utterly awful that they must've thought Rin Tin Tin would sue. Nickelodeon belongs in there somewhere too. But along the way there were a few minor gems, namely, underrated The Day of the Locust (particularly for Burgess Meredith's performance) and Hearts of the West, which I saw in a theater in Portland it's brief release. I don't think it rated a week's screen time. Inarguably, the plot's thin stuff, but Jeff Bridges' Lewis Tater ranks as his best pre-Starman turn as an actor. He took naiveté to an entirely new plateau. Andy Griffith delivers a nice performance as an amiable, if duplicitous character actor who's descended into a life in poverty row oaters. The then-50-year old Griffith had just recovered from a serious medical condition and hadn't been seen in a feature film since a 1969 flop, Angel in My Pocket. Griffith here is far, far removed from anyone's image of Sheriff Andy Taylor. The supporting cast is superb, especially Alan Arkin who captures the essential cheapness of a Gower Gulch producer/director... he seems to be based on Mascot's Nat Levine. Don't look for the picture to go much of anywhere, just enjoy the ride. I liken the experience very similar to 1982's Cannery Row; you know you've seen better pictures, but you never somehow enjoyed one more and you don't exactly know why.