Rustler's Rhapsody is a salute to those gazillion B westerns made back in the day of the studio system. Even those who were kids back in the day can enjoy this one as satire and as the real thing.In those days westerns were just churned out because people could not get enough of them. Shot in the outdoors using stock footage over and over and over again lots of fly by night studios just shot out in the country and the plots just seem to run together. Reviewing as many films as I do I can tell you that. If it's a major western with some major stars you remember them, but these B westerns are where the clichés come from.Just about all of them are used here as Tom Berenger plays the immaculately tailored western hero who just comes to town, rights all the wrongs of the town and then rides on. But here Berenger is facing villains Andy Griffith and Fernando Rey who are up on all the clichés and throw Berenger a few curves. We also find out about the sex life or lack thereof for a cowboy hero, but with Marilu Henner and Sela Ward in the cast one of them will cure that before the film is over.Back in the day when Mel Brooks offered a role for John Wayne in that other great satire of the western Blazing Saddles Wayne turned him down. But the Wayne family got into this one with Patrick Wayne coming in to play the part of another western hero who's hired by the bad guys. He wars pretty good on Berenger psychologically but Berenger of course takes him on in the end. Wayne looked he was having a great old time in this film.Rustler's Rhapsody is not as bawdy and outrageous as Blazing Saddles, but it certainly has good entertainment value. It also obeys one rule of the B western from the day. Westerns were often given titles that had nothing to do with the plot as they are here. There's not a bit of cattle rustling in Rustler's Rhapsody.But there's a lot of fun.

Maybe you have to be very familiar with old B-movie American westerns to fully enjoy Rustler's Rhapsody and since I'm not all that familiar with the genre I don't think too highly of this film.That's not to say it's unfunny, it truly has it's moments but they're not very many and a bit far between. Tom Berenger does well as The Singing Cowboy who rides alone and squares matters in every town. The main spoof here is that every western followed the same formula and so Berenger can predict what's gonna happen each time.The cast is earnest. G.W. Baily is sporadically funny as the town drunk who becomes Berenger's sidekick, Fernando Rey is very good as the embodiment of a Spaghetti Western villain (one of the film's more funnier scenes is the spoof on their wardrobe and better background music) and the rest (Andy Griffith, Marilu Henner and Sela Ward) fare well enough. I just wished they could have used Jim Carter more (Déja Vu from Top Secret). His confrontation with Berenger in the beginning is a riot.The problem is mainly that it's paper thin premise doesn't go many places. Berenger's ability to predict what's gonna happen takes up most of the film's jokes. As said I'm not all that familiar with the genre apart from a few movies so I could well enough have missed some jokes.Rustler's Rhapsody is thus an O.K. way to spend an hour and a half but I didn't laugh out loud that often.

This movie got by me somehow when it was released in 1985. I don't even remember any advertising for it. So I didn't discover it until 1990 or 1991. It has become one of my all time favorite spoofs and I think it's even funnier than "Blazing Saddles'.The first campfire scene when Rex introduces the running "root" gag had me in total stitches. I have turned on many many friend to this show over the past 15 years. The only other comedy sleeper as funny as this one is "The Cheap Detective". I've watched "Rhapsody" at least six times and it still cracks me up. One of GW Bailey's all time funniest characters, too. I highly recommend this movie!

I don't like actual westerns, yet, two of my top five comedies are western spoofs. Blazing Saddles and Rustlers Rhapsody are incredibly funny movies for completely different reasons.Andy Griffith's Colonel Ticonderoga goes down as one of the greatest comic performances I've ever seen (and I've seen it time and time again). It's a great movie that gets better the more you watch it.I actually saw this in the theater with my dad back in '84. I recall him laughing really hard and I, all of 14, kinda laughing, but, not getting the sophisticated humor. So, when I got a bit older, I watched again and MAN! am I glad I did.Definitely check out this movie. It is, indeed, available on DVD, but, probably not for rent. You will have to buy it. I saw it in the Westerns section at Borders...way to categorize, there, guys. Nice work.Just goes to show that not enough people have seen this great film. Hugh Wilson, with WKRP and this, deserves Hall of Fame status.