Ah, the western spoof genre. It's continually done, because there were so many westerns made from the 1940s-1070s that everyone's so ridiculously tired of them and are now in the mood to laugh at the similarities between every cowboy movie ever made. In The Villian, the handsome cowboy is literally named Handsome Stranger, and the charming damsel in distress is named Charming Jones. Ann-Margret plays Charming, and as in many westerns, she's wearing a form-fitting, cleavage-bearing dress but miraculously isn't taken advantage of by rough-and-tough cowboys. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Handsome, and as in many westerns, he's a reluctant hero who prefers to avoid violence and sex when he can. Kirk Douglas is the title character, the stereotypical bad guy who robs banks and does crazy stunts that would kill a normal person but manages to survive without a scratch in the next scene. You'll probably get a few laughs out of this movie, but mostly it reminded me of a first draft of the Carry On movies, which I found much funnier. Carry on Cleo is one of my favorite spoofs. The Villain is a little too cartoon-y for my taste, but if you like humor that includes sound effects, sped up film, and lots of over-acting, you might find it funny. For a funny western, I love Dirty Dingus Magee.

Cactus Jack has all the ingredients for a cool comedy - Hal Needham at the helm, capable actors (Schwarzenegger can be used very effectively in comedies), gorgeous settings, fun costumes and a nice soundtrack - but after an OK start things get more and more repetitive, predictable and, simply, tedious.The idea of doing a real-life version of a LooneyTunes cartoon is interesting, and Kirk Douglas really tried to breathe some life into his Wile E Coyote, but the dynamic and rhythm are way off - most gags last about five times as long as in the cartoon if not longer - and stretching such a 7 minute cartoon to feature length without adding anything at least resembling a decent story or interesting characters makes Cactus Jack nearly painful to watch.

I had many laughs while watching this movie, and if you come to it expecting a comedy you will laugh too.Very mild spoilers but not enough to ruin the movie for you.Just think of it as a grown up, live action version of Wile E. Coyote and the roadrunner. The gags are hilarious.It helps if you already know the actors from other serious movies they did prior. To see them cutting up and saying oddball comments is really funny. This is Arnie Schwarzenegger's first film.I have to salute Kirk Douglas for being willing to land in the dirt, slide down the road eating dust by the ton and take a dunking in the river just for laughs. I don't remember how many times he got dirty in the making of this movie but I bet he had a riot of a time doing it.He had that goofy, ridiculous grin on his face every time he pulled one of his pranks, and of course they all failed. He was a hoot to watch.I had rented this movie a couple years ago and thought it was great. A few days ago I got lucky and found a new DVD at Shopko for a mere $10. I watched it twice in the first four days.There are so many sneaky little jokes that you won't catch them all with the first viewing. And watch the signs too, they sometimes have trick or joke messages.This is one of those movies that many people can watch again and again without growing tired of it.Little things like the train that pulls into the station is different than the one the people boarded and the chief rides a huge plow horse while his second in command rides a little donkey are among the subtle jokes.Cactus Jacks' horse has some great gags too. That is one smart horsey, you'll see. Fact is, I think it is smarter than Jack.Arnold plays a naive character who makes you groan and laugh at the same time, while Ann Margret is just gorgeous and she appears to be having great fun in this movie.There is some breathtaking scenery of wide open spaces that remind me of Utah.Overall good fun. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

This movie is following Cactus jack with his horse on the y0urney for getting rich on a way or another. You can even see the black horse going for toilet! Was hilarious whole movie except on some parts, like Arnold didn't understand the meaning of nest and was always going away when the woman offered some... And cactus jack scored it on the end, that's so wrong!!Pros are: 1.Reminded a lot from Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons. 2.Was fun, makes you laugh on every moment. 3.Krik at least got some pig's ass on the halfway. 4.Horse was funny. 5.It has Arnold.Cons are: 1.Arnold didn't want any nest, although the woman wanted his stick of wood very VERY, i mean VERY VERY much. 2.Arnold lost the "competition" in the end. "WHAT THE F*** DID I DO WRONG!?"Well after all the drawbacks, only 9/10 because no nests in this one..