User reviews

Absurd. That is the only descriptor one can put on "Run Home, Slow". Written by English teacher Don Cerveris, this Z grade western is best known for the appearance of lead actress Mercedes McCambridge and the soundtrack by then 23 year old Frank Zappa.

After the hanging of the family patriarch, the remaining members of the Hagen Family rob a bank and murder the man who led the posse. Ritt, or is it Rip?, Hagen (Gary Kent), the brain trust of the family, is shot during the murder and the family try to getaway to Mexico. I would say the escape doesn't go as planned, but they don't seem to have one. Older sister Nell (McCambridge) takes over and leads Ritt, mentally deficient hunchback brother Kirby (Allen Richards) and Ritt's also mentally deficient wife (Linda Gay Scott, doing her best Barbra from "Night Of The Living Dead, several years before that film) into the desert where they receive their comeuppance.

The acting ranges overall from almost decent (Kent, who only really acts during the last ten minutes of the film) to ridiculously over the top (Scott and Richards) to simply puzzling. McCambridge bites some good chunks out of the scenery and channels that famous Demon she played in "The Exorcist" - with a bow-legged walk that has to be seen to be believed - while Scott and Richards chew through it so thoroughly that one could use it to make paper for a much better script.

As something of a connoisseur of bad films I can tell you this one ranks right up there with "Manos-The Hands Of Fate". This film, unlike "Manos", at least moves forward in something close to a narrative way. The thing that sets this apart from "Manos" and other Grade Z films is the Zappa score. The music really helps to move the film along and shows that Zappa could have made a career in film scoring had that been his wish. Several themes that would show themselves in his later work have their debut here. I gave the film a 6: One star for the film, five stars for the score.

During the film there is one standout bit of cinematography. A quick shot from below of hunchback Kirby crying, while his tears drip onto the lens, could come from a European art film. Otherwise the photography is from the "Point the camera at the actors and let it run" school. Which makes the crying scene jump out in a very surprising way.

Worst I've ever seen? No, I've got to give that nod to other films. But this is definitely the worst film I can recall seeing with an actor of any note. Seriously, did McCambridge have a loan shark threatening to break her legs? That's the only reason I can think of for her to take this gig. I can understand her appearance in "Johnny Guitar", another rotten western, because that allowed her to work with Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden but "Run"? I'll never get it.

This film, and Zappa's score, is summed up best by the title of this review which is a line from the script, "Listen to the moonlight, bouncing off a rotten carcass". Bad film fans, and Zappa geeks, will find quite a bit to like. Others should probably stay clear, if only for their own sanity.

What a pity the Dutch broadcasting services have neglected the Don Cerveris oeuvre somewhat recently: I haven't been able to watch Run Home Slow not even once in the Netherlands the past 40 odd years. I wonder why. Of course the picture is memorable (only?) for the famous score by my idol (since 1968) Frank Zappa. In the liner notes with the album Mystery Disc (Ryko RCD 10580) FZ explains how the score boosted his musical career: "Run Home Slow was a low budget Western produced by Tim Sullivan, starring Mercedes McCambridge, written by my friend and high school English teacher, Don Cerveris. I wrote the music for it. The money from this job was used to buy an electric guitar and the Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga. Pal was re-named 'Studio Z'." And on the track 'Original Duke of Prunes': "This music is also part of the Run Home Slow score. In this scene, a nymphomaniac cowgirl is getting "plooked" by a hunchback, next to the rotting carcass of a former donkey. Really."

I watched this movie only to hear the Zappa score, which was very effective. Even if Zappa (and everyone else involved) were a complete unknown who had done nothing else, I still would have found the score interesting.

Incredibly enough, though, there were moments when I completely forgot that Zappa was the only reason I was watching the movie and became interested for other reasons. The basic concept was fine, and the script seemed serviceable.

What sank the movie was Richards (in his only credited role) and to a somewhat lesser extent Scott. Most of the movie consists of those two with McCambridge. If their roles had only been acted better, the movie as a whole would be a respectable example of what can be done on a low budget. Instead, their cartoonish performances made it impossible to take the movie as seriously as it could have been.

This is such a memorable film to me personally that I had a hard time deciding whether to give it a 1 or a 10. My college roommates and I found this masterpiece playing in a third rate downtown movie house in Philadelphia after a night of underage drinking sometime in 1967 or '68. (Relax. We used the subway; none of us had cars.) Running out of places that would serve us, we staggered into the theater, paying well under a dollar apiece. None of us knew who Mercedes McCambridge was, except that she sounded like someone who was once important. After seeing this film, Ms. McCambridge, became the butt of our there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I jokes for years. I have since developed a real admiration for the actress, but the instant I hear her name or see her on film, the first thing I think of is "Run Home Slow". Message to my children: first impressions count!

I finally found a DVD bootleg of this movie. I have been trying to see it for 40 years. Of course the version I found looks like it was struck from a third generation VHS copy but it is watchable and uncut. First and foremost the soundtrack is remarkable. Those familiar with Frank Zappa's early work will love it. It runs under most of the dialog and is highlighted in several areas. Mercedes McCambridge gives an A+ performance and is the lone talent in the cast. The screenplay is amateurish but honest. I particularly liked a scene where Mercedes states that "there ain't no blood on my hands" and continues in the same vein for about a minute. After her brother says, "No blood on YOUR hands" she repeats the exact same piece of dialog she just recited, word for word. Technically this is a much better film than several of Warhol, Waters and Wood's early works. The scenes are well thought out, framed and shot well. The audio is also of professional quality. I hope somebody obtains the rights to this film and gets a pristine version out on the market. The budget is nil but the actors all seem sincere and committed. This film deserves to be seen.

under the right circumstances this movie is what epitomizes not a B but a C movie and sometimes you just have to appreciate that style. having seen it once at 3 in the morning while doing what graduate students do at 3 in the morning I was amazed at how bad the dialog was (MST3K material if I ever heard it) and the plot line was so bizarre it reminded me of Blazing Saddles without the great actors and without the slapstick. I recall a scene where the hunchback was making love to the mentally retarded girl in the chicken coop. not only do I recall an early version of Duke of Prunes by Frank Zappa (I swear it was during the above referenced scene,) but also some of Peaches en Regalia also. it would probably make a good black and white Saturday morning recovering from a hangover movie. coffee and the frequent, unintentionally funny scenes.

This cheesy western is worth seeing, if only for Frank Zappa's music alone (Which including an early version of one of his best-known songs, "Duke Of Prunes")! So, forget the plot, and enjoy the music!!!

This is very far from a run-of-the-mill Western. With Frank Zappa's strange, disturbing score and Mercedes McCambridge putting in an intense performance, it's one of those bleak, existential Westerns that can grab you if you're ready to overlook the obviously limited budget. It's certainly way, way more interesting than I was expecting from some of the other dismissive reviews - I just wish there was a better quality print available, as the one I saw was clearly derived from a VHS tape, which made detail in the many nighttime scenes hard to make out. In the unlikely event that this ever gets a decent restoration I'd gladly snap it up.