I just got me a copy of "Meanwhile, back at the Ranch". I've always dismissed it as "one of the movies made after JW's death", so probably not worth to take a look. I was wrong. If you liked Steve Martin's "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", you'll certainly eat this one up. They put together junks of dozens of B-Westerns, starring Johnny Mack Brown, Roy Rogers, Hoppy, Gene, Gabby Hayes, Ken Maynard, etc. and JW of course (in fragments of Lucky Texan and others), put them together in a new plot, and you have one hell of a fun picture and hommage to all those stalwart Cowboy heroes in white hats! It's not as neatly done as "Dead Men" but very enjoyable anyhow. It also ran in Cannes - yet I guess it didn't win anything.

I heard many years ago that someone was going to do a movie on that order.
Their 'center' so to speak was Gabby Hayes.
They had discovered that Gabby had worked with' most' of the big name cowboys.

I lost track of the movie over the years .....is this the one you are refering to?


Rick

There is no "center" to the story really. But the bits are chosen so good that they come together well. Gabby Hayes is seen appearing with Autry as well as with Rogers. But no one of the heros stands out, they all get about equal screen time - and it's 25 Marshals who come to the rescue!

Thanks.......things seem to fall into place between the two.
It was in the early 80's that I had heard of it, and never heard of a final film.
It was in that it was stated Gabby must have worked with them all.......Hoppy , Roy , Duke , Gene, Randolph Scott etc.
Maybe it became too much splicing, or the pieces didn't fit.

I'll look for it

Rick

To quote our illustrious administrator, Kevin,

"Bump!"

The other night, while looking for something else, I stumbled upon this thread from long ago. The subject, the movie Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch, sounded interesting and fun. That same night, I looked on eBay and Amazon, to no avail.

So I contacted itdo, to see if he might have an idea where I might find a copy. He didn't have any leads, except to suggest that it might possibly come up on eBay periodically. So I tried again tonight, and lo and behold, there was a VHS copy of the movie available on a "Buy It Now" for $14.99 plus tax and shipping (a total of less than $20).

Here's the link -

eBay - Meanwhile Back at the Ranch (http://cgi.ebay.com/MEANWHILE-BACK-AT-THE-RANCH-Roy-Rogers-More_W0QQitemZ6419966136QQcategoryZ309QQssPageName ZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

In his email, itdo indicated that John Wayne doesn't particularly have any outstanding appearances, but we mostly got it because it sounded like a fun Western. Also, we really enjoy Gabby Hayes.

We'll report back to you after we get and watch it (it may take a few weeks, we only paid for shipping by Media Mail, which can be pretty slow).

Chester :newyear:

A few years ago I was going to do a 60 Min. Video Film using Duke's old Films but with a New Story Line but I Chickened out!!! :fear2: I have all of the Video Editing Equipment. B)

But now with this John Wayne 26 Bar Ranch Thing I might try it, and to be Shown only at the Ranch. Any one want to give me some Good ideas on a Story Line? :rolleyes:

Chilibill :cowboy:

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch arrived about a week ago, but we didn't get a chance to watch it until last night.

It has quite lengthy credits at the beginning of the movie, listing all the famous cowboys that make appearances in the film, via a series of clips that are put together to form a fairly loose plot.

As itdo mentioned, John Wayne is seen in a few clips from some of his old westerns, Gabby Hayes is abundant, and there are plenty of shots of many other famous cowboy/actors.

I tried to find a little information on the Internet. The blurb at IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076379/) is almost non-existent. Apparently, the film is available at Movies Unlimited (http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/product.asp?sku=109124++), and the only other thing I could find was regarding the 1977 entry at the Cannes Film Festival (http://www.festival-cannes.fr/films/fiche_film.php?langue=6002&id_film=2089). Even there, it only indicates that it was shown, and doesn't say anything else about it. All that, after going through ten pages on Google - not much more to share with you about the film itself. One interesting thing - the Cannes film site indicates 1977, IMDb says 1997. I didn't watch that closely during the credits to tell you which is correct. Maybe it was made in 1977, but not released widely until 1997?? Don't know. The other thing is that it is categorized as a documentary, narrated by Pat Buttram. Pat Buttram is the narrator, but only in terms of narrating the story from one who was present at the time the story took place, retelling it now. It is definitely NOT a documentary.

On a scale of 1-10, we'd probably give it a 4 or 5. It was fairly imaginative in the way it was put together, but got a little monotonous after awhile, mostly because it was hard to keep track of so many characters (obviously, character development was a little slim). But it was kind of fun seeing all those cowboys.

Chester :newyear: