The Villain (1979) on Netflix
Charming Jones rides west with her inheritance, escorted by the slow-witted Handsome Stranger. Town boss Avery Simpson hires the aging outlaw Cactus Jack Slade to rob them on the trail.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Charming Jones comes to town to collect a large sum of money her father, Parody Jones, has arranged for her, and to carry it home. Her father calls in a life debt from Handsome Stranger, a heroic cowboy who agrees to escort her across the territory. Avery Simpson, the town boss who gave up the money against his will, wants it back, so he conscripts Cactus Jack Slade, an aging outlaw who believes himself the meanest bad man in the west, to ambush the pair on the road. Jack lays his traps with the help of Whiskey, a horse far cleverer than he is, while Charming's advances toward Handsome Stranger meet with indifference.
Cast
- Ray Bickelas Man
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Villain (1979)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Needham described The Villain as a "Road Runner cartoon done with live characters", and several gags are direct homages to the Chuck Jones cartoons, such as the sequence where Cactus Jack Slade, played by Douglas, paints a hole in the side of a mountain, only for the wagon to drive right through it.
- Needham had earlier worked as a stunt double for Douglas on In Harm's Way (1965), The War Wagon (1967) and The Way West (1967), although he received no onscreen credit for any of those jobs.
- In 1982 Needham sued the producers, claiming his company Stuntman Inc. "received different treatment" over equal profit participation with Rastar and Mort Engelberg, asking for $250,000 in damages and an audit of the picture's finances.
- Principal photography began on 16 October 1978 on location in Monument Valley in Utah, with other sites including Magma Mine, Benson, Rio Rico, the Flying V Ranch and the Western set of Old Tucson Studios, outside Tucson, Arizona.
- Paul Lynde, in a cast led by Kirk Douglas, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ann-Margret, made what turned out to be his final film appearance in this picture.
