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.
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.
