Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

wes-connors "Hearts of the West" opens by suggesting Iowan "farm boy" Jeff Bridges (as Lewis Tater) wants to be a Hollywood western star, then he tells his family he's going to a Nevada writers' correspondence school. He wants to be another Zane Grey. The "University of Titan" turns out to be a scam, and Mr. Bridges quickly lands in Los Angeles. He gets extra work and a shot at movie stardom after washing dishes. Helping out and sometimes not, is "B western" player Andy Griffith (as Howard Pike). Providing feminine companionship is script girl Blythe Danner (as Miss Trout). Others characters come and go...Bridges is convincing as an early talking pictures western actor; however he combs his hair, it looks terrific. The film benefits from familiar character actors. Winning the "New York Film Critics" supporting actor award for the year is "director" Alan Arkin (as Bert Kessler). A wall advertisement next to the "Rio Cafe" heralds Garbo Talks! in "Anna Christie" (1930), though MGM would have more likely painted it for a 1960s reissue. The setting can be taken right up to the "present" 1970s black-and-red typewriter ribbon Bridges uses. He smartly switches to an all-black ribbon for a letter dated "August 4, 1933".***** Hearts of the West (10/4/75) Howard Zieff ~ Jeff Bridges, Andy Griffith, Blythe Danner, Alan Arkin

jbacks3 The mid-70's saw a misguided false nostalgia for early Hollywood. I'd like to think it was on account of the last few octogenarian (and up) moguls dying off (Samuel Goldwyn died at 94 in '74, Jack L. Warner passed in the fall of '78 at 86, Darryl F. Zanuck, ill with Alzheimer's, dying in '79) and that the younger turks sensed something. Unfortunately what spewed forth was mostly crap: Gable and Lombard, W.C. Fields and Me, the dull interpretations of The Great Gatsby, The Last Tycoon, and the cinematic nadir: Won Ton Ton the Dog that Saved Hollywood... a film so utterly awful that they must've thought Rin Tin Tin would sue. Nickelodeon belongs in there somewhere too. But along the way there were a few minor gems, namely, underrated The Day of the Locust (particularly for Burgess Meredith's performance) and Hearts of the West, which I saw in a theater in Portland it's brief release. I don't think it rated a week's screen time. Inarguably, the plot's thin stuff, but Jeff Bridges' Lewis Tater ranks as his best pre-Starman turn as an actor. He took naiveté to an entirely new plateau. Andy Griffith delivers a nice performance as an amiable, if duplicitous character actor who's descended into a life in poverty row oaters. The then-50-year old Griffith had just recovered from a serious medical condition and hadn't been seen in a feature film since a 1969 flop, Angel in My Pocket. Griffith here is far, far removed from anyone's image of Sheriff Andy Taylor. The supporting cast is superb, especially Alan Arkin who captures the essential cheapness of a Gower Gulch producer/director... he seems to be based on Mascot's Nat Levine. Don't look for the picture to go much of anywhere, just enjoy the ride. I liken the experience very similar to 1982's Cannery Row; you know you've seen better pictures, but you never somehow enjoyed one more and you don't exactly know why.

dougdoepke What a likable farm galoot Jeff Bridges makes. His Lewis Tater wants to be a Western writer and by golly neither pursuing crooks, nor double-crossing buddies, nor phony correspondence schools are going to stop him. Like his literary alter-ego The Kid, he's just too eager to get discouraged. Across burning deserts and thundering hoofs, he soldiers on toward fame and fortune and Hollywood and Vine.And what a hoot his purple prose is. Like an amiable Walter Mitty, minor events get spun into major events for "The Kid" in such deathless passages as, "Twirling, The Kid fired with all he had into the phantom riders", or " A Colt in either hand, he scattered lead at the retreating dust." What a great sleeper movie this is, thanks to the comical Bridges and some unerring light touches. Take for example the cheap Western they're filming. Catch how a groaning Lewis steps on the big romantic clinch, or how his curtain-chewing death throes put the director (Arkin) into a murderous tizzy. But I especially like that awkward little turn on the sidewalk where he brushes against the potted palm and wins the affection of Miss Trout (Danner).The movie's also a telling look at the making of matinée Westerns, a staple of kids' viewing in the 1930's and 40's. As a former Front Row kid, I viewed those parts with mixed emotions. I guess I still want those guys to be real cowboys and not the shrewd businessmen-actors they likely were.Anyhow, in my little book, this is a little gem from beginning to end, with scarcely a misstep along the way. It never ceases to amaze me that the Hollywood-bred Bridges (his dad was veteran actor Lloyd Bridges) can play such a convincing hayseed, but he can. Speaking of hayseeds, watch for a very unMayberry Andy Griffith, again showing what a fine, versatile actor he is. I'm just sorry this style of clever low-key comedy has given way to today's frantic bathroom kind. Maybe Hollywood needs to hire more Lewis Tater's, after all.

shepardjessica This is one of the best of 1975 without a lot of heavy issues. It's about innocence and the American Dream with the perfect guy in the lead - a young Jeff Bridges. Alan Arkin is the perfect uptight East Coast director in Hollywood and the lovely Blythe Danner shows qualities that her daughter became famous for. Zieff's film Slither with James Caan is also very much underrated. Andy Griffith is well-cast for only the second time (A Face in the Crowd being the other) and Donald Pleasance is an added treasure, all too briefly. If you're in a normal mood this is the movie for you. A definite 8 out of 10 and nobody's seen it.