Something for the weekend. Wandering Star (1969). From the Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood musical, yes, you read that right, Paint Your Wagon (1969). Marvin gives his usual bravura performance although he apparently was drunk through much of the filming. I can almost excuse that, as Marvin gave up the lead role in The Wild Bunch (1969) to star in this. Hearing Marvin and Eastwood sing has almost a car crash attraction to it, although to be fair they are not terrible. The film made money in spite of a bloated almost three hours, a smarmy subject matter and musicals beginning to lose their popularity. A tribute to the star power of Marvin and Eastwood. Eastwood thought the direction of the movie was wretched and his experience on the film spurred his ambition to direct.
Bonus:
One of my favorite bits in the movie is when the preacher orders the bull to begone. It begones, all right, but, since God is not yet finished with the job at hand, that is not the end of the matter. There’s a lesson in there, but I’m still not entirely certain what it is. Maybe something like Dom Deluise’s cri de coer in “The 12 Chairs”, “Lord, why are you so STRICT?!”