Jeff Bridges' Western Comedy Streaming For Free On Tubi Is A Hidden Gem From The '70s

In 1975, a 25-year-old Jeff Bridges starred opposite Sam Waterston in a comedy neo-Western that wasn't a hit upon its debut but has since earned some solid retrospective reviews. It's also kind of a cool watch if only to see what was happening with the Western in the mid-70s. Luckily, you can now stream the movie free on Tubi.

The 1970s has to be one of the most fascinating times for the Western genre. This was the decade when sci-fi became the new fascination, and Old West adventures quickly became old hat. As a result, the genre transmogrified in often strange and bizarre ways in what was the cultural equivalent of Robert Patrick's T-1000 desperately cycling through its various forms as it writhes in the molten steel pit at the end of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." Indeed, the '70s saw all sorts of contortions as the old fashioned oater endured its protracted death, ultimately culminating in the actual 1979 death of John Wayne, a true icon of the genre itself.

Though the Western died in the '70s, it has continued to sputter along. Even the last decade has seen some great Westerns released, including the "True Grit" remake that starred Bridges as Marshall Rooster Cogburn — the U.S. Marshal played by Wayne himself in the 1969 original. Back when the Duke was winning Oscars for that celebrated Western, however, Bridges was a young up-and-comer who starred in a comedy neo-Western that was everything Wayne's film wasn't — and not just in terms of its tone and setting. "Rancho Deluxe" wasn't well received upon its 1975 release, but it has since earned positive enough reviews. So, let's head back to the mid-'70s to see what was happening with the Western by way of Bridges' forgotten comedy.

"Rancho Deluxe" is directed by Frank Perry and written by novelist Thomas McGuane. It stars Bridges and Sam Waterston as Jack McKee and Cecil Colson, respectively, two cattle rustlers who delight in pillaging the cattle of ranch owner John Brown (Clifton James). Set in modern-day Montana, the film sees Jack and Cecil kidnap Brown's prize bull, prompting the rancher to dispatch his inept ranch hands Curt and Burt (Harry Dean Stanton and Richard Bright). After they fail to capture the rustlers, Brown turns to former rustler-turned-detective Henry Beige (Slim Pickens). Unfortunately, he turns out to be about as useful as Curt and Burt in finding the culprits.

"Rancho Deluxe" is worth revisiting simply as a forgotten curio that doesn't seem to know exactly what it is and, as such, seems to represent so much of the confusion surrounding the Western genre at the time. When the film debuted, John Travolta's now forgotten contemporary Western "Urban Cowboy" was yet to bring Country and Western culture to the masses in a newly-commercialized form, and audiences weren't exactly clamoring for oaters in the wake of Clint Eastwood's 1971 debut as "Dirty Harry" Callahan. Though Disney's comedy Western "The Apple Dumpling Gang" was a box office hit in 1975, the top 10 highest-grossers of the year list was made up of grittier fare such as the Al Pacino crime drama "Dog Day Afternoon" and Robert Redford spy thriller "Three Days of the Condor." Meanwhile, the New Hollywood movement had produced the first ever blockbuster in "Jaws" and "Star Wars" was just two years away. Even at the time, then, "Rancho Deluxe" just sort of didn't fit anywhere, and critics certainly thought as much.

"Rancho Deluxe" isn't one of the best Westerns of all time, but it wasn't trying to be. The film belongs to an era when nobody was really sure what to do with the Western, and it's a truly strange movie watched in hindsight. It seems to have wanted to play up the fact that the Western genre was dying by mining a once-beloved film style for laughs. But it doesn't go all that hard on the parody and jokes. Rather than serving as an effective parody, the comedy element ends up feeling more confusing than anything else, especially since it's hard to tell what the joke is most of the time.

Roger Ebert certainly struggled in that regard, writing in his review of "Rancho Deluxe" that the question of "whether Perry intended his film to be a comedy" was distracting as "the ads suggest that he did, and yet Tom McGuane's screenplay just doesn't have any laughs in it." A more balanced but ultimately negative review came from the New York Times' Richard Eder, who described the film as a "parody Western" that attempts to say something about how "the West is dead and inhabited by maggots," even if it fails to do much with that message. Still, the movie has its fans, as evidenced by its 62% Rotten Tomatoes score and multiple positive takes on Letterboxd (where viewers praised its "quirky charm" and "hangout vibe").

Watched today, "Rancho Deluxe" feels like it had more to say about the waning popularity of the Western but wasn't quite sure how to say it. That alone makes it interesting to watch, which you can now do for free on Tubi, one of the best streaming services currently out there.