The Frisco Kid * (1979, Gene Wilder, Harrison Ford) – Classic Movie Review 12,312

The Frisco Kid (1979, Gene Wilder).

‘The greatest cowboy ever to ride into the Wild West. From Poland’

Director Robert Aldrich’s 1979 comedy Western film The Frisco Kid stars the odd couple of Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford.

The Frisco Kid is a really odd choice for a miscast director Aldrich, who is at sea with a Gene Wilder farce about a bumbling Polish rabbi school failure, Avram Belinski (Gene Wilder), chumming up with an outlaw, Tommy Lillard (Harrison Ford), on the way West.

Its only virtues are the star’s brave performance and a few of the support turns.

The Frisco Kid is long, lumpen and rambling – and you would have to like Wilder a heck of a whole lot even to give it a try, though of course that is easy. Ford is wasted. Alas it is no Blazing Saddles. Where was Mel Brooks when he was needed?

The score’s composer Frank DeVol has a cameo as a piano player.

Also in the cast are Ramon Bieri, William Smith, Val Bisoglio, Leo Fuchs, Penny Peyser, George DiCenzo, Penny Peyser, Jack Somack, Beege Barkette, Shay Duffin, Walter Janovitz, Joe Kapp, Clyde Kusatsu, Clifford A Pellow, Vincent Schiavelli, and Allan Rich.

Writers: Michael Elias and Frank Shaw.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,312

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