chaos-rampant
This is goofy and weird but a bit less so once you know what it is. It's part of a French omnibus program about France seen through the eyes of foreigners. Lynch was commissioned among others. The original has now faded from view as these things tend to, the short has carried on as part of Lynch's catalogue. So that's how we ended up having a western short with a Frenchman by him.The first part is the work he turned out. A bumbling Frenchman arrives in a ranch, seemingly spat out by the bush. Ranch-hands take out bagels from his oversized suitcase, Eiffel tower miniatures, snails, everything that is meant to be weird and stereotypically French from the American view. The cowboys have no idea what kind of 'thang' he is, perhaps a spy, but are finally elated to find out he's French.It's Lynch lampooning his own cultural removal as a country boy from Montana, certainly not mocking America. Harry Stanton as the overseer has a hearing problem and repeats questions; Lynch would write the same quirk into the character he would reserve for himself in Twin Peaks.This part is some of the funniest work he has done, a hoot of deadpan delivery.The second part is Lynch indulging his love for weirdly incongruous performance, the scrapyard theatrics he fills both his actual films with and now then has fun with in side projects. We have singing and dancing, French and American form melting into each other, a horse in slow motion. Less interesting.
Polaris_DiB
More like three, you have to count the Indian.Okay.This film is hilarious. David Lynch, always having the serious work he does with the dirty, bizarre worlds and the disturbing, psychological characters, mixes it up a bit with The Cowboy and the Frenchman, a tale (that doesn't really make sense, as per his usual work) about a bunch of cowboys who find a Frenchman and befriend him. The culture clash is more than one can handle, what with the mix of music, stereotype ("Damn, what's that? Damn, what's that? Damn, what's that? Damn, what's that? Damn, what's that?"), and caricature.In fact, the entire strength of this short rests on the moment the two underlings open up the Frenchman's case and start pulling out his "affairs", all of them stereotypical things Americans think the French are obsessed with but which are really just things they happen to have a lot of in their culture (the French equivalent would be opening up an American's suitcase and finding a pile of hamburgers and televisions).Not to say the cowboys don't get their collection of satire, what with shooting random animals, being absolutely stupid, and never understanding anything.It's piercingly funny, even if it is about five minutes too long and isn't really that much of a work of art as much as just a silly exposition.--PolarisDiB
sagerae
This is the funniest thing that I have ever seen. Seriously. The absurdity of the entire thing is hilarious - I love Harry Dean Stanton's "What the hell?" that is repeated SO many times.The plot: Cowboy meets Frenchman and they become quick friends. This film is one that everybody can appreciate.
Corndog101
This movie should be used at film schools across the world as an example of the Art of Filmmaking. This Lynch original keeps with the consistency of his other amazing contributions to the world of Entertainment.David Lynch is a gift to the vast world of story telling and will surely be looked up to by newer generations of entertainers and artists. The cast deserves a round of applause as well. Harry Dean-Stanton is a true professional. Even if you're not into Lynch styled movies, you will be highly entertained by this film.
AD
