The Good, The Bad, and the Fred

Fred Olen Ray has been making zero budget films for a very long time. A veeerrrry long time. So long that when he had to do nude scenes he had to convince the actress to take the fig leaf off. I think I paint the picture here rather well. Were they good movies? Well, no. Some were decent, some were campy, and there was more than a few that were god awful abominations that only left the taste of burning tar on your tongue and tears in your eye. But I forgive him these trespasses, afterall you go to see "Soriety Babes in the Slime Bowlerama" with lowered expectations.

The point here, is Fred is a survivor. He's been there, done that, and now has a closet full of t shirts. He knows the ropes, hell he's fricking braided the damn ropes. So all you Ole Bolls out there should watch a few of Fred's films and see how things are done. Just because you have a spit and shine for budget doesn't mean you can't do SOMETHING with it.

Now we have American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James. I would put this up to the big budget snooze fest "Jesse James blah blah blah" that came out to be two years back. Is it historically accurate, um no. Is it wall to wall action? No. But it does not embarrass itself. It is a competent western that could have been made in the forties.

Probably was.

Also, I would be remiss not to point out that it has Peter Fonda and Jeffrey Combes in nice little bit parts. Each has their little moment of shine, and they earned their checks boys. Though, in a Fred film it's probably beer money. Also, I loved that they did not use CGI gun fire. I think I've mentioned this has become one of my personal bugaboos in low budget film. Say what you will nothing beats the analog of a good blank.

Good work, Fred.