GBW #56: Yee-Ha-Ha (Cat Ballou / Almost Heroes / A Million Ways to Die in the West)

Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Good, The Bad, and The What!? The show in which we discuss three films that we have deemed "good," "bad," or "what!?" within a subgenre, theme, motif, director or actor's filmography, and more! This week, Ryan and Chris dive into the subgenre of western comedies; a formula that's difficult to pull off, but is immensely satisfying when it is. We start with 1965's "Cat Ballou," a fun, somewhat subversive take on the typical revenge western, and a fitting arc regarding Lee Marvin's aging gunslinger (who won an Oscar for the role) was prophetic in regards to what the western genre was to become at the end of the decade. Then, we move into 1998's "Almost Heroes," the type of unequivocal disaster that can only arise from seeing talented, very funny people (in this case both director Christopher Guest and co-lead Chris Farley) thrust into a situation where they just can't make the comedy work. Finally, we discuss 2014's not-great-and-interminably-long-but-funnier-than-you-may-remember "A Million Ways to Die in the West," a film that sports a terrific ensemble who is largely doing very solid work... except for writer/director/producer Seth MacFarlane, who to the detriment of what works well in the film unwisely cast himself in the lead. You can find this and future episodes on our website thegoodbadwhat.com. You can subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Anchor.fm, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and more! Feel free to email us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments, or just want to say hello. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram @thegoodbadwhat. You can also like us on Facebook. Our logo comes from Michelle Parkos, and our theme music comes from Paco.