MovieChat Forums > Goin' South (1978) Discussion > Why this is my favorite Movie

Why this is my favorite Movie

posted 15 years ago by mwwhitefl
4 replies | jump to latest

I love movies and often I am asked, "What is my favorite Movie". My response is always, " A film you probably have never heard of."

1. It is directed by a legendary actor-Jack Nicholson
2. It is a comedy in the genre of TV's Maverick, a western comedy. Wacky, dry
off the wall, or if you are a chair, on the wall humor.
3. The cross cultural humor is clear and has a message about friends, love,
neighbors, honesty and it is sexy.
4. The actors in this film are of a substantial nature. Nicholson alone is
enough, then adding Belushi, Steenburgen, Begley, Cartwright and Devito and
more.
5. The one liners are ecstatic and worthy of paying close attention.
"Ladies love outlaws like little boys love stray dogs".
"I can do this all night long"
-Just the word "figureen" used in a sentence is classic.
6. The opening scene is a directorial flash of brilliance.
7. Wonder where the antical, impish character of Jack comes from. This is
pure Jack through and through. His facial expessions are worth the film
8. Mary Steenburgen who followed this film with another of my favorites, "Time
after Time", a time thriller about Jack the Ripper, starring Malcolm
McDowell and David Warner (everyone's original Sevius Snape). Mary is
smart but innocent.
9. 1978 was a film year that saw Grease and Animal House and some serious films
stuck right in the end of the disco, nightlife, crazy cocaine 70's. It was
inventive and reminds me of the Roy Huggins tongue in cheek approach to the
western genre.
10. I watch it and enjoy it each time.

[–] koko83 14 years ago

I dont know why i like this film so much, i hired it about 5 years ago and have probably watched it a good 5 times since.

I am a huge Nicholson fan, but I think it is more than that, because Ive watched it more than the shining or cuckoos nest.

I think it has alot to do with the lines and the accents, and also steenburgen is beautiful. I just laugh alot to this movie and always repeat out loud some of the things they say...figureeeeens

[–] Shotgunmessage21 14 years ago

Devito?

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] blooodmobiles 10 years ago

yr not alone. watching this movie for the first time tonight,in 2014, (and i was born in 1972...yeah i remember seeing the video box of this when there were only like 40 movies you could get on VHS...) is a revelation. can't believe this is my first time watching. thanks, *beep* reviews!? it might have been misunderstood then, over-judged perhaps due to Jack's fill in the blanks.. but now it seems like a beautifully odd slice of life from a time that we'll never know anyway.. (not totally unlike the feel and tone of McCabe and Mrs. Miller), maybe everyone in that time was "stupid"/uneduacted and naive, pre internet, etc...relying on our wiles...nothing to entertain us other than unplanned visits from people bearing figurines. i'll never see a character study more weirdly tender than this one between the luminous Steenbergen, and our Jack, who is just perfect here. i've seen maybe 2743879428479 movies in my lifetime, ok? not bragging, i just don'y always proclaim my love my any film as much as i'm doing right now. how quick she is to take him back simply by riding up to her and proclaiming his feeling of loss. i'm not articulating it right. just...an absolute from start to finish. tell me i'm wrong.