| Goin' South | |
|---|---|
original film poster |
|
| Directed by | Jack Nicholson |
| Produced by | Harry Gittes Harold Schneider |
| Written by | John Herman Shaner Al Ramrus Charles Shyer Alan Mandel |
| Starring | Jack Nicholson Mary Steenburgen Christopher Lloyd John Belushi |
| Editing by | Richard Chew |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 6, 1978 |
| Running time | 105 min. / USA:109 min. (DVD version) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Goin' South is an American western-comedy film, directed by and starring Jack Nicholson. The 1978 film also starred Mary Steenburgen in her movie debut and included Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi (also in his movie debut), Richard Bradford, Veronica Cartwright, Danny DeVito and Ed Begley, Jr.
At the beginning, the Paramount logo sequence plays in reverse.
Henry Lloyd Moon (Nicholson), a third-rate outlaw in the late 1860s, is a bank-robber, horse thief and cattle thief who is due to be hanged in Longhorn, Texas to the great glee of the local populace and especially of the deputy sheriff, played with vengeance by Christopher Lloyd. Moon comes under especially close scrutiny from some women in the town, which turns out to be because of a local ordinance, dating back to Civil War days, that allowed a condemned man (short of being a murderer) to be saved from the gallows if an unmarried lady would agree to marry him and be responsible for his good behaviour.
Moon is saved from hanging by the intervention of a lovely young woman who agrees to marry and take charge of him. Julia Tate (Steenburgen), the headstrong but genteel Southern virgin who weds Moon, initially only wants him to help her work the gold mine she insists is on her property; but their shaky partnership soon evolves into much more.
The deputy sheriff particularly hates Moon for marrying "his" girl, although there is no evidence that she has ever been interested in him. Moon's old gang of outlaws complicate matters at Moon's home when they show up, introduce Julia, Moon's wife, to intoxicating beverage, and later discover that there actually IS gold on the property, a fact that Mr. Moon was trying to conceal from his erstwhile colleagues.
The film was not well-received by critics or moviegoers. However, it currently holds a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes
The film was co-written by John Herman Shaner and produced by Harry Gittes, both longtime friends of Jack from his early days in Hollywood.