Goin' South

For the French film, see Going South.
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
Music by Perry Botkin, Jr.
Van Dyke Parks
Cinematography Néstor Almendros
Edited by John Fitzgerald Beck
Richard Chew
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
 October 6, 1978 (1978-10-06)
Running time
 105 min. / USA:109 min. (DVD version)
Country United States
Language English
Box office $7,435,671 (USA)

Goin' South is a 1978 American western-comedy film, directed by and starring Jack Nicholson, with Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi, Richard Bradford, Veronica Cartwright, Danny DeVito and Ed Begley, Jr.

Plot

Henry Lloyd Moon (Nicholson) is a third-rate outlaw in the late 1860s; a convicted bank robber, horse thief and cattle thief. He is sentenced to be hanged in Longhorn, Texas, to the glee of the locals who gather to watch his execution. A local ordinance dictates that a man condemned of any crime other than murder may be freed, if a lady will marry him and take responsibility for his good behavior. Well aware of the ordinance, many of the townswomen scrutinize Moon as he mounts the gallows.

An elderly woman offers to marry him, but dies on the spot immediately. As Moon is dragged back to the gallows, Julia Tate (Steenburgen)—a headstrong, genteel Southern virgin—agrees to marry and take charge of him. She weds Moon, intending only to use him as labor in a secret gold mine under her property. This evolves into a shaky partnership as he gains her trust, then develops into much more.

The local sheriff's deputy (Lloyd) repeatedly accuses Moon of stealing "his" girl, although there is no evidence that Julia ever had any interest in the deputy, and it was she who offered marriage to Moon. Moon's old gang complicates matters when they arrive at Julia's home and introduce the teetotalling Julia to intoxicating beverages. They discover that Julia and Moon are successfully mining gold. Moon schemes to betray Julia and steal the gold, but a cave-in at the mine changes the nature of their relationship.

Cast

Production and trivia

The film was co-written by John Herman Shaner and produced by Harry Gittes, both longtime friends of Jack Nicholson from his early days in Hollywood.

It is the film debut of Mary Steenburgen, who had been a waitress in New York hoping to break into acting and after being turned down repeatedly for film roles; it launched her career in Hollywood. Christopher Lloyd, who worked with Nicholson on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, plays Deputy Towfield. Lloyd and Steenburgen reunited 12 years later as love interests in another western-comedy, Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future, Part III.

This was John Belushi's second film after having been a Saturday Night Live cast member for several years. This film was shot and released after National Lampoon's Animal House in July 1978.

It was the second of three films directed by Nicholson, the first was 1971's Drive, He Said and the third was the Chinatown sequel The Two Jakes, released in 1990. This marks the first film in which Nicholson appears as the primary actor while directing. He does not appear in Drive, He Said, but did star in and direct The Two Jakes.

DeVito and Nicholson were childhood friends. In 1992, DeVito directed and co-starred with Nicholson in his biopic film Hoffa. They also acted together in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Terms of Endearment and Mars Attacks!. Each played a villain in director Tim Burton's Batman films: Nicholson played the Joker in the 1989 film, while DeVito played the Penguin in 1992's Batman Returns.

As the film begins, the Paramount logo sequence plays in reverse.

Reception

It was not a hit upon release in 1978 with critics or audiences. It currently holds a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

References

    External links

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