Review of Evil Roy Slade (1972) by Gee T — 03 Apr 2010

John Austin looks like "Adams Family" patriarch Gomez Adams decked out.

From hat to toe in a solid black outfit in director Jerry Paris'.

Made-for-television western farce "Evil Roy Slade" as the eponymous.

Desperado who struggles to go straight after he falls in love with a.

Beautiful woman of virtue. Writers Jerry Belson and "Pretty Woman's".

Garry Marshall manage to contrive some amusing situations with.

Shameless gags. Everything in "Evil Roy Slade," however, isn't always.

Shameless. Nevertheless, you suspect these tongue-in-cheek scribes must have been searching something different when they promoted the villain to the status of the hero. Austin is in top-form as the dastardly outlaw. Comedian Dick Shawn cuts a quite figure as Marshal Bing Bell, a singing cowpoke with a guitar that conceals a rifle with which he is an.

Excellent marksman. Bing dangles a tiny bell from his right earlobe.

The running gag is that whenever anybody says Bing Bell, the other.

Person mistakenly thinks that they are referring to the chimes of a.

Door bell. No, it's not as hilarious as the old lady's name, Frau.

Blücher, in "Young Frankenstein," but Belson and Marshall deserve.

Credit for a full-fledged effort. By this time, television had gotten.

Around to acknowledging the presence of gay men, and the characters.

Here make two references to them as "funny boys." Although this goofy,.

Lowbrow western is predictable, "Evil Roy Slade" has its side-splitting.

Seconds.

Evil Roy Slade (John Austin of "The Adams Family") and his ruffians are.

Robbing a bank when our anti-heroic hero encounters beautiful Betsy.

Potter (Pamela Austin of "Rome Adventure") and plants a big wet one on.

Her moist, pretty lips. Suddenly, everything changes for Roy. Roy wants.

Betsy almost as much as he embraces evil. Roy and his gang set out to.

Rob the stagecoach, and Flossie (Edie Adams of "The Apartment") turns.

Informant when he ditches her to conclude his career as an outlaw. Roy.

And company discover her treachery when they try to rob a stagecoach.

Jammed with an army of lawmen, including midgets on the roof. One of.

These tykes, (Billy Curtis of "High Plains Drifter") springs out of a.

Box to tackle Roy. The posse captures Roy, locks him up, and the court.

Sentences him to swing. Beleaguered railroad president Nelson Stool.

(Mike Rooney of "The Secret Invasion"), who Roy and his gang have been.

Preying on mercilessly for years, leaves his drooling bulldog to guard.

Roy as well as his incompetent relative, Clifford Stool (Henry Gibson.

Of "The Long Goodbye"). Stool has tied Roy's hands behind his back so.

That Roy cannot escape. Shrewdly, Roy plays of the hunger of the.

Starving dog, drenches his bonds with gravy, and the dog gnaws through.

Them and Roy escapes. Eventually, Roy succumbs to Betsy's charms and.

They move to Boston where he visit a shrink Logan Delp (Dom DeLuise of.

"Blazing Saddles") and can walk around without his hardware. Roy ends.

Up selling shoes for Uncle Harry Fern (Milton Berle of "Whispering.

Ghosts") and becomes rather adept at it. Temptation overwhelms our.

Protagonist when Harry entrusts Roy with lugging two bulging bags of.

Currency to the Boston Bank. Roy delivers the loot but then purloins.

The bank guard's revolver and holds up the bank. The front page.

Newspaper story reveals that Roy is heading back east. The elder Stool.

Finally persuades Marshal Bell to intervene.

Some of the priceless gags occur when Roy strolls up the street in a.

Western town during an early scene. He triggers shots into the ground.

At the toes of an invalid (Leonard Barr of "Diamonds Are Forever")whose.

Legs are encased in plaster and relies on crutches to walk. Roy takes.

An elderly woman's shawl from her shoulders as she is poised to cross a.

Muddy street and lays the shawl on the muddy spot. Instead of waiting.

For the old woman to lead off, Roy tramps on it as he goes his merry.

Way. A woman sitting on a horse extends her hand so that Roy may help.

Her descend from the steed. Instead, Roy pulls her off the pony and.

Appropriates it for himself. At one point, when he announces his.

Impending retirement from the gang, Roy passes out autographed wantedposters of himself. Happily, "Evil Roy Slade" makes the grade, especially with its big finale in the church at Betsy's wedding where everybody winds up brandishing a six-gun. John Austin radiates evil like the dastard that he plays would and Dick Shawn is funny at Bing Bell.