Review of Zachariah (1971) by Jenna I — 01 Mar 2017

Remember the good old days of traveling rock n roll bandits, metal-playing gun slingers, stripper chautauquas and wise ol' coots that live in mountains and teach you about being zen with nature? ZACHARIAH REMEMBERS.

Honestly, this was better than I expected. Country Joe and the Fish cameos are always welcome, the music in this movie in general is pretty killer and the film itself is actually way more coherent than I anticipated.

Then there's its script, co-written by Firesign Theater... well, somewhere in here is a flat out hilarious screenplay that was unfortunately smothered by bad acting/timing and possibly a director who was too high to notice he was missing the jokes. Like, dude gets a mail order gun, shoots a guy and decides "I can't go home" despite the fact that nobody's looking for him/cares. That in itself is a hilarious concept, but unfortunately it's funnier to write out than to watch. There's a buncha amusing shit, from one lines to chase scenes that don't go anywhere, crazy out of place 60s western outfits, silly sets, and that freaking fiddle player who - had he not been Doug Kershaw and instead cast as a comedian - could have been on par with Monty Python's Brave Sir Robin. Alas! Lost potential. It's THERE, you just gotta kinda autotune the comedy in your head if you really want some laughs.

The second half of the film focuses more heavily on messages of peace and being one with nature (though still includes some amusing dialogue had it only been delivered better). "Do you ever look for your bullets after they've left your gun?" is a great line that sort of sums up the point of the entire silly thing; the folly of man, the importance of finding inner peace vs engaging in competition which will lead you nowhere. It's based on Siddhartha and very much in the same vein as Holy Mountain in that respect, though this came out two years earlier!

This was a fun watch though, I'd recommend it if you're in the mood.