The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday

The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday
Directed byDon Taylor
Written byRichard Alan Shapiro
Produced byJules Buck[1]
StarringLee Marvin
Oliver Reed
Robert Culp
Elizabeth Ashley
Strother Martin
Sylvia Miles
Kay Lenz
Music byJohn Cameron
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures
Release date
  • June 23, 1976 (1976-06-23)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3.6 million[2]

The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday is a 1976 comedy western film directed by Don Taylor starring Lee Marvin, Oliver Reed, Robert Culp, Elizabeth Ashley, Strother Martin, Sylvia Miles, and Kay Lenz.[3]

Plot

In Serendipity, Colorado,[4] before the 1908 United States presidential election,[5] Sam Longwood, a frontiersman who has seen better days, has finally found after 15 years his ex-business partner Jack Colby, who ran off with all the gold from a mine they were prospecting, and also with the love of his life, Nancy Sue. Sam, along with his two other partners, Indian Joe Knox and Billy, along the way pick up a young prostitute nicknamed Thursday. Getting their money is not going to be as easy as they think.[6]

The trio decide to kidnap Nancy Sue and try to get some ransom money for her return to Jack, but Jack doesn't want her back, and Thursday is cozying up with Sam when he starts to take a shine to her after they spend one night together, now torn between Nancy Sue and Thursday. The gang asks Thursday to go into town and prostitute herself so they can buy supplies and although her feelings are hurt she does. In town she sees a man and starts to charm him and he invites her to his hotel room. After they settle on a price but before they can start he's called from the room. Alone, Thursday starts going through his things and discovers that he is Jack Colby and she takes his money, leaving an IOU signed in Nancy Sue's name. In the morning she returns with all the supplies and horses to the gang's hideout.

Cast

Filming

Shooting took place in Durango,[12] Mexico over a 12-week period in late 1974 and early 1975.[13][14]

Richard Alan Shapiro wrote the novelization.[15][16]

Reception

Radio Times: "worth watching to witness the battle of wills between Lee Marvin and Oliver Reed, in which the former strains every sinew to stop himself lapsing into caricatured mugging, while the latter tempts him to stray with an exhibition of unabashed showboating"[17]

Dana Jung: "Beginning as an Old West tale of revenge, then sidestepping into bawdy slapstick, and ending as a caper film, the movie is at heart a simple romance that exemplifies the story’s themes of the old guard meeting the new age."[18]

Justin Mory: "The glaring problem with Scout/Thursday is that we as a culture have moved on since 1976, and the production’s edgy R-rated appeal for contemporary audiences will be entirely lost for audiences of today .... What was daringly ‘light and frothy’ for some audiences in the mid-70s has certainly become problematic in the intervening years.[19]

Tom Seltzer, Columbia Missourian: "refreshing, though, in that it does not attempt any deep social meaning. It is light and amusing, and the audience seemed to enjoy it."[20]

References

  1. ^ "Obituary: Jules Buck". the Guardian. 24 July 2001. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  2. ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 300. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
  3. ^ Paul Brenner (2010). "The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 2010-06-30.
  4. ^ Segedy, Robert (28 October 2018). "The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday [Blu-ray] Blu-ray A - America - Kino Lorber". dvdcompare.net. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  5. ^ "The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday Blu-ray". dvd beaver. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  6. ^ "The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976)". The A.V. Club. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  7. ^ Epstein, Dwayne (2013). Lee Marvin: Point Blank. Tucson, Arizona: Schaffner Press. ISBN 978-1-93618-240-4.
  8. ^ Epstein, Dwayne. "Lee Marvin: The Mind Behind the Muscle". Retrieved 2007-08-09. Outre (US), 1996, Vol. 1, Iss. 6, pg. 63-66, 86 [dead link‍]
  9. ^ "Lee Marvin Cathouse". Getty Images. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Kay Lenz Cathouse". Getty Images. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  11. ^ "Scout Cathouse Thursday". Getty Images. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  12. ^ Ward, Robert (3 January 2015). "The Story Behind Lee Marvin's Liberty Valance Smile". Daily Beast. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  13. ^ Goodwin, Cliff Evil Spirits: The Life of Oliver Reed, London: Virgin Publishing Ltd, 2000
  14. ^ Kleiner, Dick. "Lee Marvin talks of one more good movie". The Daily Tribune from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin on August 19, 1976 · Page 43 via Newspapers.com. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  15. ^ Epstein, Dwayne (3 October 2018). "GREAT SCOUT & CATHOUSE THURSDAY COMES TO BLU-RAY". Lee Marvin: Point Blank Biography by Dwayne Epstein. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  16. ^ "Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday Archives". Lee Marvin: Point Blank Biography by Dwayne Epstein. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  17. ^ "The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976)". Radio Times. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  18. ^ "NOT Available on DVD: GREAT SCOUT AND CATHOUSE THURSDAY". We Are Movie Geeks. 9 February 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  19. ^ Mory, Justin (October 3, 2018). "The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976) – Blu-ray Review". ZekeFilm. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  20. ^ "MISSOURIAN, Sun., Sept. 26, 1976 Page 13A". mdh.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved 12 June 2022.