Genres:
Comedy
Western
Romance
Release Date: 01/08/2008
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 97 min
Distributor/Studio: Timeless Media
Overlooked when it first aired February 18, 1972, the made-for-TV
Evil Roy Slade has gained a loyal and protective cult following in the past 20 years. The film was the second pilot for a never-sold TV western spoof created by
Garry Marshall and
Jerry Belson,
Sheriff Who?. Actually, it was the second
and third pilot, since
Evil Roy Slade has been cobbled together from two hour-long films.
John Astin is terrific in the title role, playing an outlaw so repulsive that, when he was orphaned and left stranded in the desert as a baby, even the wolves didn't want him! As an adult, Evil Roy Slade can't resist "going the extra mile" in his nastiness: while robbing a bank, he stops to pilfer a fountain pen chained to one of the desks, and the next shot shows Slade riding off into the sunset, dragging the desk behind him. Attempting to reform for the sake of pretty schoolmarm Betsy Potter (
Pamela Austin), Slade simply cannot curb his crooked tendencies, so it's up to
Dick Shawn as singing Sheriff Bing Bell ("Will somebody please answer that door?") to bring the criminal to justice.
Shawn previously appeared in the original 1967
Sheriff Who? pilot as the "fastest interior decorator in the West"; in both films, he's almost unbearably funny. The
Marshall/
Belson script is full of hilarious running gags and throwaway jokes. Our favorite bit concerns railroad magnate
Mickey Rooney's legendary stubby index finger: "They still sing about it around campfires at night," claims
Rooney--and indeed, they do. The supporting cast includes such never-fail laughgetters as
Milton Berle,
Henry Gibson,
Dom DeLuise and
Edie Adams; also, keep a lookout for
John Ritter and
Penny Marshall in unbilled bits.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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