I remember this film being made and seeing it, but what a dumb movie!
It was a big deal here in Denver in 1975 when they announced that a big time Hollywood film would be made in the sleepy little mountain town of Central City, about 40 miles up in the mountains from Denver. It was an old mining town that had become run down and was a tourist trap kind of place with junk shops, rock shops, and other mountain memorabilia. I can't forget the famous 'face on the barroom floor' painting, which was one of the big attractions of the town and is still around. We were thrilled here locally to have Hollywood come anywhere near Denver. I was 11 years old and already a huge movie fan.
They filled the streets of Central City with dirt to make it look like an old west mining town, brought in horses, wagons, a stagecoach, etc. They changed the fronts of the buildings on main street to look authentic, too. Many locals were extras in the film, and I remember a newspaper article about one of the local Central City guys who got a small speaking part in the film and had to join SAG.
It was a big deal.
The movie came out and it was/is rather lame! It got mediocre reviews at the time and still does not hold up today at all. It's only 'cool' factor was that it was filmed nearby and locals got to see themselves and their town on the silver screen.
Goldie Hawn has lived in Colorado for years at a ranch home near Aspen with Kurt Russell, but has been quoted as saying 'I hate Denver'. She probably thinks we're a poor cow town or something compared to L.A. and froo froo Aspen.
She can have Aspen and L.A. I love Denver and I still live here.
Things have changed a lot since 1975. Central City is now the Las Vegas of the mountains near Denver along with it's neighboring town, Black Hawk. Limited stakes gambling was voted in 1991. The mountain towns up there are now nothing like 1975. The towns have been over built and over run by hotels and casinos, and it really is a mini Las Vegas in the mountains near Denver.
It's too bad that almost all comic westerns in the 70's are mediocre or bad movies. Nobody could copy the success of Mel Brooks 'Blazing Saddles'.
I don't recommend this movie at all.
It's just lame. It's cool to see Colorado in a movie, but that's all.