THE 100 GREATEST CROSSOVERS OF ALL TIME #38

The best compliment I can pay to THE GAMBLER RETURNS; THE LUCK OF THE DRAW is to say that its salute to the television westerns of yesteryear is good enough to make it worth sitting through Kenny Rogers' artless performance as the titular character. The supporting actors accompanying him on his quest-- Rick Rossovich, Park Overall, and even fellow singer Reba McIntire-- do yeoman service in distracting the audience from Rogers' tone-deaf line-deliveries. The script is serviceable, involving the Gambler's quest to participate in one last great poker-game-- though, as it happened, this was not the last of the GAMBLER TV-flicks.

The one thing that makes this telemovie palatable is its status as a crossover-work. It might be seen as an inversion of the type of crossover seen in the SPACE GHOST/"Council of Doom" episode. The purpose of the crossovers in that episode was to create viewer interest in Hanna-Barbera's new offerings, but LUCK OF THE DRAW is about saluting series-characters who were now only revived in the spirit of nostalgia.

DRAW is replete with many references to both real western history and that of the "fake West," none of which go very deep. In some cases, the film's producers didn't secure permission to reference certain characters. Thus Doug McClure and James Drury appear, but are not playing their VIRGINIAN characters. Neither the Lone Ranger nor Tonto appear, but a horse that looks like Silver shows up, accompanied by the William Tell Overture. None of these "doppelganger characters" count as genuine crossovers, but fortunately, DRAW does bring in such luminaries as:

*Bart Maverick, played by Jack Kelly
*The Rifleman, played by Chuck Connors
*Wyatt Earp, played by Hugh O'Brien
*Kwai Chang Caine, played by David Carradine
*Dave Blassingame, played by Brian Keith
*Cheyenne, played by Clint Walker
*Bat Masterson, played by Gene Barry

In addition, the story also works in various actors with strong western associations, such as Linda "Big Valley" Evans and Dub "Wild Bunch" Taylor.  And Paladin of WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE is referenced as having passed on, in deference to the passing of the actor who played him, Richard Boone.

Though the main characters have some interesting if low-key adventures, the story is clearly an excuse for the guest-stars to show up, do their turn, and then gracefully bow out. One's enjoyment of these scenes probably does depend on some familiarity with the original series. Possibly, though, even the trivia-happy Internet Generation could appreciate the soliloquy of Paul Brinegar, reprising a not-named version of "Wishbone" from RAWHIDE-- for in said soliloquy, Brinegar managed to work in the titles of about a dozen TV westerns.

THE 100 GREATEST CROSSOVERS OF ALL TIME #12

As I said in my first entry, some of my choices for "greatest crossovers" are not so much because the actual stories are great, but because the stories I choose say something to me about the special appeal of the crossover.  Whereas crossovers in prose or comic books often have some "universe-building" elements, often those in feature films are much more haphazard, coming about when the producers of a crossover film are attempting to offer their viewers more for their money.

The powerful but short-lived subgenre of the "spaghetti western" generated a small number of mythic protagonists. Of those quasi-heroes, Django had only two "authorized" films while "Sartana" had five, but film-makers in Italy and Spain frequently appropriated the names and attached them to westerns that had no connection with the established characters.  According to Wikipedia five non-canonical films were made teaming Django with Sartana; I've now seen three of the five, and am satisfied to pronounce 1970's DJANGO DEFIES SARTANA as the best of the three.

This oater, directed by one Pasquale Squitieri, is by no means a great western, but compared to the others I've seen, at least DDS makes an effort to adhere a little more closely to the personas established in the canonical films.  The plot follows a predictable path. Bounty hunter Django's brother is hanged because he's thought to have been involved in a bank robbery. Django hears that the roaming gambler Sartana may have been involved in the robbery, and so Django goes in search of anyone who can prove his brother's innocence. Early in the film the audience learns that Sartana had nothing to do with the theft, and eventually Django learns this as well, though not before, in the grand tradition of Marvel Comics, the two crossover characters have a good dust-up. Despite this they team up against the real robbers and bring them to violent justice.

The two lead actors, George Ardisson and Tony Kendall, have a nodding physical resemblance to the actors who originated the roles. Neither one is particularly impressive, though Ardisson presents a strong visual presence with his dandyish clothes. This is just middling spaghetti-stuff, lacking the more frenzied scenes from the best of the subgenre-- with one exception. Sartana, cornering the head bad guy in his hacienda, shoots a pair of mounted antlers off the wall behind the villain, so that the horns fall on his shoulders, and for some reason get stuck there almost up to the point where the villain is killed.  I don't imagine this was for any deep mythopoeic reason; the filmmakers probably just did it because it provided a bit of unusual visual business.

One scene shows a trace of sociopolitical awareness. While Sartana is drinking in the local saloon, a bunch of rowdies come in and hassle the black piano-player.  A flag of the Confederacy is on the wall behind the rowdies, just to make the political point explicit. Sartana doesn't come to the piano-player's defense, but the lead rowdy senses a challenge from the silent gambler, and makes the mistake of getting in Sartana's face.  After Sartana effortlessly kills the bully, the camera zooms back to the grateful face of the pianist-- easily this mediocre film's best moment.