When a teenage schoolgirl is kidnapped by Mexican bandit El Diablo (Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Beltran), her clumsy, awkward schoolteacher Billy Ray Smith (Anthony Edwards) sets out to save her. The would-be hero in this offbeat Western teams up with crotchety veteran gunslinger Van Leek (Louis Gossett Jr.), who helps him form an unlikely posse to rescue Smith's damsel in distress. What sets this low-key, made-for-cable production apart from numerous other Westerns is its humorously skewed take on the myths and legends of the Old West, as it not only deconstructs Hollywood's romanticized view of the genre but Billy Ray's veneration of a mythical gunfighter named Kid Durango, whose literary adventures he regularly reads to his students. Gossett is wonderfully droll as unscrupulous six slinger Van Leek, whose motives are always suspect; Edwards is charming as the bumbling teacher; and the supporting cast--which includes Branscombe Richmond (Renegade), Miguel Sandoval (Get Shorty), and John Glover (Brimstone)--imbue life into their quirky gun-for-hire roles. Indeed the best aspect of El Diablo is the way in which many of its characters' façades are gradually revealed. The very tongue-in-cheek screenplay was coauthored by Halloween director John Carpenter. --Bryan Reeseman
2.
When a young girl is kidnapped, her small-town schoolteacher (Anthony Edwards) from Back East enlists the aid of a renegade gunman (Louis Gossett, Jr.) and his ragtag gang of Old West misfits set off in a wild, funny, and exciting search for El Diablo, the legendary bank-robbing outlaw who kidnapped her.
3.
When a young man can't ride or shoot he needs help real bad. And here's help that's REAL bad.
Billy Ray Smith (Anthony Edwards) is a schoolteacher in a small Texas town, never happier than when he's reading the adventures of Kid Durango and dreaming of being a Western hero. But Billy's dreams become a hilarious nightmare when the legendary outlaw El Diablo rides into town, robbing the bank and kidnapping Nettie, a pretty young student. Billy sets off in lukewarm pursuit, but, unable to ride a horse or shoot a gun, he doesn't pose much of a threat - until he meets up with renegade gunman, Thomas Van Leek (Louis Gossett, Jr.). Van Leek is just the man to teach the teacher how to handle a gun and ride like a man. Joined by Van Leek's cohorts, including none other than Kid Durango, Billy Ray sets off in hot pursuit ready to confront his nemesis El Diablo and save young Nettie from his evil clutches. Has Billy Ray the makings of a true Western hero? It's shoot out and see time in a Wild West that's never been wilder.
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