Don't listen to the negative reviews

Awesome Movie

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I love John Astin. "Evil Roy Slade" is one of my favorite movies, and "The Brothers O'Toole" was included on the same DVD. It is simply the least interesting, dullest movie I can ever remember watching. From the humorless script, to the cheap production values, to the pointless plot, to the actors who clearly realized they were in a turkey and phoned in their performances--it absolutely flabbergasts me that some people actually found it even remotely amusing. It is truly awful.

International con-man John Astin (as Michael James O'Toole) and his younger brother Steve Carlson (as Timothy O'Toole) go to a small western mining town in Colorado. The town name is probably misspelled "Molybdenym" and most folks pronounce it "Molly B. Damn." Mr. Astin is mistaken for a notorious bank and stage robber, gets thrown in jail. Meanwhile, Mr. Carlson moves in with spinster mistress Pat Carroll (as Callie Burdyne) and bonds with her brother, young Ted Claassen (as Gurnie)...Austin plays a dual role (as "Desperate" Ambrose J. Littleberry) and joins the story in his other guise. His wife is lusty Lee Meriwether (as Paloma). She throws a lot of dishes. Carlson enters the town's annual "spitting, belching and cussing contest." It's held by jolly Jessie White, who serves as the mayor and prosecutor. Allyn Joslyn is the nervous sheriff and director Richard Erdman is the boozing judge. Richard Jury (as Harmon P. Lovejoy) multi-tasks. Hans Conried (as Polonius Vandergelt) arrives late.**** The Brothers O'Toole (5/16/73) Richard Erdman ~ John Astin, Steve Carlson, Pat Carroll, Jessie White

Another one buck movie off a cheap 10 Westerns DVD release, 'The Brothers O'Toole' surprised me with it's excellent script. Perhaps John Astin's finest hour, he kind of overwhelms the rest of the very good cast of amusing characters.Released a year before 'Blazing Saddles', this gives rise to the thought that the makers of that better known comedy western had seen 'The Brothers O'Toole' and took notes. For my money, 'The Brothers O'Toole' has the better script and the better cast.But - the direction is often second rate and the photography uninspiring. However, given the choice of watching the above two movies as reruns, I'd vote for 'The Brothers O'Toole' every time.

If there were no other single redeeming feature of the movie, John Astin's incredible diatribe reviling every obvious wart of the benighted little town of Molly-Be-Damn as it's known for a truly tortured pun on Molybdenum, would be worth the price of admission.There is a plot, but you don't need to worry about it. Go for Astin's bluster. He appears in a dual role and takes both completely over the top.If you can take a comedy-western on a fairly broad tack, this is a good one. Crank up the popcorn machine, set your brain on farce and relax. And memorize that cussing. Someday you'll need it.