Such a frustrating disappointment

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

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.

The Brothers O'Toole is meant for a vehicle for John Astin to strut his comedy talents and strut he does. He's only one O'Toole brother, the other is Steve Carlson. But Astin is also the wild and crazy bandit living common law with wild and crazy Lee Meriwether.Brothers Astin and Carlson are a pair of city slickers, Astin is a rogue gambler in the Maverick tradition, Carlson is a love 'em and leave 'em type. But Astin is chased out of town and Carlson runs out of town with an angry father with a shotgun chasing him.They arrive at a town named Mollybedamned because some passing geologist said the lead mine that is now played out is full of nothing but this stuff called molybdenum. And the stuff is not really good for anything. Too bad for the town because everybody there has stock in it and the certificates paper the walls, line the spittoons and such.Astin is quite good in his dual roles and a lot of familiar character faces like Hans Conreid, Pat Carroll, Allyn Joslyn, Jesse White, and director Richard Erdman all do their shtick.But essentially the film is built around a one joke premise and it isn't really enough for a great comedy, just a passably good one.

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.

I have to say, this is one of the oddest movies I have ever seen. It starts out looking like a good comedy... but then something happens... or rather nothing happens. The movie begins to drag. And pretty soon it makes you think "when will it end?" There are still funny parts, but they become hard to find. Only near the end does it pick up and start to exhibit comedy again... and by then I find myself wondering why I am still watching. Yet it is memorable. So memorable, in fact, that I've been trying to remember the title for about 4 years.