Search - Wagons East! on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Movie Release: 1994 DVD Release: 06/18/2002 Format: DVD - Pan and Scan - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 47 mins Studio: Live/Artisan Total Copies: 38 Genres: Comedy, Western, Comedy Western

Comedian John Candy, who died during the making of this poorly received comic western, plays James Harlow, a 19th century wagon master who is heading back east with a wagon train full of oddball characters who have had their fill of Western life. They include ex-doctor Phil Taylor (Richard Lewis), kind-hearted prostitute Belle (Ellen Greene), and a bookseller, Julian (John C. McGinley). Harlow is a drunken, washed-up leader who frequently gets lost. The travelers eventually discover that he was a member of the famous Donner party, which resorted to cannibalism when stranded in the mountains. Railroad magnates try to turn back the party, figuring it's bad publicity for people out East to learn that the West is not really a paradise. The tycoons hire gunfighters and villains to stop the expedition, but local Indians protect the wagons, because they are glad to see disgruntled white settlers leaving their lands. This "backwards" western was based on a story by Jerry Abrahamson. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

John Candy - James Harlow
Richard Lewis - Phil Taylor
John C. McGinley - Julian
Ellen Greene - Belle
Robert Picardo - Ben Wheeler

Peter Markle directs John Candy in his last feature film, Wagons East. The movie comes to DVD with a standard full-frame transfer that fails to preserve the original theatrical aspect ratio. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. There are no subtitles, but the soundtrack is closed-captioned. There are no supplemental materials of any consequence. This is a sparse release from Artisan that will be of interest primarily to fans of the late Candy. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide