With the recent Blu-Ray release of this very late in the
cycle Euro-Western a small part of my younger movie watching days has come full
circle. I saw COMIN' AT YA (1981) when I was 13 years old in the company of the
man who would become my mother's second husband. He was trying to get on my
good side by taking me to the movies but I suspect that it was his choice to
see a western. I don't remember complaining, especially with the extra thrill
of seeing a 3D film. For years afterwards I only retained a few memories of the
flick and most of them were related to the many scenes concocted to shove,
sling, drop or dangle something at the camera. The movie has so many shots set
up to create a 3D effect that after a while the viewer begins to anticipate
them. There are even a few notable 3D jokes including a gratuitous yo-yo scene
right out of the classic HOUSE OF WAX (1953)! Fun stuff, even if it is
incredibly silly. But that is the joy of these kinds of movies. They are trying
to entertain and thrill to the exclusion of any other concern and often they
succeed.
I'm not going to claim that rewatching COMIN' AT YA for the
first time in 25 years was an incredible film fan experience but it was a lot
of fun. I have developed a strong dislike for 3D in the past few years so I
watched it in 2D and soaked up the go-for-broke vibe of it all. The paper thin
plot is so clichéd and obvious - man's wife is stolen by slavers, vengeance
ensues - that it is almost beside the point. This is a movie made to throw
things at the screen, show bloody gunfights and reference spaghetti western
images one after another. It's not the worst Euro-western I've ever seen and
its not particularly good either, but it's entertaining. I would say this
Spanish-American co-production accomplishes its goals pretty well and it managed
to keep my attention throughout. There are certainly some impressive stunts on
and off horseback with the regular use of slow-motion capturing the action in
cool detail.
This is my second
Tony Anthony movie from the period and I'm
turning into a fan of his ugly mug. For this film and
TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS (1983) he was involved in producing and writing his own lower budget 3D films
and apparently COMIN' AT YA made a lot of money at the time. Indeed, it seems
to have been the movie that started the brief 1980's 3D resurgence, so it must
have been profitable. But once the craze for the gimmick died out he couldn't
get financing for a planned third movie and his producing options dried up. That's
a shame. I would have enjoyed seeing what wacky-ass thing he would devise for
his next cinematic epic. He didn't make good movies but he did make fun ones.
