Goin' South
Short description
Henry Moon, a small-time outlaw, is caught by a posse while fleeing toward Mexico and sentenced to hang. In the post-Civil War town where he is held, a local law offers him a way out: a single or widowed woman may marry a condemned man and save him from the gallows. Julia Tate, a stubborn Southern woman, takes that step and marries him, but the arrangement comes with demands of its own, including work in the gold mine she claims lies on her land. The two settle into a difficult partnership as Moon adjusts to a life he did not choose.
Jack Nicholson directs and stars in this Western comedy, his second turn behind the camera after The Terror and before The Two Jakes. Mary Steenburgen appears as Julia Tate, with Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi, Veronica Cartwright and Richard Bradford among the credited cast of thirty. The screenplay was written by Alan Mandell, Charles Shyer and John Herman Shaner, and Harold Schneider and Harry Gittes produced for Paramount.
Released in October 1978, the film took in about seven million dollars worldwide. It holds a 5.8 rating on TMDB from 174 votes and a critics' rating of 6.6 from sixteen reviews, a slightly warmer reception from reviewers than from the wider audience.
What's left behind the scenes
- The original title is an idiomatic expression that can be translated as "Everything went awry".
- When Henry, played by Jack Nicholson, rides a horse chasing the stagecoach carrying Mary Steenburgen's character, the horse stumbles and falls, throwing Henry out of the saddle and into a ditch. There was no scene in the script where the lead actor, who was also the film's director, ended up in a ditch; it all happened by accident. Fortunately, neither the animal nor the actor were injured – the latter only sustained a few bruises.
- Jack Nicholson personally chose Mary Steenburgen for the role, and it was her film debut. Steenburgen was sitting in the casting office waiting room when Nicholson walked by and noticed she was sitting there even without a script in her hands. Nicholson gave her a copy of the script with three scenes marked and arranged to see her (with those three scenes) the next day. The meeting the next day lasted almost two hours, and Steenburgen was given the role in the film.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
