Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones in Western Comedy

Not in contrast to an attentive hen who spots a smidgen of sustenance in a pile of cattle dung, director George Gallo and co-scripter Josh Postner’s new comedy retrieves a viable comedian premise within the deservedly obscure and irredeemably wretched 1982 comedy “The Comeback Path.” Sadly, their vastly pleasant remake, in identify solely, was caught in distribution limbo for the higher a part of 5 years, regardless of a stellar forged that features Oscar winners Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones and Morgan Freeman. In the end, the film lately acquired an especially restricted U.S. theatrical run and is now accessible on digital platforms.

Talking as somebody who considered a screener of the brand new and improved “Comeback Path” again in 2020, and has puzzled over why it remained kind of shelved ever since, I’m glad to report after a second viewing that the indie manufacturing is each bit as humorous as I remembered — at the same time as I concede that it could be an acquired style. Some individuals simply don’t have the persistence for lead performances which can be as broad as a “Yellowstone” barn, and as hammy as a butcher store specialty. I laughed unashamedly all through your entire movie. However your mileage could differ.

The unique “Comeback Path” showcased, in need of a greater time period, the late, nice Buster Crabbe as an aged Western star, employed by shady Z-movie producers to star of their new mission. However the producers — irritatingly overplayed by Chuck McCann and Robert Staats, who regrettably seize the overwhelming majority of display time — aren’t actually hoping to make a killing. Slightly, they hope to kill their star throughout manufacturing, and declare a hefty insurance coverage cost for his “unintentional” loss of life.

Henny Youngman, Irwin Corey, Monti Rock and, no kidding, Hugh Hefner are among the many notables forged in cameo roles, to no comedian avail For those who’re in any respect curious concerning the crumminess of this fiasco written, produced and directed by Harry Hurwitz (“The Projectionist”), the shabby print is well accessible on YouTube. However don’t say you weren’t warned.

Within the new “Comeback Path,” set in 1974 Hollywood, De Niro performs Max Barber, a disreputable producer of schlock cinema who’s pushed by obviously misplaced self-confidence, cranking out low-budgeters with such titles as “Cows From Past” and “Bigfoot Was My Lover” for his Miracle Footage studio. Alas, the most recent in his lengthy line of flops, “Killer Nuns,” has simply bombed on the field workplace.

Studying from a typical evaluate, Walter Creason (Zach Braff), Max’s younger nephew and enterprise associate quotes the cruel thumb’s-down: “Actually, the most effective factor about this movie is, after 90 minutes, it’s over.” Max, as implacably optimistic as Johnny Depp’s Ed Wooden, responds: “That could be a good evaluate. They favored the top.”

However mobster Reggie Fontaine (Freeman), who’s been bankrolling Max’s doubtful initiatives, is in no way amused. A diehard film buff, Fontaine is susceptible to peppering his threats with allusions to his favourite flicks. If Max can’t repay his huge debt, quickly, the mobster will stab him “like Anthony Perkins in ‘Psycho’” — thereby prompting a profanely humorous remark from an underling (Eddie Griffin) about Norman Bates’ love for his mom.

Max really has a option to keep away from a grisly quietus: He might promote the script for “Paradise,” a long-cherished dream mission he hopes will elevate him to legitimacy, to James Moore (Emile Hirsch), a former buddy and ginormously extra profitable producer, for a cool million. However Max stubbornly holds on to his property — principally, however not totally, as a result of Moore desires to forged within the lead function an actor he detests: Frank Pierce (Patrick Muldoon), a preening famous person who insists on at all times doing his personal stunts.  

When Pierce meets an premature finish whereas doing a type of stunts, Max has an inspiration: If Moore can acquire on a multi-million insurance coverage coverage he had taken out on the actor, why can’t Max do one thing comparable by arranging a deadly “accident” for one in all his personal stars?

That’s the place ageing cowboy star Duke Montana (Jones) comes into the image. Lowered to sometimes doing commercials for used automobiles, and spending most of his days ingesting, despairing, and sporadically taking part in Russian roulette in a retirement dwelling for actors, the curmudgeonly Montana has a loss of life want that solely sheer luck has saved him from fulfilling. Max, with the approval of Fontaine, intends to make his goals come by way of in a brand new Miracle Footage manufacturing, “The Oldest Gun within the West.”

Bother is, as soon as the unsuspecting Duke is actually again within the saddle and on location, he proves to be remarkably resilient, surviving all of Max’s makes an attempt at sabotage — miscuing a stunt horse, tinkering with a rope bridge, and so on. —  and regaining, if not a lust for all times, a long-dormant pleasure for making films. Max grows ever extra anxious, Fontaine turns into more and more impatient and the unwitting Walter begins to suspect that one thing shady is happening.

Freeman, Jones and particularly De Niro repeatedly dial it as much as 11 all through “The Comeback Path,” with De Niro hovering close to 13 or 14 each time anybody questions Max’s honesty and integrity. (By no means thoughts that the producer has a brief provide of each.) Maybe nervous that he may additionally get nibbled upon whereas these three guys chew up the surroundings, Braff performs it comparatively straight — which solely enhances the satisfaction offered by a deus ex machina ending that includes the efficiency of star energy, and the handy location of an deserted drive-in.

And Kate Katzman deserves just a few kudos of her personal for deftly balancing comedy and sincerity as Megan Albert, the keen beginner who’s employed as director of “The Oldest Gun within the West” with Duke’s approval and defies ’70s-era sexist assumptions about her unsuitability for the job.

Particular point out additionally should be product of Matthew Lee Christmas, the credited stunt double for Tommy Lee Jones. Granted. There are various scenes right here the place the substitution of stuntman for star is apparent. However, hey, what else would you anticipate from a film purportedly produced by Miracle Footage?