Themes: Marriages of Convenience, Lovers on the Lam
Main Cast: Jack Nicholson, Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi, Veronica Cartwright
Release Year: 1978
Country: US
Run Time: 109 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Sentenced to hang in a backwater western town, horse thief Henry Moon (Jack Nicholson) is saved when frontierswoman Julia Tate (Mary Steenburgen) agrees to marry him. Taking advantage of the town law that prohibits the execution of married men, Moon follows Tate back to her ranch, planning all the while to escape at the first possible opportunity. But Tate insists that he honor his end of the bargain at work on the ranch. She has no intention of consummating the union, a fact that drives the hot-to-trot Moon up a wall. She puts him to work on the gold mine that she has on her property, while his old gang prepares to relieve the couple of their gold once it's on the surface. Jack Nicholson personally selected movie newcomer Mary Steenburgen for Goin' South. The film also features John Belushi in the role of a dyspeptic deputy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Richard Bradford - Sheriff Kyle; Danny DeVito - Hog; Jeff Morris - Big Abe; Gerald H. Reynolds - Polty; Luana Anders - Mrs. Anderson; George Smith - Mr. Anderson; Lucy Lee Flippin - Mrs. Haber; Ed Begley, Jr. - Mr. Haber; Maureen Byrnes - Mrs. Warren; B.J. Merholz - Mr. Warren; Britt Leach - Parson Weems; Georgia Schmidt - Florence; R.L. Armstrong - Farmer Standard; Dennis Fimple - Hangman; Anne Ramsey - Spinster II; Lin Shaye - Parasol Lady; Tracey Walter - Coofan; Barbara Walters - Spinster I; Loren Janes - Passenger; Don McGovern - Bartender; May Boss
Credit
William Theiss - Costume Designer, Michael Daves - First Assistant Director, Jack Nicholson - Director, Richard Chew - Editor, John Fitzgerald - Editor, Perry Botkin, Jr. - Composer (Music Score), Van Dyke Parks - Composer (Music Score), Toby Carr Rafelson - Production Designer, Néstor Almendros - Cinematographer, Harry Gittes - Producer, Harold Schneider - Producer, Lawrence James Cavanaugh - Special Effects, Art Rochester - Sound/Sound Designer, John Herman Shaner - Screenwriter, Charles Shyer - Screenwriter, Alan Mandel - Screenwriter, Al Ramrus - Screenwriter, Herman John Shanner - Screenwriter
Goin' South isn't actually as Southern as its title or marketing suggest; while most of the songs here are pretty compatible musically, only about half of them fall under strict definitions of Southern rock. That said, there really isn't much here that Southern rock fans won't enjoy -- most of it is informed by country and/or blues, and boogies just as hard as the true Southern rock cuts. All the big names are here (Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, .38 Special, the Marshall Tucker Band, the Charlie Daniels Band), and most bands are represented by their biggest hits and/or signature songs. So even if Goin' South isn't the definitive Southern rock collection it wants to be, it's still an excellent listen that could virtually serve as a classic rock radio play list. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
At the beginning, the Paramount logo sequence plays in reverse.
Plot outline
Henry Lloyd Moon (Nicholson), a third-rate outlaw in the late 1860s, is a bank-robber, horse thief and cattle thief who is due to be hanged in Longhorn, Texas to the great glee of the local populace and especially of the deputy sheriff. Moon comes under especially close scrutiny from some women in the town, which turns out to be because of a local ordinance, dating back to Civil War days, that allowed a condemned man to be saved from the gallows if an unmarried lady would agree to marry him and be responsible for his good behaviour.
Moon is saved from hanging by the intervention of a lovely young woman who agrees to marry and take charge of him. Julia Tate (Steenburgen), the headstrong but genteel Southernvirgin who weds Moon, initially only wants him to help her work the gold mine she insists is on her property; but their shaky partnership soon evolves into much more.
The film was not well-received by critics or moviegoers.
The film was co-written by John Herman Shaner and produced by Harry Gittes, both longtime friends of Jack from his early days in Hollywood.
