The Legend of Frank Woods is a re-edited and
slightly expanded version of a picture called The Hell You Preach, which was completed in 1972. Notable additions
include a few new scenes featuring former teen heartthrob Troy Donahue in a
minor role.
The original film, which comprises most of the running
time, is a hopelessly routine Western about a gunfighter who assumes the
identity of a preacher and starts a new life in a frontier town. (The
plot of a 1974 telefilm starring Marjoe Gortner, The Gun
and the Pulpit, is suspiciously similar.) Iffy
acting, grungy cinematography, and jumpy editing exacerbate the trite narrative, as does a logy storytelling style. Leading man Hagen Smith has
an interesting physical presence with his shaggy beard and tall frame, but his
performance offers merely a faint echo of Clint Eastwood’s signature stoicism.
Supporting player Michael Christian is moderately better as the local hothead
who picks trouble with the fake preacher, but the plotting is so enervated
that the conflict between these characters never feels believable. Viewers are asked to accept
that the arrival of a tough stranger changes every imaginable dynamic in a
community, not because of anything the filmmakers show to the audience, but
simply because that’s the way of things in stories of this type. There
was potential for comedy here, as when the villain tests the fake preacher by
demanding the man drink whiskey, and there was potential for suspense, as when
the mischief of local crooks puts the hero into a position where he must reveal
his identity by taking action. Instead, the folks behind The Legend of Frank Woods opted for by-the-numbers
filmmaking—with some
some of the important numbers missing.
The Legend of Frank Woods: LAME
