This 30-Year-Old Flop Is Officially the Worst Western Ever Made
And you though Wild Wild West was bad.
In any genre, there are staple movies which are always used as an example, some mid-level films that you watch once and never come back to again, and the flops that everyone desperately tries to forget about. However, there is nothing quite as cringy as the unsuccessful satire that falls flat with everyone who watches.
And that is exactly what made Wagons East! so unwatchable, it would’ve gotten a negative Rotten Tomatoes score, if only that was possible.
Is Wagons East! Worth Watching?
Although the Western genre has always been popular among American patriots, it has come and gone in waves on the universal scene. Right now, thanks to Taylor Sheridan 's Yellowstone, we're going through the wave of success.
30 years ago, westerns went through a similar streak, which is why they attracted so many jokes and satires, just like any other element of pop culture. Thanks to Kevin Costner 's Dances With Wolves and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, the stories of the Wild West were on the rise, and in 1994, Peter Markle took his shot at making it comedic.
The movie was to tell the story of a group of settlers who got tired of the West and tried to escape via the wagon train. A strange bunch was being chased by the railroad investors, who didn't want to scare everyone else away, so they had to stop them.
Production of the film, however, ended on a tragic note when star and comedic genius John Candy died of a heart attack in the final days of production. While this had little effect on the production of Train's East!, the film still didn't end up being a worthy legacy for the actor.
If anything, many believe that it would have been better off not being released on the big screen at all.
Called everything from ‘tasteless’ to straight up ‘unfunny,’ the comedy was a massive box office bomb. Upon its release, Wagons East! barely managed to make $4.4 million at the box office and landed on Rotten Tomatoes with the worst rating ever, 0%, followed by an audience score of 32%.
The only reason people tend to see this misguided parody of the genre is to honor John Candy's final performance. However, if you really want to pay respect to his acting talents, it's not a movie to watch. However, if for some reason you are interested in Wagons East!, it is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.