Although the Western was later given the kiss of life by Kevin Costner's 'Dances With Wolves', it was little more than a sad corpse when brothers Lawrence and Mark Kasdan penned this entertaining homage to the best in the west (ironically co-starring Costner).

All the classic Western themes, including loyalty and friendship and the need of social misfits to find their niche in the great landscape, are explored, and there's an all-star cast, including Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, Jeff Goldblum and Linda Hunt, that any Hollywood producer of the time would have given his right arm for if he had the budget.

The women fare worst - but then they always did in Westerns - but Hunt, as the midget saloon owner, comes off better than Rosanna Arquette, whose character is either woefully underwritten or had her scenes drastically cut.

John Cleese has a scene-stealing cameo as an English sheriff who knows when not to cross state boundaries and Brian Dennehy is a pugnacious villain.