Film

Goin' South

Name: Goin' South
Genre: Comedy, Western, Romance
Released: 1978
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi, Veronica Cartwright

Comedy western
Comedy
Light-hearted

A scruffy outlaw escapes the noose by marrying a widow in this 1978 Jack Nicholson western comedy. It's a strange, restless thing—part goofy romance, part frontier satire—that never quite settles into one gear. Directed by and starring Nicholson, it's for anyone curious about oddball seventies cinema or willing to ride along with a film that prioritises eccentricity over polish.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love a lopsided romantic comedy with a rascal's charm, where the Old West's oddball rules do the plotting and a star's giddy, exasperated performance carries the day.

Skip it if you want brisk plotting or sharp edges, since it ambles along with loose, shaggy episodes and a fairly gentle, sometimes sentimental pull.

What it asks of you: Under two hours of easygoing attention, in a loose, meandering shape with broad slapstick and a light touch, rewarding viewers who go along with its silliness rather than its logic.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Blazing Saddles1974

Mel Brooks's anarchic western deconstructs frontier mythology through comedy. Like *Goin' South*, it's riotously funny about the genre's absurdities and refuses to genuflect before convention.

But The humour is broad and relentless, and its satire of racism hasn't aged into subtlety. Some bits land harder than intended; others feel dated.

Paper Moon1973

A con-artist film with genuine warmth buried in the schemes. It shares *Goin' South*'s mix of roguish charm and unexpected sentiment, plus a terrific supporting cast playing characters with real dimension.

But Deliberately paced and in black-and-white. If you want plot momentum or colour, you'll be watching the clock.

The Missouri Breaks1976

Brando and Nicholson in a deliberately oddball western that subverts genre expectations. Like *Goin' South*, it's weird and sometimes messy, but unapologetically committed to its own strangeness.

But Marlon Brando gives a performance that's... singular. Some find it transcendent; others find it self-indulgent. The pacing meanders.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Goin' South

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Bound for Glory1976

Both are seventies films about outsiders trying to survive within systems that don't quite fit them, shot with visual eccentricity and a refusal to resolve neatly.

David Carradine as Woody Guthrie in a sprawling, poetic folk-musician biopic that rejects conventional narrative. Ashby's camera finds poetry in marginal lives. Like *Goin' South*, it's a 1970s film about working-class rebels that trusts mood over plot.

But It's slow, visually introspective, and more interested in capturing a life's texture than telling a story. If you want narrative drive, this dissolves into atmosphere.

Nashville1975

Altman's sprawling ensemble comedy captures the same improvisational energy and willingness to let scenes breathe without neat payoffs. Chaotic and alive in ways mainstream films resisted.

But With no single protagonist, it requires patience. The texture matters more than plot. It's nearly three hours of controlled chaos.

The Long Goodbye1973

Altman's noir, where Gould wanders through LA like a relic. It shares *Goin' South*'s refusal to play by genre rules and its commitment to character texture over plot momentum.

But A detective film that doesn't detect much. If you want noir plotting, you'll be frustrated. Some scenes seem to drift without purpose.

The Apple Dumpling Gang1975

A Walt Disney western comedy that's agreeably weird and doesn't try to be slick. Like *Goin' South*, it embraces oddball humour and doesn't pretend the west was ever dignified.

But It's fundamentally a Disney film, which means a certain calculated sweetness. The comedy is gentle rather than anarchic or sharp-edged.

The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox1976

Goldie Hawn and George Segal in a rambling western comedy that sprawls across tone and prioritises character oddity. Similar DNA to *Goin' South*—messy, likeable, unconcerned with polish.

But The structure is loose to the point of formlessness. If you need a clear narrative arc, this will feel unfinished.

The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox poster

The Bad News Bears1976

Matthau leads a comedy that trusts its ensemble and refuses to sentimentalise its ragtag team. It has the same rough energy and character-driven humour as *Goin' South*, without the western trappings.

But Very seventies in its cynicism. Doesn't resolve neatly or offer uplift. Some will find it too grounded to be fun.

Foul Play1978

Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn in a romantic comedy-thriller from the same year. It's lighter than *Goin' South* but shares the commitment to comedy over coherence and that seventies willingness to just try things.

But The mystery plot is secondary and loose. Chevy Chase's comedy style won't land for everyone. It occasionally feels like it's treading water.

Johnny Guitar1954

Both flip the typical western's power dynamics. *Johnny Guitar* subverts masculine authority through a woman's agency; *Goin' South* does the same through forced marriage and economic desperation.

Nicholas Ray's fever-dream western where Joan Crawford owns a saloon and Sterling Hayden is the mysterious gunslinger. It's a western where the rules are inverted and desire matters more than justice—50s precursor to *Goin' South*'s gender-flipped premise.

But It's a 1954 film in black-and-white with wildly theatrical performances. The plot is secondary to emotional tenor. Can feel arch to modern eyes.

Madame Sousatzka1988

Both centre on relationships where one character has power over another through circumstance, and both find unexpected warmth and growth through that constraint—love emerging from transaction.

Shirley MacLaine as an eccentric piano teacher who saves a gifted student through sheer force of personality and unorthodox methods. Like *Goin' South*, it's fundamentally about an unlikely pairing—one character using leverage to reshape another's life, wrapped in a strange romantic tension.

But It's a small, intimate film more interested in relationship than spectacle. MacLaine's eccentricity might read as mannered. Not a plot-driven film by any measure.