The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday

In Serendipity, Colorado,{{cite web |last1=Segedy |first1=Robert |title=The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday [Blu-ray] Blu-ray A - America - Kino Lorber |url=http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=5544 |website=dvdcompare.net |access-date=12 June 2022 |date=28 October 2018}} before the 1908 United States presidential election,{{cite web |title=The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday Blu-ray |url=http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews26/great_scout_cathouse_thursday_blu-ray.htm |website=dvd beaver |access-date=12 June 2022}} Sam Longwood, a frontiersman who has seen better days, has finally found after 15 years his ex-business partner Jack Colby, who ran off with all the gold from a mine they were prospecting, and also with the love of his life, Nancy Sue. Sam, along with his two other partners, Indian Joe Knox and Billy, along the way pick up a young prostitute nicknamed Thursday. Getting their money is not going to be as easy as they think.{{cite web |title=The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976) |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-great-scout-cathouse-thursday-1976-1798225473 |website=The A.V. Club |access-date=12 June 2022 |language=en-us |date=2 May 2011}}

The trio decide to kidnap Nancy Sue and try to get some ransom money for her return to Jack, but Jack does not want her back, and Thursday is cozying up with Sam when he starts to take a shine to her after they spend one night together, now torn between Nancy Sue and Thursday. The gang asks Thursday to go into town and prostitute herself so they can buy supplies and although her feelings are hurt she does. In town, she sees a man and starts to charm him. He eventually invites her to his hotel room. After they settle on a price but before they can start, he is called from the room. Alone, Thursday starts going through his things and discovers that he is Jack Colby. She then takes his money, leaving an IOU signed in Nancy Sue's name. In the morning. she returns with all the supplies and horses to the gang's hideout.

The gang infiltrates a prize fight being promoted by Colby and plots to get their money back by stealing all the boxoffice proceeds. As they race out of town with the boxoffice wagon and money, Colby and his crew give chase. Thursday's "madam," named Mike, chases after the group as well, figuring Thursday is her "property." Finally, the outlaws are caught by Colby and his men, and Thursday gives herself up to keep from having to return to prostitution.

Sam, Joe and Billy are free men, but Sam is wracked with guilt over leaving Thursday behind since now he realizes that he has feelings for her. The group eventually turns around to go to her rescue. They finally make a bargain with Colby for a boxing match, winner takes the stolen money, and Sam gets Thursday back.

• Lee Marvin as Sam Longwood{{cite book |last1=Epstein |first1=Dwayne |title=Lee Marvin: Point Blank |date=2013 |publisher=Schaffner Press |location=Tucson, Arizona |isbn=978-1-93618-240-4}}{{cite news |last=Epstein |first=Dwayne |title=Lee Marvin: The Mind Behind the Muscle |url=http://www.tedstrong.com/lee-marvin-outre.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928002440/http://www.tedstrong.com/lee-marvin-outre.shtml |archive-date=28 September 2007 |access-date=8 September 2007}} Outre (US), 1996, Vol. 1, Iss. 6, pg. 63-66, 86 {{dead link|date=June 2022}}{{cite web |title=Lee Marvin Cathouse |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/lee-marvin-cathouse?page=1 |website=Getty Images |access-date=12 June 2022}}
• Oliver Reed as Joe Knox
• Robert Culp as Jack Colby
• Kay Lenz as Thursday{{cite web |title=Kay Lenz Cathouse |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/kay-lenz-cathouse |website=Getty Images |access-date=12 June 2022}}
• Elizabeth Ashley as Nancy Sue
• Sylvia Miles as Madam 'Mike'
• Strother Martin as Billy{{cite web |title=Scout Cathouse Thursday |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/scout-cathouse-thursday |website=Getty Images |access-date=12 June 2022}}

Shooting took place in Durango,{{cite news |last1=Ward |first1=Robert |author1-link=Robert Ward (novelist) |title=The Story Behind Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance Smile |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-story-behind-lee-marvins-liberty-valance-smile |access-date=12 June 2022 |work=Daily Beast |date=3 January 2015 |language=en}} Mexico over a 12-week period in late 1974 and early 1975.Goodwin, Cliff Evil Spirits: The Life of Oliver Reed, London: Virgin Publishing Ltd, 2000{{cite news |last1=Kleiner |first1=Dick |title=Lee Marvin talks of one more good movie |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/244498501/ |access-date=12 June 2022 |work=The Daily Tribune from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin on August 19, 1976 · Page 43 via Newspapers.com |language=en}}

Richard Alan Shapiro wrote the novelization.{{cite web |last1=Epstein |first1=Dwayne |title=GREAT SCOUT & CATHOUSE THURSDAY COMES TO BLU-RAY |url=http://pointblankbook.com/great-scout-cathouse-thursday-comes-to-blu-ray/ |website=Lee Marvin: Point Blank Biography by Dwayne Epstein |access-date=12 June 2022 |date=3 October 2018}}{{cite web |title=Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday Archives |url=https://pointblankbook.com/tag/great-scout-cathouse-thursday/ |website=Lee Marvin: Point Blank Biography by Dwayne Epstein |access-date=12 June 2022}}

Radio Times: "worth watching to witness the battle of wills between Lee Marvin and Oliver Reed, in which the former strains every sinew to stop himself lapsing into caricatured mugging, while the latter tempts him to stray with an exhibition of unabashed showboating"{{cite news |title=The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976) |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-rzip94/the-great-scout-cathouse-thursday/ |access-date=12 June 2022 |work=Radio Times |language=en}}

Dana Jung: "Beginning as an Old West tale of revenge, then sidestepping into bawdy slapstick, and ending as a caper film, the movie is at heart a simple romance that exemplifies the story's themes of the old guard meeting the new age."{{cite web |title=NOT Available on DVD: GREAT SCOUT AND CATHOUSE THURSDAY |url=http://wearemoviegeeks.com/2011/02/not-available-on-dvd-great-scout-and-cathouse-thursday/ |website=We Are Movie Geeks |access-date=12 June 2022 |date=9 February 2011}}

Justin Mory: "The glaring problem with Scout/Thursday is that we as a culture have moved on since 1976, and the production's edgy R-rated appeal for contemporary audiences will be entirely lost for audiences of today .... What was daringly 'light and frothy' for some audiences in the mid-70s has certainly become problematic in the intervening years.{{cite web |last1=Mory |first1=Justin |title=The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976) – Blu-ray Review |url=https://www.zekefilm.org/2018/10/03/the-great-scout-and-cathouse-thursday-1976-blu-ray-review/ |website=ZekeFilm |access-date=12 June 2022 |date=October 3, 2018}}

Tom Seltzer, Columbia Missourian: "refreshing, though, in that it does not attempt any deep social meaning. It is light and amusing, and the audience seemed to enjoy it."{{cite news |title=MISSOURIAN, Sun., Sept. 26, 1976 Page 13A |url=https://mdh.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/colmo7/id/32332/ |access-date=12 June 2022 |work=mdh.contentdm.oclc.org |language=en}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0074588}}
• [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v20770 allmovie]
• [https://www.mrqe.com/movie_reviews/the-great-scout-and-cathouse-thursday-m100015434 mrqe]
• [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/76922/the-great-scout-and-cathouse-thursday tcmdb]

{{Don Taylor}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday}}

Category:1976 films

Category:Films directed by Don Taylor

Category:American comedy films

Category:1976 comedy films

Category:Films scored by John Cameron (musician)

Category:American International Pictures films

Category:Films shot in Mexico

Category:1970s English-language films

Category:1970s American films