This is goofy and weird but a bit less so once you know what it is. It's part of a French omnibus program about France seen through the eyes of foreigners. Lynch was commissioned among others. The original has now faded from view as these things tend to, the short has carried on as part of Lynch's catalogue. So that's how we ended up having a western short with a Frenchman by him.
The first part is the work he turned out. A bumbling Frenchman arrives in a ranch, seemingly spat out by the bush. Ranch-hands take out bagels from his oversized suitcase, Eiffel tower miniatures, snails, everything that is meant to be weird and stereotypically French from the American view. The cowboys have no idea what kind of 'thang' he is, perhaps a spy, but are finally elated to find out he's French.
It's Lynch lampooning his own cultural removal as a country boy from Montana, certainly not mocking America. Harry Stanton as the overseer has a hearing problem and repeats questions; Lynch would write the same quirk into the character he would reserve for himself in Twin Peaks.
This part is some of the funniest work he has done, a hoot of deadpan delivery.
The second part is Lynch indulging his love for weirdly incongruous performance, the scrapyard theatrics he fills both his actual films with and now then has fun with in side projects. We have singing and dancing, French and American form melting into each other, a horse in slow motion. Less interesting.
The first part is the work he turned out. A bumbling Frenchman arrives in a ranch, seemingly spat out by the bush. Ranch-hands take out bagels from his oversized suitcase, Eiffel tower miniatures, snails, everything that is meant to be weird and stereotypically French from the American view. The cowboys have no idea what kind of 'thang' he is, perhaps a spy, but are finally elated to find out he's French.
It's Lynch lampooning his own cultural removal as a country boy from Montana, certainly not mocking America. Harry Stanton as the overseer has a hearing problem and repeats questions; Lynch would write the same quirk into the character he would reserve for himself in Twin Peaks.
This part is some of the funniest work he has done, a hoot of deadpan delivery.
The second part is Lynch indulging his love for weirdly incongruous performance, the scrapyard theatrics he fills both his actual films with and now then has fun with in side projects. We have singing and dancing, French and American form melting into each other, a horse in slow motion. Less interesting.