The French as Seen by... (TV Mini Series) The Cowboy and the Frenchman (1988) User Reviews

Tongue-in-cheek short for Lynch diehards only

[Groverdox · 5/10 · 21 September 2023]

From what I can gather in the '80s a bunch of foreign directors were commissioned to make a movie about how the rest of the world sees France. Lynch said he was asked but turned it down, but on the way home from the meeting where it was first suggested to him, he started getting ideas. The guy who offered him the job heard the ideas and said they were two clichés for the price of one.

The movie is shot like a Technicolor western, featuring Lynch standbys Harry Dean Stanton and Jack Nance, who are regrettably now no longer with us. Stanton, apparently like Lynch himself, projects his voice due to a hearing impairment he suffered when a rifle went off too close to his ears. He and his cowboy buddies lasso themselves a French guy, who is unable to communicate with them. They go through his suitcase and discover a bunch of stereotypical French items like snails and cheese that smells so strong Stanton thinks it's gone bad.

Eventually, they make friends with the Frenchman and are joined by a Native American man and some lady singers. There is a constant soundtrack of instrumental country music throughout.

This might be one of the hardest Lynch flicks to rate. People are saying it proves he could do comedy, but I disagree, because one, a humourous tone is present through a lot of his output, especially "Twin Peaks", and two, because it's never really laugh-out-loud funny. Some Lynch things have this tone, in addition to other things going on at the time, but "The Cowboy and the Frenchman" really doesn't have much else to it.

Even the supposed point of the flick, showing how Americans see the French, seems undeveloped. It feels more like Lynch just wanted to try his hand at making an old-timey Western.

Worth a look

[Faena · 5/10 · 11 October 2014]

This starts off pretty funny, but simply becomes too... Lynchian. By the time the girls arrive, it had lost me. The subsequent party scene is oblique, and the only highlight is Harry Dean Stanton's considerable singing talent (who knew? -- not me). I wish Lynch had stuck with straight comedy through and through, yet his more devoted fans might appreciate his surrealism a bit more than I'm able to. I guess I'm too dense. This is the only one of his efforts on The Short Films of David Lynch DVD that I was able to derive any sort of enjoyment from. On a side note, I noticed the boom mic dip briefly into the frame once, which was disappointing.

An over-the-top treat!

[stephen_bounds · 12 July 2002]

This 25 or so minute short film, now available as part of a collection titled "The Short Films of David Lynch," is a ridiculously funny dive into a kind of pure realm of cliché about some cowboys who encounter a wandering Frenchman, and the antics that ensue as they become acquainted. Stereotypes are served up relentlessly as if to demonstrate just how ridiculous they are, while at the same time a kind of light sweetness pervades. There's both a silly, vaudevillian surface humor, and a deeper dreamlike release - if you get the joke. David Lynch basically goes as far as anyone could go with the idea, without getting dark. Though fascinating, nothing on David Lynch's 'Short Films' compilation was too surprising - except this one. It's a real treat.

David Lynch does comedy and it's not too good

[Red-Barracuda · 3/10 · 16 December 2011]

David Lynch made this as part of a French TV series where various foreign directors directed segments about how they see the French. It is about a group of stupid cowboys who encounter a wandering Frenchman. Cue a culture clash and a host of clichés associated with Americans and French. Starring Lynch regulars Harry Dean Stanton and Jack Nance, The Cowboy and the Frenchman incorporates much of the silly humour typical of Lynch. The trouble is that it isn't very funny. Mainly it's just a bit annoying. It doesn't have any of the sinister and moody feeling more associated with the director. And that's most unfortunate. What it does have is a lot of tiresome comedy. Not recommended.

Simply hilarious (a must see)

[enmussak · 10/10 · 23 December 2002]

I'm usually intensely critical of comedy, but this is a real gem. I laughed all the way through it. The acting was perfectly idiosyncratic and quirky making for hilarious sequences. I had no idea Lynch had this in him. This short used enough good ideas for a feature length film. Lynch shows here that his talent is very diverse. Kudos, my fellow Madisonian. 10/10

I'm a fan of Lynch, Nance, and Stockwell, but...

[dastaten · 4/10 · 25 August 2010]

Lynch fascinates me and I love discovering new works by him. Twin Peaks, IMHO, is one of the greatest series of all time and it's a shame and tragedy that it only lasted two seasons. Likewise, Eraserhead is a beautiful, creative work of art. I have the utmost respect for Lynch and his work, but I have to admit, I just didn't get this film. Other reviews claim this movie is hilarious and that Lynch proved he can master humor. I'm sorry, but I chuckled once during this film and was bored for the rest. I actually wonder if the positive reviews with such high ratings are simply by die-hard fans who will claim everything Lynch has ever done is genius. Like I said, I'm a tremendous fan, but this film, IMO, was highly mediocre.

If you're a fan of Lynch and want to soak up everything he has ever done, by all means, watch this one. But if you're looking for hilarious comedy, most along, there is nothing to see here.

A Hilarious Work from Lynch

[Scars_Remain · 10/10 · 13 September 2008]

I've almost seen all of David Lynch's films. I've seen all of his feature films so now I'm working through the obscure stuff and short films. This is an awesome short film that was apparently an episode for a show that never even got off the ground. I'm glad it was made available in the Short Films of David Lynch DVD because I don't know if we'd be able to see it otherwise. It is much more comedic than much of anything Lynch has done in the past. It's almost slapstick comedy in a way. I love the characters. It's awesome how much is put into them in such a short amount of time. The actors and the story are great also. This is something every Lynch fan should see.

Very Very Very Funny

[jbels · 28 January 2003]

This is a French tv show that David Lynch was commissioned to make and it is so funny. It is his take on American's perception of the French and all the cliches are thrown in. This is worth checking out just to see Harry Dean Stanton say "What the hell!" over and over again.

Lynch's funniest film, almost without trying

[Quinoa1984 · 8/10 · 4 February 2006]

The Cowboy and the Frenchman, which is included among the lot of the director's short films (some from his days before Eraserhead and some he's done since Mulholland Drive), is so Lynchian if you've only seen one of his films- particularly Wild at Heart or Lost Highway- you could tell who made it. Though it doesn't make it any less strange, it also happens to be his funniest film, with the long takes long enough to capture the awkwardness of the cowboys with their 'captive' Frenchman, and an assortment of strung-together stereotypes. Anything clichéd about French people, or cowboys for that matter, is exploited to a very funny effect. In a way it's funny at times like a Jim Jarmusch film is, in pointing to the differences and lack of communication as something very human and interesting. It's not as 'artsy' as Eraserhead (though with a little nod to that film there are singing faces in the sky), and it takes its time to lead up to ridiculously no point. But it's shot in a very cool black and white film (or maybe video, who knows), some neat shots, and the added plus of the great character actor Harry Dean Stanton among the cast of nobody's (save for Lynch regular Jack Nance). If you can find it, likely among other Lynch shorts or online, it's worth a view. It's an absurd shot of American versus European versus Native American pathos, containing the most morbid though not-too-dreamlike moments of Lynch's films.

Lynch's funniest short

[squidlike · 16 November 2002]

I recently had the opportunity to see all of David Lynch's short films (on a compilation entitled "The Short Films of David Lynch" narrated by the auteur himself, I love Lynch's art in any form I can get it.) The short films range from artsy to funny to sickening. The Cowboy and the Frenchman was certainly funny. If you liked On The Air, you'll love this film short. And if you get the opportunity to see the short films compilation, don't pass it up.

Minor Lynch is fun

[chaos-rampant · 4 April 2016]

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.

short but sweet

[sagerae · 11 April 2002]

This is the funniest thing that I have ever seen. Seriously. The absurdity of the entire thing is hilarious - I love Harry Dean Stanton's "What the hell?" that is repeated SO many times.

The plot: Cowboy meets Frenchman and they become quick friends. This film is one that everybody can appreciate.

"Two clichés!"

[Polaris_DiB · 10 February 2006]

More like three, you have to count the Indian.

Okay.

This film is hilarious. David Lynch, always having the serious work he does with the dirty, bizarre worlds and the disturbing, psychological characters, mixes it up a bit with The Cowboy and the Frenchman, a tale (that doesn't really make sense, as per his usual work) about a bunch of cowboys who find a Frenchman and befriend him. The culture clash is more than one can handle, what with the mix of music, stereotype ("Damn, what's that? Damn, what's that? Damn, what's that? Damn, what's that? Damn, what's that?"), and caricature.

In fact, the entire strength of this short rests on the moment the two underlings open up the Frenchman's case and start pulling out his "affairs", all of them stereotypical things Americans think the French are obsessed with but which are really just things they happen to have a lot of in their culture (the French equivalent would be opening up an American's suitcase and finding a pile of hamburgers and televisions).

Not to say the cowboys don't get their collection of satire, what with shooting random animals, being absolutely stupid, and never understanding anything.

It's piercingly funny, even if it is about five minutes too long and isn't really that much of a work of art as much as just a silly exposition.

--PolarisDiB

Classic Lynch

[Corndog101 · 21 November 2000]

This movie should be used at film schools across the world as an example of the Art of Filmmaking. This Lynch original keeps with the consistency of his other amazing contributions to the world of Entertainment.

David Lynch is a gift to the vast world of story telling and will surely be looked up to by newer generations of entertainers and artists. The cast deserves a round of applause as well. Harry Dean-Stanton is a true professional. Even if you're not into Lynch styled movies, you will be highly entertained by this film.