"A rootin', tootin', but sincere picture" was the advertising tag for the comedy western Waterhole No. 3. James Coburn plays the likeably amoral hero, who'll go to any lengths to get his mitts on a treasure map. Like his principal rival, renegade confederate cavalryman Claude Akins, Coburn knows that a fortune in gold bullion is hidden near a desert waterhole; the trick is finding the damned thing. Along the way, Coburn humiliates redneck sheriff Carroll O'Connor and "has his way" with O'Connor's far from unwilling daughter Maggie Blye. When Blye, cast aside by Coburn in favor of his treasure quest, screams rape, Coburn replies that his only crime is "assault with a friendly weapon." Just try to get that bit past an audience in 1996. Supervised by Blake Edwards, Waterhole No. 3 is agreeably irreverent, though a little editing here and there wouldn't have hurt.
