Reckless Kelly
Yahoo is back in his second film. After the success of Young Einstein he was able to pull off a slightly better known cast. Did it pay off any better? I think it did, Reckless Kelly may be a lesser-known film of Yahoo’s (granted he only has three and only one is well known), but in my opinion it’s his best work. Maybe it just has to do with his hair being the most normal out of all his movies.
Yahoo plays a modern take on the Australian robin hood-esque outlaw Ned Kelly. He’s the sole remaining member of the bank robbing division of the Kelly gang. The rest of the gang now spends it’s time in the running of a hotel that’s so old that most don’t know if it were built or if it has always been there and the “the manufacture and consumption of beer”. We see Ned early in the film holding up an ATM and using the money to deposit into accounts of those who can’t afford to repay their loans and then, of course, mailing the receipts to said people. It’s all very clever
The real Ned Kelly, clearly spoof worthy
On a particular job Ned discovers an aspiring actress named (get ready to groan) Robin Banks (ugh) played by Melora Hardin of the office fame. This sets Yahoo up for the also groan worthy line “What’s your name?” “Robin Banks” “I was earlier, now I’m depositing”. The movie gets better trust me. Ned is actually a very positive character, not only does he give all his ill-gotten gains to the needy, but he also never kills anyone. He’s a bit gun obsessed, but he only uses guns to “shoot guns from the hands of those that would prefer to see me dead”. An adage he’s picked up from his favorite movie character “The Hollywood Outlaw”. All this bank robbing though does get him on the bad side of the head bankers.
Bulletproof
The top brass is played by Hugo Weaving (I wonder what pill he took to wind up with this role). He calls in a British Special forces agent (played by Alexei Sayle, see what I mean about the cast, it’s pretty great) to help deal with the “Kelly problem”. Alexei has some of the best wig humor in the movie, the entire time the characters are in America (more on that in a bit) he sports a wig that makes him look like an 80’s glam rocker (though he tends to keep the suit all the same). The way the evil bank decides to deal with the Kelly gang is to sell the island they live on and have it shipped to Japan.
"Hi, I'm Hugo Weaving, I played some fairy elf thing in Lord of the Rings, but you probably remember me better for my role as Sir John in Reckless Kelly" - Hugo Weaving
This forces Ned to go to America to rob banks there (since everyone knows it’s ok to keep the money you steal in 'Merica). Needless to say he discovers America’s love of plastic and he winds up in show business. He winds up running into Robin as well and they get cast in a film about an outlaw preacher blah blah blah. Frankly the America storyline is kind of weak, but as with all Serious films. You come for the sight gags. There are gags galore too. There’s also a wider range as well, in Young Einstein I felt he was trying to be the naked gun movies too much, but with Reckless Kelly he also draws inspiration from airplane and some Mel Brooks style humor.
Has nothing to do with the movie...I just thought it was funny
All in all it’s a lot of fun and I think if you enjoyed Young Einstein you’ll enjoy Reckless Kelly even more.
8 out of 10
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