Dressed in a 1920s zoot suit, an amateur magician parachutes in an Old West town where he causes unrest by performing tricks that the locals believe are miracles in this decidedly weird western from Robert Downey Sr. Written as a deliberately anachronistic character, the protagonist here is intriguing; as his tricks involve healing the sick and walking on water, he is clearly modeled on Christ, yet with the way he dresses and lands in town, it is as if he has been sent from the future back to the Wild West. Whatever the case, Allan Arbus (of 'M*A*S*H' fame) is excellent in the lead role, remaining calm and collected throughout (turn the other cheek) and always very enthusiastic about performing - even when a card guessing trick terribly backfires. For a Christ-like figure, he is highly subverted, encouraging kindness and good will by getting those he comes across to applaud his acts and marvel at his showmanship. For all its ambition though, 'Greaser's Palace' remains a highly episodic motion picture, often coming across as a series of loose sketches than a plot-driven story - something that dulls the religious parable at hand and makes the overall experience a tad uneven. There are some great running gags in the mix too though, such as Arbus constantly bringing local black sheep Michael Sullivan back to life, much to the outcast's constant bewilderment.

There is no two ways about it, this movie is a drug movie. It's meant to be watched while on drugs. Since I'm not on drugs I got to see the real film. It's not really very good.

Now, it LOOKS good and the color has held up, but the story line is silly and very 60's.

I was bored early on and stayed that way for the duration.

The Greaser character makes no sense. People annoy him and he shoots them, but then others are even more annoying and nothing happens.

It's not dramatic and it's nor particularly funny.

This is one of those crazy counter culture flicks that some how got backing in the 1970s.

It rambles. It fumbles.

But it's strangely hypnotic.

For me there isn't much of a plot. Maybe because it was directed for pot heads, I am missing something. I don't really get the life of Christ reference really. Except that Greaser does some healing. And makes some references to Jerusalem, but it's all way too obtuse and silly to be taken as a true satire or even a referential film.

Life of Brian was so much better.

The movie loses it's hypnosis about 20 minutes into it and become boring...again, maybe because I'm not high...or maybe because the 70s are long gone and they weren't that fun or kooky to begin with.

A lot of these wacky 70s films are just not so wacky today. The hippies are retiring and the world is going to hell. No time for meaningless drivel.