Sitting Duck gives us this month’s roundtable prompt, asking us to share which was the strangest “Weird Western” movie we’ve ever seen.

Sitting Duck: The 1935 Mascot Pictures serial The Phantom Empire. Now some of you lily-livered tinhorns might think the Weird Western is a new-fangled development to freshen up the genre after the Spaghetti Western pulled it out of the creative rut it had gotten stuck in only to plow into a snowdrift of inspirational stagnancy. Well, it turns out those fangles are as old as them thar hills where there’s gold. If The Phantom Empire is not THE first Weird Western to be committed to film, then at least it’s one of the first.

One of the most notable aspects is that it features renowned singing cowboy Gene Autry in his first starring role, where he essentially portrays himself (as these singing cowboys often did). Turns out his ranch sits atop of a cave system in which resides the super high-tech Kingdom of Murania, being the last remnant of the lost civilization of Mu that is ruled by a temperamental queen (as these civilizations often are). Their technological achievements are somewhat haphazard. On one hand, they have neat-o gadgets like robots, ray guns, television screens, high-speed elevators, and other such whiz bang contraptions. Yet they still use swords and spears for fighting and ride horses. Worst of all, their pants technology is waaaaay behind the times.

This serial is also probably the only place you’ll ever encounter the phrase, “Vicious party of research scientists.” At least outside the context of procuring grants.

One more point of interest. Remember that episode of Futurama where Fry and Leela are on the planet of human-hating robots, so they disguise themselves as such? Turns out Smiley Burnette and Peter Potter beat them to it. Though there’s no scene where one of them takes a whizz and another robot offers to patch up the fluid leak. Even if there had been, those killjoys at the Hays Office were gaining clout at the time and would not have been amused.

ZombieDog: I literally put no thought into this because as soon as the question was asked, I knew the answer. Greaser’s Palace (1972) is an avant-garde film produced by Robert Downey Sr., the father of Robert Downey Jr. of Iron Man fame. It stars Allan Arbus (the psychologist from M*A*S*H) as a man with amnesia who has the ability to heal.

It’s listed on IMDb as a western comedy, and I think that’s a very loose definition. It is western, at least in the setting, and there are comedic aspects. From there it starts to become full on art film mixed with simile and metaphor (good luck figuring out which is which) that pushes the limits of absurdity mixed with “I can’t believe somebody did this.” For more conventional description it is a good guy versus bad guy movie. Strangely enough there were a lot of films produced like this in the 70s. It was a decent art movement and there were some heavy hitters behind this film. Don’t take my word for it, you can watch for free on Tubi.

It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. Let me throw an alternate out there. Duck, You Sucker! (1971) which stars James Colburn and Rod Steiger. Best of all, it’s directed by the king of Spaghetti Westerns, Sergio Leone. The film focuses on the Mexican Revolution and James Colburn’s character love of dynamite. If you’ve never seen this movie and you love Spaghetti Westerns, it is most definitely worth your time. It checks those weird boxes and is fun to boot.

Justin: Ever since I discovered them, Oblivion and Oblivion 2 — which were filmed back-to-back — charmed me as these odd space westerns that really should’ve been some sort of TV series. They’re absolutely so mid-90s in tone, tossing Meg Foster and giant turtles and George Takei making Star Trek puns and Julie Newmar and cyborgs and empaths at us left and right. Good movies? Only if you like cheesy bizarre mashups — and fortunately I do.

Tom: I’d like to take a moment here to acknowledge that we know that Wild Wild West from the ’90s is not only strange and eccentric but also based off of a TV series of the same name from the ’60s, right? In that same vein, I have to give my awards and hopes to The Mandalorian as being the weirdest Western TV series I’ve seen with the hopes that it someday emerges 30 years later as the weirdest full-fledged movie you could imagine. You can’t deny the similarities that The Mandalorian has to a western: gunslinging, bounty hunting, dangerous shoot-outs, quirky side-kicks, colorful locals in far off places, western sounding theme music… It’s got my vote and my hopes!

Drake: So, the Weirdest of the Weird Westerns. A few come to mind. Takashi Miike’s interesting but flawed Sukiyaki Western Django deserves a mention, as does S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk, which almost had a Lovecraftian current running through it.

But weirdest? As Connor McLeod might say, there can be only one: Billy the Kid vs. Dracula.

So why is Billy the Kid vs. Dracula the weirdest Western? OK, first off there’s of course the subject matter. Billy the Kid, renowned Western outlaw facing off with Europe’s master of the undead? Sure, that’s weird. And, of course, we have a 36-year-old Chuck Courtney playing Billy (who was a mere 21 when he died). That’s weird, but not exceptionally so.

No, what’s really weird about Billy the Kid vs. Dracula is the fact that Dracula himself is played by veteran Z-movie actor John Carradine (that’s not the weird part) and (this is the weird part) Carradine claimed that this is the only movie he ever regretted making. Seriously, John? You were in Astro Zombies! And Hillbillys in a Haunted House!! And Red Zone Cuba!!! Yet Billy the Kid vs. Dracula is the one movie you regret making?

That’s weird. Like, really weird. There’s a whole story there that some enterprising cinephile should dig into. I for one would love to know how Billy the Kid vs. Dracula was somehow a worse experience for Carradine than Bigfoot. Or House of the Black Death. Or Honey Britches. Or…