Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls (2021)

Madelyn Wiley is Rebecca Crawford, and she’s seen strange creatures flying around her home near Kirksey, Texas.

Problem is, no one will believe her. So she decides to toss out her husband’s birthday roast as bait

Sure enough, a pterodactyl shows up. But the reptile seems more interested in her husband than the roast and flies off, carrying Robert along.

What to do next?

Well, the sheriff still isn’t buying the story and suggests that if Rebecca wants to retrieve her husband, she form her own posse.

So that’s just what she does, visiting her hero, former female gunslinger turned drunk Bunny Parker (Carmen Vienhage) for starters.

They’re soon joined by bordello owner Debbie Dukes Riley Masterson III (Haley Zega), who’s comes into possession of a bag full of pterodactyle eggs. And a plan begins to hatch.

Rebecca will simply locate the reptile’s nest and trade the mama pterodactyl her eggs in exchange for Robert.

Of course, it doesn’t wind up being that simple. Because there are lots of pterodactyls on the loose.

What’s more, one of the eggs hatch, yielding a rather cute creature who’s given the name Terry.

And an escape convict named Doris Yates (Dani Thompson) wants in on the hunt. Heck, all of Debbie Dukes’ whores from back in Kirksey show up too.

Review:

I grade on a curve, and if you queue up “Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyles” expecting a big-budget film filled with Hollywood stars … well, you should probably watch a Flintstones cartoon instead.

This is low budget all the way, funded in part by an Indiegogo campaign that sought to raise just $3,000 and intended partly as a tribute to the old Ray Harryhausen stop-motion films (i.e. “Valley of Gwangi”).

So filmmakers get one star for the idea, the courage to release such a film in 2021 and for their perseverance. That Indiegogo campaign was launched in December 2018.

The other two stars?

Well, if you don’t chuckle a few times over the course of this film, which begins on a dark and stormy night (of course), you’re taking life way too seriously.

The actors and actresses don’t take themselves too seriously, which helps. And Madelyn Wiley is quite likeable in the lead role.

Directed by:
Joshua Kennedy

Cast:
Madelyn Wiley … Rebecca Crawford
Haley Zega … Debbie Dukes Riley Masterson III
Carmen Vienhage … Bunny Parker
Dani Thompson … Doris Yates
Jonathan Tamez … Robert Crawford
Tom Pearson … The sheriff
Martine Beswicke … Narator

The other “cowgirls”: Stephanie Marie Baggett, Clarissa Perez, Valerie Prince, Stefanie Jo Saenz, Mitzi Salinas

Runtime: 73 min.

Memorable lines:

Whore #1, walking into a room of dead card players: “They shot each other!”
Whore #2: “Do ya think so?”

Debbie Dukes Riley Masterson III, bordello ownerr: “Profits are way down this year, and we need a gimmick to start bringing people back in. I’m open to anything. Anybody have any suggestions?”
Whore with furry hat: “What if we all come dressed like different kinds of animals? So Sasha here, for example, can dress like a porcupine.”
Debbie Dukes: “I don’t think anyone finds porcupines sexy. That’s just you: You’re a furry!”

Debbie Dukes Riley Masterson III: “Look at you. Drinkin’ half a dozen bottles before noon. That’s disappointing.”
Bunny Parker: “Why? You think I could do more? I bet you I could.”

Debbie Dukes Riley Masterson III, when Bunny comes looking for a job: “You a whore? Your father would turn in his grave.”
Bunny Parker: “My father’s alive.”
Debbie Dukes: “This’ll kill him.”

Bunny Parker: “I’m not a man-hunter anymore. Those days are over.”
Rebecca Crawford, forming her posse: “What about a dinosaur hunter?”

Debbie Dukes Riley Masterson III: “Now what the hell is a pterodactyl?”
Rebecca Crawford: “Half bird, half snake and all devil.”

Bunny Parker, to Rebecca: “This here rifle is Dave. You can see him, you can smell him, you can kiss him. But no one, and I mean no one, shoots Dave except Bunny Parker.”