The film was written and directed by Hugh Wilson, who was supposedly inspired by working at CBS Studio Center, the former Republic Pictures backlot.

[citation needed] It stars Tom Berenger as a stereotypical good-guy cowboy, Rex O'Herlihan, who is drawn out of a black-and-white film and transferred into a more self-aware setting.

At that point, the scene shifts from black and white to color and the soundtrack changes from mono to surround sound.

As a consequence of this paradigm shift, Rex O'Herlihan, a "singing cowboy", is the only character aware of the plot outline.

In exchange for a free drink, Peter explains the background: the town, and especially the sheep herders ("nice enough, but they smell God-awful"), are being terrorized by the cattle ranchers, headed by Colonel Ticonderoga.

Blackie, the foreman at Rancho Ticonderoga, swaggers into the bar with two of his henchmen and shoots one of the sheepherders, then the town’s real-estate agent.

Peter exchanges his drunk suit for a sidekick outfit, catches up with Rex and is reluctantly accepted.

At the singing cowboy's campsite, Peter finds not one but two women there eager to get to know Rex a little better, Miss Tracy and the Colonel's daughter.

The film was a passion project of director Hugh Wilson, who grew up loving Westerns he would see at the Saturday afternoon matinee.

[3] In the mid 1980s, there was a brief revival in the popularity of the Western, with the studios making films like Pale Rider, Lust in the Dust and Silverado (1985).

[3][6] Patrick Wayne was hired to appear in the film mid-shoot after the producers were unhappy with the performance of another actor already cast in the part.

[8] Rustlers' Rhapsody received negative reviews from critics, with many saying it paled in comparison to Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles.