An American adventure western directed by Monte Hellman, starring Jack Nicholson and Warren Oates.
A woman hires two men from a gold mine to escort her across a desert. The men's co-worker recently had problems in town and left. All along the way, there are problems with the woman and then another man she knows shows up to join them.
This was listed as adic western, but is not. That doesn't mean it is not a good western, though. The plot of characters traveling to some distant point is one of my favorite premises because so much can happen between. The mysterious woman and her even more mysterious gunslinger made a great contrast to the classic rough cowboy and his seemingly infantile partner. This film was made around the same time, with mostly the same cast and crew as Ride in the Whirlwind, but this was a few thousand times better. Same cameras, so video looked good. Framing and composition was amazingly better, just look at this shot (image). I liked the vast expanses of desert for a setting. There was lots of dialogue which was written well and the acting was convincing. The only part I didn't like was the inconclusive ending. I rate this awesome. Watch it.
An American action film directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring Warren Oates.
A piano player in a bar is contracted to kill a man and return with his head in exchange for a million dollars. He begins his quest with a prostitute girlfriend who also knows the target.
It was alright. Pretty standard for the '70s. The plot was easy to follow and held my attention relatively well. The main character was stereotypical of a sleazy '70s gangster/detective type of half-criminal. He wore a light colored suit, had a mustache and chugged liquor like it was his job. The piano playing gig and prostitute girlfriend were the icing on his sleazy cake. All of the other characters were extras. The video was typical of the times. A little bit of grain, longer shot range and duration, you know the deal. There were some female anatomy points awarded to the girl in the intro and outro whose father was the target and the girlfriend on at least two occasions. Audio was normal as well. I could hear what people were saying and they hid the girlfriend's guitar playing enough so I couldn't tell if she was actually the one playing it. Overall, a regular movie. I rate it o.k.
An American western directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Warren Oates and Ben Johnson.
A former member of an outlaw gang has gone against them and has an inept crew to fight them with. The gang flees to Mexico after a bank robbery, where they also encounter military resistance.
Shootouts, peplum-style men on horses and gangs/armies fighting was all I saw. There were a few drinking scenes to break up the monotony of violence, but it was mostly physical conflict. Hence, the plot did not interest me and there were too many characters to get to know any of them. The video tried so hard to be spaghetti like Sergio Leone, but could not reach his level of intimacy by using so many dudes fighting. The audio was actually very good. I could hear all of the dialogue and it contained appropriate music, including diagetic sources. Overall, a peplum western trying to be spaghetti in America. I rate it poor for being something that it should not be and trying to be something that it cannot be.
An American Canadian adventure directed by Philip Kaufman, starring Warren Oates, Timothy Bottoms and Louis Gossett Jr.
Men from a whaling ship crash and are rescued by eskimos.
This was amazing compared to most of the other Philip Kaufman films I've seen. The whaling sailors blend into eskimo society in varying degrees. The blonde guy goes native, the black guy is neutral and the bearded guy wants to leave. Technical aspects were fine with subtitles for eskimo language. The plot actually held my attention and the characters were interesting. As is standard for Philip's work, there were sex scenes and nudity. No female anatomy points were earned though. Overall, a triumph for piss-poor Kaufman. I rate this good because it's actually worth watching compared to his other crap.
An Italian Spanish western directed by Monte Hellman, starring Warren Oates, Jenny Agutter and Sam Peckinpah.
A man who is about to be hanged is pardoned when he agrees to kill another man who is in the way of a railroad. They meet and become friends, but the mark's wife falls in love with the assassin. The married couple get in a fight and the wife leaves the husband for dead to run away with the assassin. When the husband recovers, all hell breaks loose because not only is he after the couple, but the railroad people are after all of them.
I liked the plot, although it became a little muddy at times. The characters were good, but the main character's accent changed a few times. The pacing was right, with fast fights and slow time between them. I thought the scene with the main character removing a bullet from his own leg was good. Another amusing aspect was the bottles of booze and cocaine medicine that were omnipresent. Apparently, there is a director's cut edition of this somewhere with some nudity and maybe extra violence. Those things would have really helped to make this film great. It has that gritty western style and if we add a naked Jenny Agutter (of Walkabout (1971) fame), it would be just grand. As is, I'm rating it adequate, but I am going to search for the director's cut as soon as I finish this post.
