Product Details

• Actors: Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, James Coburn, Ben Johnson, Ian Bannen
• Directors: Richard Brooks
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 30, 1996
• Run Time: 131 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630358909X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,922 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Westerns > Western Stars > Ben Johnson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent alternative to the typical western fare, December 2, 1999

By	Robert W. Gailey "Bob in Hawaii" (Waipio, Oahu, Hawaii) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If nothing else, this movie has a great cast and a very interesting storyline. It begins in the first few years of the 20th century somewhere in the West. A 700 mile race is promoted by a newspaper that sets rider and horse against each other and the elements. It also pits the wealthy and their resources against those of more modest means with obvious results. However, I feel the strengh of "Bite the Bullet" is not so much a story of classes as it is the characters themselves. With a plethora of well-known character actors, the movie takes the time to develop each of these characters in a manner that makes "Bite the Bullet" an enjoyable and very watchable movie. Obviously, as a person who loves the wide-screen version of any movie, I cannot wait for "Bite the Bullet" to come out in DVD and widescreen format. However, until that time, I feel that once you see the cast involved in "Bite the Bullet" you will enjoy watching this wonderful and underrated version an era coming to an end.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Race Of Personal Best, November 7, 2004

By	MF Regan "Seth" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bite the Bullet (DVD)

I watched this film the other night- I hadn't seen it since I was a teenager. I loved it.

It's a western that's much more than that. While it's premise is about a horse race- it's really about life's race; about games that seem bought and paid for, age vs youth, friendships and whether we let things come between them, and about why people run the race and how one man's reaction to it can influence others to change the dynamic(in a good way).

Hackman and Coburn make a good combination in this as former Rough Riders. Jan Michael Vincent had a role where he really had to shine and I think he gave the performance of his career, here. Ben Johnson breaks your heart in what is one of the most real roles he has ever offered (and probably a real testament to how the real cowboy lived). Candice Bergman is terrific, too.

This story handles a full range of issues (racial, sexual and animal rights) in a fair and real sense. Some have remarked about some of the cruelty depicted here, and the point Richard Brooks was making (I think) is, there are some real swine in this world. They view anything- be it animal or their fellow human beings, merely as a means to an end. They're either too stupid or too insensitive to know how dark they are. It's also an example of how we set examples for one another. If you allow stupid to do as stupid does- stupid will!

I won't spoil the ending- let's just say that it makes a point about what's really important, in a very effective, emotion filled way. I think you leave this film not only satisfied- but feeling uplifted.

My personal favorite of Richard Brooks and time extrememly well spent.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the loveliest Westerns ever made, November 23, 2005

By	Scott Ross (Raleigh, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Bite the Bullet (DVD)

Perhaps only Richard Brooks with his tough-minded humanism could have written and directed a movie as open-hearted as this one. All of the major characters appear at first as archetypes (Gene Hackman the rough-hewn loner, Jan-Michael Vincent the cruel and callow young pup begging for his come-uppance etc.) but as the movie rolls on Brooks presents each in deeply human terms. "Bite the Bullet" is a kennly perceptive -- and redemptive -- group character study masquerading as robust adventure. I don't mean the big action sequences are a shill; they're beauitifully filmed and exciting as hell. But they take second position to the warm, forgiving quality of Brooks' storytelling. Unfairly overlooked on its original release, this is a movie (like "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" by a very different sort of writer-director) whose contemplative and profoundly humane textures glow with greater luminescence as the years go by. Sterling character work by the entire cast, especially the underrrated James Coburn and the heartbreakingly stolid Ian Bannen. As an added treat, there's a great, evocative score by the late Alex North. And if the finale doesn't move you to tears you may be beyond reaching.