(Spoilers below...)
I saw this film with my dad during its original theater run. I was nine. I remember the scenes of the bronco taming, where Holden's character cauterizes Ryan O'Neal's character's wound with the red-hot knife and Goldsmith's soaring score, but I could not remember the film's title. It has taken years to find the film again.
The film made a big impression on me as a kid. Watching it now, I understand the film's obscurity, as its total is less than the sum of its parts. Blake Edwards reportedly wanted the film to be a Greek tragedy in the context of the Old West. The elements of a Greek tragedy are there: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle (scenic effect), and song (music), of which the first two are primary.
Unfortunately, where the film is weakest is in plot and character. The story involves the unraveling of most of the characters' lives through stubbornness and greed. It's hard to like or identify with the two protagonists as they blunder along. Holden plays Ross Bodine, an experienced cowboy who offers lots of wisdom and insight to O'Neal's Frank Post and should know better than to rob a bank to create a retirement plan. O'Neal's Post is essentially a child, easily distracted by puppies, pumas and poker games, and looking to avoid Ross' 25 years of cow-punching through stealing other people's money.
As Bodine and Post make one poor decision after another before, during and after the robbery, it is clear where the film is headed. This is not the crew from Heat or Pike's gang in the Wild Bunch; these guys are clearly not going to escape. If Holden's and O'Neal's on-screen chemistry was more organic, some of this could be overlooked, as then we could enjoy the journey to film's clear destination, but it is not. Holden gives a fine performance, but Frank's role was a bit of a stretch for O'Neal. Maybe O'Neal is just too pretty. Sam Bottoms would have been a better choice.
The only main character with any sense is Jo Don Baker's Paul Buckman. He spends most of his screen time trying to talk his way out of his father's plans for him, in life and after his death, and nudging his brother John, played by Tom Skerritt, away from a series of poor decisions, many of which stem from daddy issues. "Whatcha' going to do when you are born into the wrong family, huh?" he laments to the Benson sheriff as he rides off after John, having failed yet again to get him to turn around and go home. It is fitting end to the film that along he rides home, leaving his unhinged brother to struggle with Ross' body.
The elements of diction, scenic effect and music are well executed, even if some are clearly borrowed from John Ford and Sam Peckinpah. The locations are beautiful, the back and forth between the cowboys authentic and the score is wonderful. The action photography is great. These qualities are not enough to make up for film's shortcomings, however. As for the element of thought? Here is perhaps the film's main message, uttered by O'Neal's gut shot Frank on floor of the bar is this: "God damn… I should've stuck with what I was doing!"
I wonder what the cast thought of the final product, even with the restored footage. Perhaps the film's most compelling characters speak for them in the final moments of the closing scene. Jo Don Baker's Paul Buckman dismounts, roughly pulls Skerrit's Frank Buckman back, leans over the mortally wounded Ross Bodine, kindly shading his face with his hat. "Bodine, I'm sorry." "Me too" responds Holden's Bodine, expiring.
Who should rent this western? Fans of Ford and Peckinpah, if they would like to see how their work influenced Edwards', and fans of William Holden. The film's score is wonderful and worth checking out.
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Bob Salter
Not Your Average Sort of Bank Robbers.
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In need of digital enhancement
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 30, 2011
