This is a very interesting turn for Newman who was so taken with the character of Jim Kane that he purchased the film rights to the book. ![]() Newman is not only softhearted but soft-headed and his uncowboy-like response is to be frustrated. He's still the lonely man of the saddle and lariat but he's living in the 1970s instead of the 1870s. We're given an early clue that Newman might not be a movie cowboy in the John Wayne mold when we see the hectored Newman cajoled for alimony from his parasitic ex-wife and learn a herd of horses he purchased is infected with a venereal disease. They are not driving beeves to the rail yards at Fort Worth for a hungry young country, but punching stringy calves that will be roped at rodeos across the now-tamed Southwest. The modern cowboys are on what could be an allegorical tale of the last cattle drive at the ragged conclusion of America's hippie era. Marvin's narrative-like observations and expansive body language rival his superb comedic efforts displayed in Cat Ballou. Newman is a simple (minded) cowboy and Marvin is a pompously loquacious but harmlessly unhinged sidekick whose subtle paranoia is almost as interesting as his 1940s suit, tie and fedora. Blessedly, both Newman and Marvin range far from the tough, cynical personas that made them famous. Both Martin and Rogers are "all hat and no cattle" in Texas vernacular but Newman and Marvin don't figure it out until it's too late. These two cowboy pals have unwisely agreed to transport rodeo cattle for sleazy oddball Strother Martin and Martin's shifty flunky Wayne Rogers who's equipped with a superb twang and the ugliest pair of high-water, bellbottom pants in cinematic history. Instead, director Stuart Rosenberg (Cool Hand Luke with Newman and Voyage of the Damned with Marvin) walks us slowly and comfortably in well-worn boots through this quirky buddy film based on the novel Jim Kane by Texan-Arizonan cowboy and author J.P.S. This was the same period when Sam Peckinpah was bathing movie theaters in Max Factor blood with his edgy oaters, and some may have expected Paul Newman and Lee Marvin to deliver a gritty contemporary Western of that genre. ![]() ![]() ![]() Anyone looking for a run-of-the-mill film won't like this movie but it has long been one of my favorites and has become something of a cult classic.
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