Hey, I like Jack's sick humor in all this. It's hilarious.
Rustler gang led by Jack Nicholson is stealing cattle owned by John McLiam. McLiam brings in a professional 'regulator' (Brando) to go after them. Of course during this whole thing, Nicholson has an affair with McLiam's daughter (played by Kathleen Lloyd) which helps complicate things.
There's all kinds of Brando maneuvering going on against Nicholson's gang including Randy Quaid being left to drown in the rapids by Brando; John Ryan getting shot at long range while he's screwing a homesteader's wife; Frederic Forrest getting killed long range while he's sitting in an outhouse taking a dump; and Harry Dean Stanton being burned out of his house in the middle of the night and being stuck in the eye and killed by Brando's X-shaped shiv.
Brando's being weirdly methodological about the whole thing, sometimes wearing a prairie woman's dress and bonnet while killing off Nicholson's gang, but his accent is also unconvincing. He goes from Irish, to Western to English, so I guess that's to let the audience know he has a big screw loose or something. Now it's up to Jack to hunt down Brando, finally catching up with him while he's asleep and then slitting his throat.
And there's also good shootout scene at the end where McLaim, who everyone now believes is infirm with a stroke, pulls out a gun while he's sitting in a wheelchair and shoots the unawares Nicholson. Nicholson then shoots back killing McLiam. The film ends with Nicholson (his arm in a sling) and Lloyd parting ways.
The critics universally hated this film, calling it the worst thing that Brando, Nicholson and Arthur Penn have ever done, but I happened to like it.
I found the story engaging and gritty, wondering what was going to happen next to Nicholson's gang as each one of them gets killed off. I even managed to ignore the dumb idiosyncrasies that Brando was making, although I think it's a shame he had to resort to using them at this stage of the game.
Besides, most of these people look like they haven't taken a bath in a long time. Except Brando. (laughs)
7 out of 10.
Rustler gang led by Jack Nicholson is stealing cattle owned by John McLiam. McLiam brings in a professional 'regulator' (Brando) to go after them. Of course during this whole thing, Nicholson has an affair with McLiam's daughter (played by Kathleen Lloyd) which helps complicate things.
There's all kinds of Brando maneuvering going on against Nicholson's gang including Randy Quaid being left to drown in the rapids by Brando; John Ryan getting shot at long range while he's screwing a homesteader's wife; Frederic Forrest getting killed long range while he's sitting in an outhouse taking a dump; and Harry Dean Stanton being burned out of his house in the middle of the night and being stuck in the eye and killed by Brando's X-shaped shiv.
Brando's being weirdly methodological about the whole thing, sometimes wearing a prairie woman's dress and bonnet while killing off Nicholson's gang, but his accent is also unconvincing. He goes from Irish, to Western to English, so I guess that's to let the audience know he has a big screw loose or something. Now it's up to Jack to hunt down Brando, finally catching up with him while he's asleep and then slitting his throat.
And there's also good shootout scene at the end where McLaim, who everyone now believes is infirm with a stroke, pulls out a gun while he's sitting in a wheelchair and shoots the unawares Nicholson. Nicholson then shoots back killing McLiam. The film ends with Nicholson (his arm in a sling) and Lloyd parting ways.
The critics universally hated this film, calling it the worst thing that Brando, Nicholson and Arthur Penn have ever done, but I happened to like it.
I found the story engaging and gritty, wondering what was going to happen next to Nicholson's gang as each one of them gets killed off. I even managed to ignore the dumb idiosyncrasies that Brando was making, although I think it's a shame he had to resort to using them at this stage of the game.
Besides, most of these people look like they haven't taken a bath in a long time. Except Brando. (laughs)
7 out of 10.