Blake Edwards must have had a huge ego after the success of The Pink Panther. What else possessed him to try his hand at a genre that was beyond him in so many ways. This film is so self indulgent on behalf of the writer-director, you can almost hear him in every scene praising his brilliance. Brilliant it ain't. Though it looks nice and shows off some beautiful scenery, this film is slow, OVERLONG, unfocused, mostly pointless and very badly acted by everyone but maybe William Holden (still not stellar) and Victor French. Ryan O'Neal is as miserably out of his depth here as Edwards, a performance that never gets off your nerves. Holden basically carries him throughout every scene they share.
The story? Almost non existent. Two cow punchers decide on a whim to rob a bank (just about the dullest 25 minute bank robbery in history), then go on the trot to Mexico pursued by two characters played by Tom Skeritt and Joe Don Baker who really have no character development and have not much to do with anything. Along the way we're treated to endless tedious ambling over hill and dale and slow motion sequences that give you bad Antonioni flashbacks.
Forget the positive comments on here, this is one of the worst westerns you'll ever see unless you don't mind being bored senseless. Edwards has made a hash of most films he's directed (SOB and Victor/Victoria excluded), but this has to be one of his three worst. Ford or Peckinpah he isn't. A disaster all the way around.
The story? Almost non existent. Two cow punchers decide on a whim to rob a bank (just about the dullest 25 minute bank robbery in history), then go on the trot to Mexico pursued by two characters played by Tom Skeritt and Joe Don Baker who really have no character development and have not much to do with anything. Along the way we're treated to endless tedious ambling over hill and dale and slow motion sequences that give you bad Antonioni flashbacks.
Forget the positive comments on here, this is one of the worst westerns you'll ever see unless you don't mind being bored senseless. Edwards has made a hash of most films he's directed (SOB and Victor/Victoria excluded), but this has to be one of his three worst. Ford or Peckinpah he isn't. A disaster all the way around.