Too bad John Sturges was so tired. Even his best work ("Bad Day at Black Rock", "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral"), it must be admitted, was rather pedestrian; the overrated "The Great Escape" could have been directed better, and with more economy, by John Irvin, the fine late-century B-movie hack. But Sturges was the epic action director of his day, the Richard Donner of the 50s and 60s. He occasionally injected some intensity in his vapid studio yawners ("Ice Station Zebra" is better than it oughtta be) but he exhibited very little discrimination in some of his scripts. "Joe Kidd" is in disappointing concurrence with this trend.
"Joe Kidd" is a dumb Elmore Leonard story with some excellent Elmore Leonard dialogue directed in in uninteresting shade of brown by an old man, and photographed by one of the few DPs who consistently makes Panavision look like television. Ugly, bland, repellent - these are the three types of picture that Bruce Surtees knew how to give us. Eastwood never made a less happy choice than when he let the son of Robert Surtees (who was more than competent and sometimes very good) shoot so many movies for Malpaso. This film looks just like "High Plains Drifter" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Dirty Harry" and "Escape From Alcatraz" - the aesthetic could be termed 1970s dirt brown. Even good, visually interesting directors, a company Eastwood did not join until much later in his career, have been able to do nothing with Bruce Surtees. Philip Kaufman's "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" looks like it was shot through a sewer. Don Siegel used Surtees so many times that one could get the impression Siegel doesn't like pretty pictures, or even pictures that tell a story - then look at "The Killers" and "Madigan" and "Two Mules for Sister Sara" and "Charley Varick" and realize that he did very competent visual work with a lot of guys he only collaborated with once.
"Joe Kidd" has a nice cast, but the action is not ingenious and the acting is hampered by unfortunate framing and bad editing. Eastwood does nothing with his face or body, wisely delegating the acting to John Saxon, Robert Duvall and Don Stroud, who says, "Keep laughin'. You'll be spittin' teeth all night."
"Joe Kidd" is a dumb Elmore Leonard story with some excellent Elmore Leonard dialogue directed in in uninteresting shade of brown by an old man, and photographed by one of the few DPs who consistently makes Panavision look like television. Ugly, bland, repellent - these are the three types of picture that Bruce Surtees knew how to give us. Eastwood never made a less happy choice than when he let the son of Robert Surtees (who was more than competent and sometimes very good) shoot so many movies for Malpaso. This film looks just like "High Plains Drifter" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Dirty Harry" and "Escape From Alcatraz" - the aesthetic could be termed 1970s dirt brown. Even good, visually interesting directors, a company Eastwood did not join until much later in his career, have been able to do nothing with Bruce Surtees. Philip Kaufman's "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" looks like it was shot through a sewer. Don Siegel used Surtees so many times that one could get the impression Siegel doesn't like pretty pictures, or even pictures that tell a story - then look at "The Killers" and "Madigan" and "Two Mules for Sister Sara" and "Charley Varick" and realize that he did very competent visual work with a lot of guys he only collaborated with once.
"Joe Kidd" has a nice cast, but the action is not ingenious and the acting is hampered by unfortunate framing and bad editing. Eastwood does nothing with his face or body, wisely delegating the acting to John Saxon, Robert Duvall and Don Stroud, who says, "Keep laughin'. You'll be spittin' teeth all night."