Review of The Missouri Breaks

My initial take on this film, given the period it was made, was to wonder who was taking what drugs and how often; Nicholson had recently finished the brilliant Chinatown, Brando had Last Tango In Paris under his belt, and director Penn, the epic Little Big Man; they all got together for this--and it's a haphazard mess; each time the plot starts to evolve in some meaningful way, it comes to a halt for Brando's extravagant lisping Irishman, a self-indulgent performance that poor Arthur Penn had to deal with, or for the romance Nicholson kindles with the magnetic Kathleen Lloyd--and whatever happened to her? I was anxious to finally see the film excoriated by most critics after all these years, and didn't exactly hate it, and did find that Nicholson gives one of his least mannered performances, subdued and believable, perhaps in reaction to the Brando silliness--but given the talent, several folks seemed to have their heads elsewhere. It is indeed an alternate Western, but unlike the moving Monte Walsh or Open Range, or McCabe And Mrs. Miller, it's largely attitudinal in nature, which may be enough for some.