Walter Reade Organization
Directed by Monte Hellman
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)
Miner Warren Oates returns to his camp to find one partner dead and the other hiding. Apparently unknown assailants were seeking his brother, who has just left the camp, to exact revenge for a killing in a nearby town. A woman then shows up and talks them into escorting her across the brutal landscape. During the trek it is gradually revealed that she is the one seeking his brother, whom they are pursuing, along with a hired shooter who soon joins them. The shooter, played by Jack Nicholson, taunts the younger miner, who has fallen for the girl, and to a lesser degree Oates. The long journey takes a toll on their horses, and Nicholson demands that the younger man be left behind in the desert, presumably to die. Later, Oates manages to subdue Nicholson when he begins to wear down. In the final scenes, in slow motion, the girl confronts the man they have been pursuing. Moody western by auteur Hellman and company takes a simple plot and works it for everything he can, to mostly positive results. Utah scenery helps, as does the presence of Millie Perkins as the girl.
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