The Shooting (1966)

Director:  Monte Hellman

Writer:  Carole Eastman

Composer:  Richard Markowitz

Starring:  Warren Oates, Millie Perkins, Jack Nicholson, Will Hutchins, Charles Eastman, Guy El Tsosie, Brandon Carroll, B.J. Merholz, Wally K. Berns, William Mackleprang, James Campbell

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  Suspenseful desert pursuit in the "High Noon" tradition.

Plot:  A mysterious woman persuades two cowboys to help her in a revenge scheme.

My rating:   8/10

Will I watch it again?   Yes.

That tagline is horseshit to bring up HIGH NOON (1952) like that.  The only thing they have in common is they're both Westerns and they both have suspense but the tension is quite different. And that trailer wasn't released until at least 1970, four years after this flick.  Anyway, I REALLY dig this movie.  I had a hunch about the ending early on because they kept avoiding the identity of their prey but that didn't take away from it's power much.  The film is masterfully directed by Hellman.  The cast essentially consists of four characters.  Coley (Hutchins), Woman (Perkins), Billy (Nicholson) and Willett (Oates).  Hutchins annoyed me at first but by the second half his goofiness had settled down and grasped the reality of the situation.  From then on he was great.  Perkins?  I'm not sure if I didn't like her character or acting.  She was a pissy little brat, the kind of character I don't like anyway.  I have my own ideas of what happened to her after the credits rolled.  That brings us to Warren Oates who, along with screenwriter Eastman and director Hellman (who I see died in April of last year at age 91), helped make this movie the great film it is.  He fucking kills it.  My only regret is the film is as short as it is.  I would be on board for another half hour of drama that goes beyond the end of the picture.  I'm sure it wouldn't take much to visualize that.  Don't misunderstand, I loved the ending it's just that I would like to see certain people get what's coming to them and all slow and painful like.  Get me?  A lot of this crew filmed this back to back with RIDE THE WHIRLWIND (1966).  I saw that one a long time ago and I remember liking it OK but after seeing THE SHOOTING, I think I should wait a minute as RIDE is probably the lesser of the two.  Plus Oates wasn't in it.