Sun 23 May 2021
An Archived Western Movie Review: THE SHOOTING (1967).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[11] Comments
THE SHOOTING. 1967. Walter Reade Organization, US, 1968. Will Hutchins, Millie Perkins, Jack Nicholson, Warren Oates. Director: Monte Hellman.
This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, your typical, average western. This one is perky, murky, and quirky, Ã la Twin Peaks, of which this is very nearly the cowboy western equivalent. It does, however, except for the ending, which is deliberately obtuse, make more sense.
Two men, apparently miners, are hired by a mysterious women to take her to a town which apparently lies across a desert. She has another idea in mind, however, and the two men soon realize that she is really on the trail of someone. Someone is on their trail, as well.
That someone being a hired killer, played ultra-enigmatically by Jack Nicholson (the most subdued role I can ever recall seeing him play in a movie), and he eventually joins the small group of riders traveling through the sand and the barren hills on a trek that lasts, or so it seems, clear on to forever. (It’s no Lawrence of Arabia, but in a small budget sort of way, it comes close.)
Brian Garfield, in his book on westerns, seems to have been totally mystified by what this movie is about, seeing all sorts of mystical things in it. I couldn’t tell you about the ending – I’m not sure if anybody could – but I didn’t have any problem with the rest of the film, nor should anyone who sees the first ten minutes. It seems like a straight-forward tale of revenge to me, without all the other motivations being spelled out completely (and believe me, this movie has more than most).
Of course, maybe I’m wrong, so when you see it yourself, you’re entirely free to make up your own mind. It wouldn’t bother me. As I hope you can see, it’s that kind of movie. (And if you’re a western fan, see it yourself I think you should).
May 23rd, 2021 at 1:59 pm
Along with its companion piece Ride in the Whirlwind, with which it really should be seen in tandem, The Shooting is one of the earliest entries in the revisionist / acid / existentialist Western cycle. The two films were shot back-to-back in six weeks in 1965, with plenty of overlapping cast, and although they don’t share characters are definitely related thematically.
May 23rd, 2021 at 2:52 pm
You are quite right about all of the above, Patrick. I’m not sure how much I knew about the film via Wikipedia and so on when I wrote this review (1991), but the story behind its filming that you can find now is fascinating.
May 23rd, 2021 at 6:56 pm
The only thing that I really recall about this is Will Hutchins from SUGARFOOT as Gabby Hayes. It wasn’t so much revisionist as pretentious. The Western can certainly be used as allegory and political statement, but whoever uses it that way needs to have some clearer idea what they are saying.
For me this and its companion piece fall in a category of film I call “Let’s make a movie,” where midway through the film they all realize there is no actual story but it is too late to stop filming and they have all been paid to finish anyway.
May 23rd, 2021 at 10:46 pm
I’m usually in total agreement with you when it comes to a “let’s make a movie” kind of movie like this. A lack of budget and a meandering, enigmatic (that is to say, they made it up as they went along) story line may make for a cult classic but anything more than that? Not hardly.
Even so, and even though I don’t remember a single scene from this movie, I’m going to stick up for it a little bit. If I thought it was a piece of misguided dreck when I saw it, I’m fairly sure I would have said so. And for what that’s worth, I didn’t.
May 23rd, 2021 at 11:11 pm
I savor this flick, must honestly admit.
Didn’t see any pretentiousness in it, but then I often miss things that other viewers see, in pictures.
What I recall enjoying (very much so) was a kind of kid-gloves, doing-the-best-creativity-they-could, embarrassingly-low-budget amid overall-lack-of-experience.
That being said, I didn’t see any lack of professionalism in the scenes, which is really what would have killed this experiment. Each shot was decently executed; and (I thought) convincing. Terse, tense acting.
Another Warren Oates film (which I might instead suggest as crossing-the-line into-pretentiousness), is something like, “China 9, Liberty 37” which seems to lack basic acting fundamentals. It’s gauzy and glossy and vague and overladen with rich music.
That is not the case here. ‘The Shooting’ is not (to me) of that stripe. Does it even have any music? Any over-production?
Nope. It is eerie and singular, even remarkable in its way. Small cast, barren setting, cryptic mission, high tension. Surreal and memorable.
Unlike most westerns, there’s no over-arcing, conventional western trope like ‘cattle drive’ or ‘range war’ or ‘man trying to forget his past’. All of these, seen so many times and times again.
In this case, it’s something seamy, and personal, and grisly. Does this make it fumbling and ineffectual? May be to some, but not to my eyes. I found it refreshing: for once a film which matched credible everyday reality.
I liked how the characters were bewildered and perplexed by the world around them and by each other; no one sure of anything. Noirish depiction. Everyone miscommunicating, mis-signaling, mis-conveying their inner motives.
Perhaps this seems awkward to western aficionados; I personally relished it. Only speaking for what appeals to me, mind.
Nicholson and Oates in the same film together. Each of them biting off their words and looking daggers at each other. Ayah! A minor gem.
May 23rd, 2021 at 11:54 pm
Pretentious in the sense that anyone makes a movie with no real reason to do one other than they have the actors and the money.
I don’t argue that you and others didn’t find it entertaining, I just didn’t. Horse races and all that.
May 23rd, 2021 at 11:58 pm
Fair enough! I will think more about this point raised. Always glad to learn. I succumb too often to tunnel vision.
May 24th, 2021 at 12:15 am
One Nicholson film which is much-maligned but one which I can (for once) actually follow the critics’ enraged vivisection, is ‘Head’ (’68) dir. Bob Rafelson. The film with the Monkees and all sorts of wild shenanigans. Yes, even I can see that this is goofiness masquerading as movie-making.
But, ‘The Shooting’ and ‘Ride the Whirlwind’ both seem like fairly sober, disciplined productions to me. To my eyes, there seems to be a script in each case which is followed linearly, and characters which remain consistent from their introduction to their comeuppance.
I’d like to hear more about what I may be missing. If I’m too tolerant and forgiving, I’d like to learn better.
May 24th, 2021 at 7:52 am
In the immortal words of The Turtles, “How is the weather?”
A layer of gratuitous obfuscation lay over quite a lot of movies, music, and life itself in those turbulent days. THE SHOOTING flirts with pretentiousness, but is saved by Hellman’s steady pace and Warren Oates’ no-nonsense heroics.
As for Jack Nicholson, he seems to have wandered in from SHANE.
May 24th, 2021 at 12:24 pm
I must see it again. I haven’t watched it for years. I enjoyed it and RIDE THE WHIRLWIND. I don’t think they’re pretentious – if anything, rather the opposite: everything is reduced to the absolute basics of the plot. I thought of them – and his other films – when I read his obituary a few weeks ago, but then forgot about them. Thanks for the reminder.
Don’t knock cult classics, Steve! Look at the history of VERTIGO criticised as preposterous when it was fist released, gradually became a cult film, then a cult classic and eventually pushes CITIZEN KANE out of the critics’ choice for the best film ever!
May 24th, 2021 at 10:20 pm
‘Two-Land Blacktop’ is (well, for me it was anyway) another fine Hellman/Oates pairing. I only speak to the way I felt during the watch, not making any other claim. It had a certain taut, simultaneously sad(?) verve I don’t often see done the same way in other films of the same circa. Very ‘quiet’ film, as I recall.
‘The Shooting’ has a hilarious quip I always enjoyed, the one where Will Hutchins snaps back at the gunslinger’s threat to kill him.
“I don’t give a curly-tail, yellow-hair, double-dog damn if you do!”