Joe Kidd **** (1972, Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, John Saxon, Don Stroud, Stella Garcia) – Classic Movie Review 6169

Director John Sturges’s 1972 movie, written by Elmore Leonard, shot by Bruce Surtees, produced by Sidney Beckerman and scored by Lalo Schifrin, is an underrated, largely forgotten Clint Eastwood genre Western. Running just 88 minutes, it is short, taut and tight.

It is the product of an earlier era, superseded by Eastwood’s own quartet of much more ambitious Westerns to follow. But it is valuable as a simple, clean, straightforward old-style Western, with power and dynamism, but with no frills.

In the serviceable plot, wealthy land baron Joe Kidd (Robert Duvall) hires the titular bounty hunter Joe Kidd (Eastwood) to help him and his henchmen to track down Mexican revolutionary bandits, headed by charismatic leader Luis Chama (John Saxon). Kidd is reluctant at first, but signs on when Chama steals his horses and terrorises his buddies.

If the plot is none too dazzling or surprising, it is left up to the band of strong actors, Surtees’s distinguished Technicolor widescreen cinematography and the all-action finale that make it stand out.

Just watch Eastwood drive that entire train smashing through a saloon in the film’s most spectacular sequence.

Also in the cast are Don Stroud, Stella Garcia, James Wainwright, Dick Van Patten, Buddy Van Horn, Lynn Marta, John Carter, Paul Koslo and Gregory Walcott.

Interestingly, it is the last Eastwood Western not directed by him. All four following Eastwood Westerns are directed by him: High Plains Drifter (1973), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Pale Rider (1985), and Unforgiven (1992).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6169

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