Monte Walsh **** (1970, Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, Jeanne Moreau, Mitchell Ryan, Jim Davis) – Classic Movie Review 4,274

William A Fraker makes his directorial debut with the tremendous 1970 elegiac Western film Monte Walsh, blessed with performances of high stature by Lee Marvin and Jack Palance.

American cinematographer William A Fraker makes his directorial debut with this tremendously well filmed 1970 elegiac Western. Monte Walsh is blessed with two performances of high stature by Lee Marvin and Jack Palance as Monte Walsh and Chet Rollins, aging old-style men of the West finding that progress is leaving them behind.

As the jobs and lifestyles they once knew are replaced by fantasy Wild West shows and soul-destroying work Palance (cast against type) lays down his gun and takes to minding the store, while Marvin renews his faith in Western lore when he has to pack his pistols again to avenge a murder. Jeanne Moreau also stars as prostitute and saloon girl Martine Bernard, Monte’s old flame.

David Zelag Goodman and Lukas Heller’s screenplay is taken so very freely from the 1963 novel by Jack W Schaefer (Shane) that it invents a more or less new plot, but it does grand service in really capturing the feel of the West and the glory of a high time gone by. It is set in Harmony, Arizona.

Let’s also take time to admire John Barry’s score and David M Walsh’s cinematography.

Jeanne Moreau is almost the only woman in the film, though Allyn Ann McLerie plays Mary Eagle.

Also in the cast are Mitchell Ryan, Jim Davis, John Hudkins, Raymond Guth, John McKee, Michael Conrad, Tom Heaton, G D Spradlin, Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, Billy Green Bush, Allyn Ann McLerie, John MaLiam, Leroy Johnson, Eric Christmas, Charles Tyner, Richard Farnsworth, and B-Western villain character actor Roy Barcroft in his final film.

The song ‘The Good Times Are Comin” by Mama Cass, with music and lyrics by John Barry and Hal David, is played over the opening credits. However, the story has tragic elements.

Tom Selleck, Keith Carradine and Isabella Rossellini play the parts of Monte, Chet and Martine in a 2003 TV movie remake set in Wyoming and directed by Simon Wincer.

The cast are Lee Marvin as Monte Walsh, Jeanne Moreau as Martine Bernard, Jack Palance as Chet Rollins, Mitchell Ryan as Shorty Austin, Jim Davis as Cal Brennan, G D Spradlin as Hal Henderson, John Hudkins [John “Bear” Hudkins] as Sonny Jacobs, Raymond Guth [Ray Guth] as Sunfish Perkins, John McKee as Petey Williams, Michael Conrad as Dally Johnson, Tom Heaton as Sugar Wyman, Ted Gehring as Skimpy Eagans, Bo Hopkins as Jumpin’ Joe Joslin, John McLiam as Fightin’ Joe Hooker, Allyn Ann McLerie as Mary Eagle, Matt Clark as Rufus Brady, Charles Tyner as Doctor, Jack Colvin as Card Cheat, and Roy Barcroft as Proprietor.

Roy Barcroft (born Howard Harold Ravenscroft; September 7, 1902 – November 28, 1969) appeared in more than 300 films for Republic Pictures from 1937 to 1957, mostly playing villains in B-Westerns.

American writer Jack Warner Schaefer (November 19, 1907 – 24 January 1991) is best known for his Westerns, especially the 1949 novel Shane, his first novel. It became the 1953 film Shane starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon deWilde and Jack Palance. The Canyon (1953) and Monte Walsh (1963) were Schaefer’s favourites of his works.

Monte Walsh ushered in a new era of 1970s films for Marvin. None was a big box-office hit but they are a fascinating collection, including Prime Cut (1972), Pocket Money (1972), Emperor of the North (1973), The Iceman Cometh (1973) and The Spikes Gang (1974). Marvin was a Democrat, publicly endorsing John F Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election, and stating in a 1969 interview that he supported gay rights.

Jeanne Moreau (23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017).

RIP Jeanne Moreau (23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017). Her most notable movies include: Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954), Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows (1958), The Lovers (1958), Michelangelo Antonioni’s La Notte (1961), François Truffaut’s Jules and Jim (1962), The Bride Wore Black (1968), Luis Buñuel’s The Diary of a Chambermaid, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Querelle, Orson Welles’s The Trial, The Immortal Story and Chimes at Midnight, The Sailor from Gibraltar (1967), Mata Hari, Agent H21  (1964), Losey’s Eva (1962), Monte Walsh (1970), Bay of Angels [La baie des anges] (1963), Viva Maria! (1965), Moderato cantabile [Seven Days… Seven Nights] (1960) and The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea in 1992.

She won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for Moderato cantabile [Seven Days… Seven Nights] (1960), the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress for Viva Maria! (1965), and the César Award for Best Actress for The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea (1992).

Monte Walsh is directed by William A Fraker, runs 99 minutes, is made by Cinema Center Films and Landers-Roberts Productions, is distributed by National General Pictures, is written by David Zelag Goodman and Lukas Heller, based on the novel by Jack Schaefer, is shot by David M Walsh, is produced by Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts, is scored by John Barry.

Release date: October 7, 1970.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,274

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert