I have to side with the naysayers here, if you've seen enough Westerns, there's no escaping the fact that this one is nothing special. Perhaps notable for an early treatment of rape in cinema, even that theme gets botched by the overtly one track randiness of henchman Gant (John Quade). Once the attempt is made though, you have to wonder why Barbara Hershey's character doesn't seem the least bit traumatized, never mind the non response of her fiancée Brickman (Christopher Mitchum).
This could have been a taut psychological Western, what with the setup of the characters portrayed by Charlton Heston and James Coburn. Ultimately though, they seem to rather routinely go through their motions, former lawman Burgade (Heston) somewhat convincing as he reads Provo (Coburn) like a book, but as it turns out, Provo never even tries to throw him a curve. Say, how is it Burgade at one point has trouble getting up on his horse, but then winds up taking four bullets from Provo at point blank range and a nasty hard a-- bump off a rock ledge, and still manage to survive? I'd give him till the closing credits finish rolling.
At one point, as the hunt proceeds through Indian reservation territory, Heston's character remarks to his daughter's fiancée - "Everybody's gotta die, nobody's gotta give up". Sorry to say however, the film does both.
This could have been a taut psychological Western, what with the setup of the characters portrayed by Charlton Heston and James Coburn. Ultimately though, they seem to rather routinely go through their motions, former lawman Burgade (Heston) somewhat convincing as he reads Provo (Coburn) like a book, but as it turns out, Provo never even tries to throw him a curve. Say, how is it Burgade at one point has trouble getting up on his horse, but then winds up taking four bullets from Provo at point blank range and a nasty hard a-- bump off a rock ledge, and still manage to survive? I'd give him till the closing credits finish rolling.
At one point, as the hunt proceeds through Indian reservation territory, Heston's character remarks to his daughter's fiancée - "Everybody's gotta die, nobody's gotta give up". Sorry to say however, the film does both.