The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

John Crawford (written by) and
Edmund Penney (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

13 May 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Western

Tagline:

Cable Hogue says..."Do unto others... as you would have others do unto you."

Plot:

A hobo accidentally stumbles onto a water spring, and creates a profitable way station in the middle of the desert.

Plot Keywords:

Stagecoach | Water | Desert | Partner | Prostitute

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jason Robards	...	Cable Hogue
Stella Stevens	...	Hildy
David Warner	...	Joshua
Strother Martin	...	Bowen
Slim Pickens	...	Ben Fairchild
L.Q. Jones	...	Taggart
Peter Whitney	...	Cushing
R.G. Armstrong	...	Quittner
Gene Evans	...	Clete
William Mims	...	Jensen
Kathleen Freeman	...	Mrs. Jensen
Susan O'Connell	...	Claudia
Vaughn Taylor	...	Powell
Max Evans	...	Webb Seely
James Anderson	...	Preacher
Felix Nelson	...	William
Darwin Lamb	...	The Stranger (as Darwin W. Lamb)
Mary Munday	...	Dot
William D. Faralla	...	Lucius
Matthew Peckinpah	...	Matthew
Victor Izay	...	Stage Office Clerk
Easy Pickens	...	Easy

Directed by
Sam Peckinpah

Writing credits
John Crawford		(written by) and
Edmund Penney		(written by)
Gordon T. Dawson		uncredited

Produced by
Gordon T. Dawson	....	associate producer (as Gordon Dawson)
William D. Faralla	....	co-producer (as William Faralla)
Phil Feldman	....	executive producer
Sam Peckinpah	....	producer

Original Music by
Jerry Goldsmith

Cinematography by
Lucien Ballard		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Lou Lombardo
Frank Santillo

Art Direction by
Leroy Coleman

Set Decoration by
Jack Mills

Makeup Department
Kathryn Blondell	....	hair stylist (as Kathy Blondell)
Al Fleming	....	makeup artist
Gary Liddiard	....	makeup artist

Production Management
George Templeton	....	unit production manager (as Dink Templeton)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John Gaudioso	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Don Rush	....	sound
Tex Rudloff	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)
Dan Wallin	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Bud Hulburd	....	special effects

Stunts
Mickey Gilbert	....	stunts (uncredited)
Steve Ward	....	stunts (uncredited)
Troy Ward	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Robert Fletcher	....	costumes: Miss Stevens

Music Department
Sonny Burke	....	music supervisor
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer (uncredited)

Other crew
Frank Kowalski	....	dialogue supervisor

Production Companies

• Warner Bros

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1970) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1970) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1976) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Warner Home Video (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• Warner Bros. Finland (1970) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Filmverleih (1970) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1983) (Finland) (TV)
• TV3 (1988) (Finland) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1998) (2000) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Latigo Productions  titles

Also Known As:

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1970) | USA:R | Iceland:12 | UK:PG | Singapore:NC-16 | West Germany:12 (f) (re-rated) | West Germany:16 (nf) | Australia:M | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Apache Junction, Arizona, USA

Company:

Warner Bros

Trivia:

This was the favorite film of the director. Often, when asked to speak about his work, he brought a print of this film to show, instead of one of his more famous works.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening scene, Hogue confronts a Gila monster. In the first shot, the lizard is on a large rock with its front left paw slipping over the side of the rock. After cutting to a shot of Hogue, the view returns to the gila monster who is now standing in the middle of the same rock with no time or ability to have moved.

Quotes:

Reverend Joshua Sloan:Come child, together we shall purge this grief from your soul and release your true spirit as we search a path to righteousness.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Ladiest Damn'd Lady: An Afternoon with Stella Stevens (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Tomorrow is the Song I Sing (Main Title)

Sam Peckinpah's Best Film

When people mention Sam Peckinpah, the film most mentioned is The Wild Bunch. While I'm a big fan of that very violent film, I find out that most people don't even know about The Ballad Of Cable Houge, which I feel is his finest film.

The film is about a would be prospector named Cable Houge (Jason Robards in his best performance and that's saying a lot), who is left to die out in the desert with no water by his too partners (Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones). After almost dying out in the desert Cable actually finds water. He then buys the land and makes it a stop in the desert for stagecoaches to stop and refresh the horses. He becomes friends to a traveling and lecherous preacher (well played by David Warner) and a sweet prostitute, Hilly (played by the sweet faced Stella Stevens). But what Cable is mainly doing is lying in wait for the time that he runs into his former partners again.

It's a simple fable told with very little violence, and it's well told. It's definitely not the film that you would expect from the man who made the Wild Bunch. Warner Bros. who released it didn't know what to do with it and just threw out at the public with very little publicity, and the film never go the attention that it should have. Hopefully future film scholars with rediscover this gem and lift it from obscurity.