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The Hired Hand (1971)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
11 August 1971 (USA) moreTagline:
Peter Fonda is riding again... To the woman he lost ... for the revenge he craves!Plot:
Harry Collings returns home to his farm after drifting with his friend, Arch. His wife, who had given up on him... more | add synopsisNewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Easy Rider Producer Commits Suicide (From Studio Briefing - Film News. 24 March 2008, 10:25 AM, PDT)
Fonda To Receive Maverick Award
(From Studio Briefing - Film News. 23 April 2003)
User Comments:
Fonda's overlooked masterpiece moreCast
(Complete credited cast)| Peter Fonda | ... | Harry Collings | |
| Warren Oates | ... | Arch Harris | |
| Verna Bloom | ... | Hannah Collings | |
| Robert Pratt | ... | Dan Griffen | |
| Severn Darden | ... | McVey | |
| Rita Rogers | ... | Mexican Woman | |
| Ann Doran | ... | Mrs. Sorenson | |
| Ted Markland | ... | Luke | |
| Owen Orr | ... | Mace | |
| Al Hopson | ... | Bartender | |
| Megan Denver | ... | Janey Collings | |
| Michael McClure | ... | Plummer | |
| Gray Johnson | ... | Will | |
| Len Marsal | (as Len Marcel) |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for western violence and some sexual content. (2003 re-rating)Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
90 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
MonoCertification:
UK:12 (re-rating) (2001) | UK:AA (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | Iceland:12 | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:R (2003 re-rating)Fun Stuff
Trivia:
After the success of Easy Rider (1969), Universal Pictures hit upon the idea of letting young filmmakers make "semi-independent" films for low budgets in hopes of generating similar profits. The idea was to make five movies for low budgets ($1 million or less), not interfere in the filmmaking process and give the directors final cut. The other movies were: The Last Movie (1971), Taking Off (1971), Silent Running (1972), American Graffiti (1973). moreQuotes:
Arch Harris: [to an insistently insinuating stranger in a bar] You can always tell a man who's got something on his mind. He keeps talkin' to people he don't know. Now what is it you're tryin' to tell me? moreFAQ
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This is not only an overlooked western, but a sorely overlooked piece of filmmaking, beautifully shot by Vilmos Zsigmond (who uses some of the slowest dissolves anywhere in cinema) and directed by Peter Fonda, who seemed bent on capturing an authentic period flavor often missing from westerns of that time. His eye for detail, and his refusal to insert too much of it, is impressive for a young director. That is, the visual authenticity, like the acting performances and dialogue, work by way of understatement. This is a very understated film, at a time when few coming from the American market were.
Ultimately, it is a sort of 'buddy' film about the deep friendship between two characters played by Fonda and Warren Oates. It also has in common with EASY RIDER the tragic, "backward" movement from West to East, which goes against the "natural" flow of American history and literature, and which ends in death here as in the earlier film, when the "hired hand" of the title takes on a sadly ironic new meaning.
Fonda directs his actors in an understated, low-key, highly naturalistic style; Warren Oates was never warmer or more at ease seeming on camera. It is good to see him relaxed and even jovial. His character is genuinely disturbed when forced to shoot in self defense a menacing drunk taking shots at him. Larry Hagman even gives a good performance here in an uncredited role as a town sheriff, caught in an awkward spot when peace in the community demands he ask Oates to leave his jurisdiction. The off-beat comedian and actor Severn Darden (memorable from THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST, 1966) appears here in an uncharacteristic role as a malignant villain. Bruce Langhorne's music is among the most haunting anywhere in film. It will stay with you.
This film is a work of true film ART, where most westerns of its day (e.g. John Wayne's) were little more than loud, mass-market entertainments. The understated THE HIRED HAND will probably not satisfy western fans looking for action and violence in the Wayne or Eastwood mold. It is closer in feel to, say, Jan Troell's ZANDY'S BRIDE, made in the mid-70s, or HEARTLAND, the highly realistic drama of frontier struggle that closed the 70s. Yet even those who favor Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH (1969) should appreciate the literate script of THE HIRED HAND, written by Alan Sharp, whose credits include Arthur Penn's NIGHT MOVES (1975), and the equally overlooked Robert Aldrich western, ULZANA'S RAID (1972), which presents even more intense moral complexities.
THE HIRED HAND is, alas, now difficult to see. But make the effort, and you will be greatly rewarded.
-- Derek Bousé