Joe Kidd (1972)

Director:

John Sturges

Writer:

Elmore Leonard (written by)

Release Date:

14 July 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

If you're looking for trouble - - - he's JOE KIDD

Plot:

An ex-bounty hunter reluctantly helps a wealthy landowner and his henchmen track down a Mexican revolutionary leader.

Plot Keywords:

Landowner | Mexican | Land | Bounty Hunter | Shotgun

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	Joe Kidd
Robert Duvall	...	Frank Harlan
John Saxon	...	Luis Chama
Don Stroud	...	Lamarr Simms
Stella Garcia	...	Helen Sanchez
James Wainwright	...	Olin Mingo
Paul Koslo	...	Roy Gannon
Gregory Walcott	...	Sinola County Sheriff Bob Mitchell
Dick Van Patten	...	Hotel manager
Lynne Marta	...	Elma
John Carter	...	Judge
Pepe Hern	...	Priest
Joaquín Martínez	...	Manolo (as Joaquin Martinez)
Ron Soble	...	Ramon
Pepe Callahan	...	Naco

Also Known As:

Sinola (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:15 (1987) | UK:AA (1972) | Iceland:16 | Spain:13 | West Germany:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1972) | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Writer Elmore Leonard certainly did know something about classic firearms. From Frank Harlan's Custom Savage 99 (1899), Olin Mingo's Remington-Keene sporter (1880) in .45-70, Lamarr Simms Mauser C-96 (1896) broomhandle and Joe's Cased Ross Rifle sporter model M-10 (1910) in .280 Ross. Leonard took special care to ensure all weapons (even the optics) were period accurate for that movie, being set in pre-statehood New Mexico territory (1912).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the scene where Joe Kidd is approaching town after having joined up with Luis Chama, he sends one of Chama's men to ride into town first to test if the area is covered by gunmen. As he's riding into town you can see a vehicle driving across the frame in the distance.

Quotes:

Joe Kidd: [Punches Sheriff Bob Mitchell in the nose] Next time I'll knock your damn head off.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Major Movie Star (2008)

Rough and tumble star Western with untenable moral attitudes...

After "Dirty Harry," Eastwood returns to the West to work for the first time and the last with John Sturges...

With quality Westerns like "Bad Day at Black Rock," "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," and "The Magnificent Seven", Sturges would be the right filmmaker to accelerate Eastwood's cowboy career... In the event he wasn't...

The excellent sketching of characters and the poignancy of the dilemma of the peasants which made "The Magnificent Seven" such a classic Western were deplorably absent in "Joe Kidd" and the film never escaped from the weakness of its own screenplay...

Eastwood brought some of the qualities of Leone Stranger, but lacked his style, his wit and his class...

The film is set in the small town of Sinola, New Mexico, at the turn of the century... Mexican peasants find themselves being exploited and persecuted by American landholders, most notably land baron Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall). The peasants find a charismatic leader in Luis Chama (John Saxon), who takes them before a biased judge to defend their land rights...

Upon learning the judge's nature, the Mexicans turn to violence and nearly kill the judge whose life is saved by Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood), a prisoner jailed for drinking too much...

This action endears Kidd to Harlan, who recruits him as a tracker for the posse he has hired to annihilate the poor Mexicans who oppose him...

However, Kidd's commitment to Harlan's cause grows weaker the more he observes the landowner's methods... At one stage Harlan takes over a small Mexican town and threatens to kill all the inhabitants if Chama does not give himself up by a specified dead time... Kidd considers the action cowardly, and decides to change sides and join Chama's forces...

If you are happy to see Eastwood back in the saddle, and you want to watch him with Robert Duvall, don't miss this highly forgettable Western... I'm quite sure it will manage to hold your attention...