Billy Two Hats (1974)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Ted Kotcheff

Writer:

Alan Sharp (written by)

Release Date:

7 March 1974 (West Germany)

Genre:

Romance | Western

Tagline:

Against the Law Against the Odds Against the Land Itself

Plot:

When someone gets killed during a bank robbery by Deans, half-breed Billy Two Hats (Gregory Peck and Desi Arnaz...

Plot Keywords:

Half Breed | Male Female Relationship | Domestic Violence | On The Run | False Accusation

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Arch Deans
Desi Arnaz Jr.	...	Billy Two Hats
Jack Warden	...	Sheriff Henry Gifford
David Huddleston	...	Copeland, Saloon Owner
Sian Barbara Allen	...	Esther Spencer
John Pearce	...	Spencer
Dawn Little Sky	...	Copeland's Squaw
Vince St. Cyr	...	Indian Leader (as W. Vincent St. Cyr)
Henry Medicine Hat	...	Indian
Zeev Berlinsky	...	Indian (as Zev Berlinsky)
Antony Scott	...	Indian

Also Known As:

The Lady and the Outlaw

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:AA | West Germany:16 (f) | Norway:16 | UK:15 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Israel

Company:

Algonquin

Trivia:

The fact that this was a Western filmed in Israel was fodder for a number of comedians, who dubbed it "Shalom on the Range".

Quotes:

Copeland, Saloon Owner: Ain't you forgot something?
Sheriff Henry Gifford: What?
Copeland, Saloon Owner: Swear me in as your deputy.
Sheriff Henry Gifford: All right, raise your hand.
Copeland, Saloon Owner: Which one?
Sheriff Henry Gifford: Hell, I don't care... all right, you're sworn.
Copeland, Saloon Owner: Is that all there is to it?
Sheriff Henry Gifford: That's all.
Copeland, Saloon Owner: Well, hell, that ain't much.
Sheriff Henry Gifford: Well, it ain't much of a job.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Norman Jewison" (1999)

Relationships: healthy, loving, sick and inexistent.

This film is about relationships, healthy, loving, sick, and about those who are incapable of any. Gregory Peck seems to have stepped right out of "The Gunfighter" if it would not be for the accent. When he tells Billy (Desi Arnaz Jr, excellent) what Ecclesiastes says about man not being alone he is telling the whole point of the film. Jack Warden as the Sheriff is a hard man who cannot relate to anyone. David Huddleston and John Pearce have sick relationships with their wives. Sian Barbara Allen has a great performance as the stuttering woman who lives like a slave of her husband. About halfway through the film the scenery looks like New Mexico, but then you realize the difference between the Israeli and the American desert. The Israeli scenery brings a type of beauty, not the real environment, but very appropriate for the film's mood somehow reminding of the scenery in "Garden of Evil" (1954). A film worth seeing.