The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

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

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

John Crawford, Edmund Penney

Stars:

Jason Robards, Stella Stevens, David Warner

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Double-crossed and left without water in the desert, Cable Hogue is saved when he finds a spring. It is in just the right spot for a much needed rest stop on the local stagecoach line, and Hogue uses this to his advantage. He builds a house and makes money off the stagecoach passengers. Hildy, a sex worker from the nearest town, moves in with him. Hogue has everything going his way until the advent of the automobile ends the era of the stagecoach.

---

Plot Keywords:

arizona desert | arizona territory | territory | water | stagecoach | 

---

Taglines:

Cable Hogue says..."Seek...and ye shall find."

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Western

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 May 1970 (Finland)

Also Known As:

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Filming Locations:

Gold Canyon, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,716,946 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$3,500,000, 31 December 1975

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,000,000, 31 December 1980

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eaves Movie Ranch, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Charlton Heston turned down the lead role, saying that it wasn't a great script.

---

Goofs

When Hildy kicks through her door the hole is a different shape on the inside - jagged - compared to the outside - straight lined.

---

Quotes

Reverend Joshua Sloan: Since I cannot rouse heaven I intend to raise hell.

---

Connections

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

---

Soundtracks

Waiting
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Lyrics by Richard Gillis
Performed by Richard Gillis

User Reviews

Peckinpah expands his horizons.

In direct response to the controversy which erupted over the unprecedented violence and gritty realism of The Wild Bunch, Sam Peckinpah did what many of the greatest American filmmakers have done over the years. His next project would end up being almost intentionally counter to the previous film.

The result was The Ballad of Cable Hogue, a small-scale, intimate tale that is equal parts a nostalgic look back to the Old West and a tribute to the kind of man capable of surviving and thriving in such an environment. Jason Robards is touching and firm as the title character, left for dead in the prologue but able to fight through his misfortunes and create his own oasis. Along the way, he encounters a most unusual and shifty man of the cloth and a prostitute with a heart of gold. Stella Stevens is really wonderful as Hildy, one of the best examples of this most ancient of Hollywood screenplay clichés. Her romance with Hogue is both sincere and sad as Peckinpah uses this as a template for how the romantic West quickly found its way into decline and obsolescence.

Peckinpah may have gotten a lot of flack for The Wild Bunch but this film received almost just as much criticism, ironically for being almost exactly not what he had come to be known for. However, some forty years later, Peckinpah's true vision of men unable to conform to the regularities of society shines through. Gorgeous photography, solid acting, a beautiful score and themes of survival and memory point to this as one of the most brutal Western director's gentlest and personal triumphs.