An ex-bounty hunter reluctantly helps a wealthy landowner and his henchmen track down a Mexican revolutionary leader.An ex-bounty hunter reluctantly helps a wealthy landowner and his henchmen track down a Mexican revolutionary leader.An ex-bounty hunter reluctantly helps a wealthy landowner and his henchmen track down a Mexican revolutionary leader.
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
18K
YOUR RATING
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Joaquín Martínez
- Manoloas Manolo
- (as Joaquin Martinez)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood) is a former bounty hunter and all-around tough-guy in the American southwest. When a band of Mexicans find their U.S. land claims denied and all relevant records destroyed in a courthouse fire, they turn to force-of-arms. Luis Chama (John Saxon) is their charismatic leader, spouting revolutionary rhetoric and demanding land reform. A wealthy landowner with interests in the disputed area, Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall), decides to settle things his own way. He hires a band of killers and wants Joe Kidd to help them track Chama. Initially, Kidd wants to avoid any involvement, until Chama makes the mistake of stealing Kidd's horses and terrorizing his friends. —Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
- Taglines
- If you're looking for trouble - - - he's JOE KIDD
- Genre
- Certificate
- PG
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaWriter Elmore Leonard certainly did know something about classic firearms. From Frank Harlan's (Robert Duvall's) Custom Savage 99 (1899), Olin Mingo's (James Wainwright's) Remington-Keene sporter (1880) in .45-70, Lamarr Simms' (Don Stroud's) Mauser C-96 (1896) broomhandle, and Joe Kidd's (Clint Eastwood'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).
- GoofsThe movie takes place in New Mexico, but saguaro cactus can be seen in the town (Sinola County) scenes. Saguaro cactus can be found only in Arizona, which is where those scenes were actually filmed (at Old Tucson).
- ConnectionsReferenced in All-Star Party for Clint Eastwood (1986)
Top review
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...
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...
helpful•4727
- Nazi_Fighter_David
- Aug 31, 2000
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $6,330,000
- Gross worldwide
- $6,330,000
- Runtime1 hour 28 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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