This movie is said to be Blake Edwards' only Western. Compared to other Western movies, it is not surprising.
On the plus side, the photography is beautiful, and the main cast are all top actors. The basic story is about two ranch hands who make a long trip to town carrying the body of a third who was killed in a horse accident and fall into conversation about mortality and old age and the poverty and poor futures that ranch hands can face, and they talk about robbing a bank with the idea of using the funds to have themselves better lives-at first as a joke, then seriously. They carry out their plan and flee-but their former employer ends up sending his own sons out as a posse for the lazy sheriff, so upset he was by their action.
But the movie falls short. The subplot about the ranch owner's feud with neighboring sheep herders is barely touched upon, the bank robbery- forcing the banker to open his safe at night while his family are held hostage-is overlong and confusing, and moments of comedy, such as the young robber having a puppy he must give away and the scene where the older one captures and tames a wild horse with a lot of effort and stumbling, clash with rather than supplement the more serious moments in the story, such as the card game turning into a bloody gunfight.
The story could have been much better using these raw materials, but it only winds up average at best.
On the plus side, the photography is beautiful, and the main cast are all top actors. The basic story is about two ranch hands who make a long trip to town carrying the body of a third who was killed in a horse accident and fall into conversation about mortality and old age and the poverty and poor futures that ranch hands can face, and they talk about robbing a bank with the idea of using the funds to have themselves better lives-at first as a joke, then seriously. They carry out their plan and flee-but their former employer ends up sending his own sons out as a posse for the lazy sheriff, so upset he was by their action.
But the movie falls short. The subplot about the ranch owner's feud with neighboring sheep herders is barely touched upon, the bank robbery- forcing the banker to open his safe at night while his family are held hostage-is overlong and confusing, and moments of comedy, such as the young robber having a puppy he must give away and the scene where the older one captures and tames a wild horse with a lot of effort and stumbling, clash with rather than supplement the more serious moments in the story, such as the card game turning into a bloody gunfight.
The story could have been much better using these raw materials, but it only winds up average at best.