Joe Kidd 1972

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• CinemaSerfon TMDB · Jan 20266/10

  When the Mexican farmers under their leader “Chama” (John Saxon) finally run out of patience with the gringo’s stealing their land, they take matters into their own hands and earn the enmity of opportunist land-grabber “Harlan” (Robert Duvall). Meantime, “Kidd” (Clint Eastwood), who prefers to see life through the bottom of a bottle, has been having his own altercations with the law and so reluctantly joins the posse. Fairly swiftly, though, he (and we) realise that he’s backed the wrong horse as his new boss’s indiscriminate brutality begins to turn his stomach. Constantly ribbed by the provocative “Lamarr” (Don Stroud) and becoming just a little drawn to the fesity “Helen” (Stella Garcia), though not romantically, it's obvious that "Kidd" isn't going to prove too reliable for team "Harlan". I suppose my problem with this was it’s predictability. Right from the preamble, it’s quite clear which trammels the characters are going to follow and although there’s a degree of mischief as “Kidd” gradually evens the odds, the denouement might as well have been written on the front page. It does look good and both Duvall and Eastwood are naturals with this genre where dialogue is way less i

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• Wuchakon TMDB · Aug 20227/10

  **_Eastwood’s “lost” Western with Duvall and Saxon_** In the Southwest in 1902 a land-grabbing tycoon (Robert Duvall) hires an ex-bounty hunter (Clint Eastwood) in order to track down a Mexican leader who objects to injustice (John Saxon) and is hiding out in the high country with his people. Don Stroud is on hand as one of the pompous gringo’s heavies. "Joe Kidd" (1972) is generally viewed as one of Eastwood’s lesser Westerns when it’s more entertaining than Sergio Leone’s overrated trilogy from 1964-1966, at least in my opinion. It has a notable cast, a superb score and great locations, not to mention being directed by John Sturges, known for great (or near-great) films like “The Law and Jake Wade” (1958), “Chino” (1973) and “The Eagle Has Landed” (1977). True, Sturges was reportedly struggling with alcoholism during shooting and the story starts to meander in the high country during the second act, but the flick works as a whole and everything ties-together for the climax. Originally, Saxon’s ‘bandit,’ Chama, was supposed to be more heroic, but this was changed when Clint was hired on and Joe Kidd became the amusingly fearless hero, the intermediary between two opposing forces.

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• John Chardon TMDB · Feb 20196/10

  Well the deer didn't know where he was, and I wasn't sure either. There's a certain school of thought with Eastwood purists that Joe Kidd is far more meaningful than its reputation would suggest. In fact, that it most certainly is not in the lower tier of Eastwood Westerns that ratings across internet forums say otherwise. Truth is, is that with Eastwood starring, Robert Duval and John Saxon supporting, John Sturges directing and Elmore Leonard writing, well this really should have turned out far better than it did. In short order it has Eastwood as gunslinger/bounty hunter Joe Kidd who somehow finds himself helping a wealthy landowner and his henchmen to track down a Mexican revolutionary leader - it's a land issue we think.... But once on the trail as part of the posse, Kidd comes to find a conflict of interest and soon enough taking sides is just one of the issues to hand. Sadly I myself can't join with the band of loyal fans who put forward this as a misunderstood piece of work. It plods along as it works its way through a muddled screenplay, which really is very thin from a narrative standpoint, and ultimately it doesn't pay off for character crescendo value come the finale. A

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