Saturday 21 January 2012

joe kidd (1972) - john sturges











This is one of the few Clint Eastwood films l can't remember seeing when l was a kid. Then again, maybe l had just forgotten about it, as it is not one of his better ones.
Clint Eastwood plays the titular Joe Kidd, an enigmatic ex bounty hunter, who gets persuaded to join a posse looking for Luis Chama (John Saxon), a rebel Mexican leader, who is uniting the Mexicans to fight against the landowners. Good old Clint eventually decides he is on the wrong side, and then cajoles Chama into giving himself up, and fighting for justice through the courts.
The film, even though it was written by Elmore Leonard, was pretty unexciting, and it didn't exactly keep you on the edge of your seat. The killings seemed to mean nothing, and there was no dramatic tension, although there were the odd humorous moments.
Clint Eastwood however, was his usual cool, sexy, rugged and good looking self, playing an independently minded maverick (for a change).
The acting (including the other actors) wasn't really the problem, as it was fine. It was just the film itself, it certainly lacked something, and couldn't hold a candle next to some of Eastwood's other westerns.
It all could have been soooo much better.

toodle pip

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