Joe Kidd is one of the few Clint Eastwood westerns that I had not watched. It turns out that I was not missing a great overlooked classic, or even a decent guilty pleasure. A muddled script by Elmore Leonard, flat direction by John Sturges, and a really terrible score by Lalo Schifrin sink this one.
This is the story of how ruthless land developer Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall) attempts to stop a Mexican land claim by trying to assassinate the leader of the claimants, Luis Chama (John Saxon).
So why is it called Joe Kidd? Well, that's a good question. Joe (Eastwood) is first seen dressed as the western equivalent of a city dandy, laid up in jail for being drunk and disorderly and for poaching a deer off reservation land ('cause, you know, the Law really cared about the plight of Native Americans in those days).
Harlan tries to recruit Joe to help him hunt Chama, but he refuses on principle. Later, because Chama has tied one of his men to a fence post, Joe changes his mind and joins the hunt. It's at this point that Joe ditches his amiable facial expression and city finery in favour of the standard Clintus steely gaze, cowboy hat and duster.
It's never really explained who Joe Kidd really is, why he needs "men", why a guy who can hire "men" needs to poach, why he didn't join the hunt at first, why he did join the hunt later, or indeed what he's doing in the movie in the first place. I guess they needed a bigger box-office draw hero than John Saxon.
Speaking of Saxon, he's woefully miscast and has to hide behind a fake accent and stupid moustache. The guy is a talented actor who either makes a lot of bad career choices or just doesn't get offered many good roles. Most of the cast turns up duff: Duvall doesn't exactly set the screen on fire as the villain, Gregory Walcott (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Prime Cut) is boring as the cowardly sheriff, and almost nobody else made any impression at all. Don Stroud is memorable as Duvall's main thug, but he's mostly just there for Eastwood to make a fool of.
Eastwood is just like he always is, charming and icy cool. I just don't understand what he's doing in the movie. It's made by his production company, but that doesn't explain the plot. Director John Sturges had made some great movies: Bad Day At Black Rock, The Magnificent Seven, Ice Station Zebra, etc. This is not his best work. Don Siegel might have injected some energy and humour into the proceedings.
Lalo Schifrin's score is both bad and inappropriate. Shoddy sound design doesn't help - in one scene the sound of a wagon approaching continues even after it has stopped and everyone is disembarking, and even for the time the sound is flat and unimaginative, as if everything came from the library. The over-done sound of Joe's spurs is particularly annoying.
The end is particularly dumb.
Not recommended. Watch pretty much any other Eastwood western instead. Even Hang 'Em High.
Posted by pearce at August 24, 2007 3:49 PM