The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) (original) (raw)
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Original title
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Year
1970
Running time
121 min.
Country
United States
Director
Screenwriter
Cast
Music
Cinematography
Producer
Genre
Synopsis
Penniless Arizona bum Cable Hogue (Jason Robards Jr.) is dry-gulched and left to die by false friends Bowen and Taggart (Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones). In a miraculous bit of luck he stumbles upon a water well located at the perfect midpoint between two stagecoach stops. Cable gets his paperwork in order and sets up a sharp little trimming station selling cheap meals and "watle": Cable can't spell. His only friend is the frontier con-man/preacher Joshua Douglas Sloan (David Warner), a man of the cloth who uses his Bible verse to seduce young women. Lonely in his settled life at Cable Springs, the new man of property cultivates the acquaintance of a spirited prostitute named Hildy (Stella Stevens), introducing her to the pleasures of his idyllic shack far from the evils of town life. But Cable remains set on exacting vengeance from the Taggart and Bowen.
Peckinpah is in a noticably lighter mood with this vigorously entertaining western. Though the Old West is still dusty and dangerous as in any of his other more volatile works, the wild in this Wild West is for unpredictable and strange antics. Robards heads a good cast as an eccentric prospector whose dream of an oasis in the middle of the desert may not be as crazy as everyone thinks. In her best screen role, Stevens is sharp as a needle as the good-hearted, feisty prostitute who takes up with Robards. As the remaining player in this quest, Warner is splendid as an unusually loony preacher.
Rankings Position
Awards
1972: CEC Medals: Best Foreign Movie.
Critics' reviews
- "Peckinpah's gentlest, boldest, and perhaps most likable film to date."
- "Sam Peckinpah followed The Wild Bunch with this intimate, eccentric, appealing 1970 comedy"
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Ranking Lists Position
- 62 My Favorite Westerns (132)
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