The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)

Uneven but entertaining.An interesting western, directed by the great John Huston. Starts off as a revenge movie, though it is soon obvious that Huston is making more of a comedy than a drama. Some of the scenes that follow are incredibly funny, often in a dark sort of way.However, as the movie develops it starts to take the guise of a social drama, exploring how power corrupts. This, however, is a very short-lived theme.After a point it takes on a sentimental tone and ends with a rush of action. So pretty much every movie genre covered, in less than two hours...This unevenness is quite disconcerting, and unfulfilling. Rather than get a complete moral, we have pieces of many.However, the movie does not lack in entertainment. The first half is great and the ending is very emotional.Not perfect, but it will do.

One of those feel good movies that you just have to have in your collection. Much like Trains, Planes and Automobiles or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (can't believe Ian Fleming wrote that as well as James Bond) and another Paul Newman classic Slap Shot. Who cares if they aren't classic Gone with the Wind or Longest Day type movies. They are feel good movies. I can never forget all of the classic scenes in this movie, particularly those that include albino Bad Bob: riding into town, drinking boiling coffee right out of the can from the fire pit and eating an onion straight out of the dirt. Then getting a shotgun hole blown through him from the back in a "fair fight" ha ha. Too many funny memorial scenes. A Newman and cast classic.

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)A remarkable slow "western" which has many of the trademarks of the genre but lacks a compelling sense of purpose. You might say it's all about the title character, Judge Bean, played with conviction by Paul Newman, but in fact not much happens to make us worry about his well being, or about his purpose of being in the first place.This doesn't doom the movie, exactly, but it slows it down start to finish. There are lots of great little moments, and some short appearances by actors that have big billing, including both Anthony Perkins (of "Psycho" fame) who has about five minute sin the beginning, and Ava Gardner ("On the Beach" and "Night of the Igauan" among many) at the end (for literally four minutes--be warned). This almost gives away that there is a feeling of stretching some small possibilities beyond their limits.Newman, of course, is always an actor who gives his all, and though he plays a man seemingly older and more inform than Newman himself, he gives it a steady intensity anyway. He is an oddball judge, an outlaw kind of vigilante who makes up the rules as he goes, and not without some undisciplined sense of real justice. There are shootouts and confrontations that avoid death and mayhem, and all the while Bean, as judge, survives and persists. We are never sure whether we quite are on his side, frankly, but in some way we are because we are meant to be. That is, he really does mean to tame the wildness of the wild west in his own lawless way.How this relates to the times I'm not sure. Many Westerns (and other movies) used their genres to comments on Vietnam, which was still roaring at the end (in 1972) of Nixon's first term. I don't see it here. This is more about individualism and riding roughshod over the obvious bullies and criminals around him. But never with clear rationale. A very young woman bears his child near the end and we don't see in particular a sense of responsibility, but more a patriarchal belligerence. It's a bit unfriendly. We don't see through the man's coarse exterior, usually, to a greater light. Time passes by the decade it appears, though Newman only ages slightly, and cars and oil rigs appear here and there. The end is basically a showdown between the old days and lawless justice and the new days and a new kind of lawless justice. Yes. In a way, it's a precursor to "There Will Be Blood."It's a good ride, steady but sometimes downright slow. I think if you can get absorbed in the pace you'll be rather taken and interested. But go into it expecting a methodical and thoughtful pace. And a good, measured, well intentioned performance by Newman. One final short appearance is by Jacqueline Bisset, who plays Bean's daughter (and who appears basically out of nowhere). She's out of place but of course has at least a screen presence. The final poker game (with Bisset and Newman) has them betting with bullets. And calmly ignoring the mad mobs outside.

When I cannot decide whether this film is better than The Westerner with Walter Brennan and Gary Cooper, than I know that this is a great movie because The Westerner was one of the greatest westerns ever. Paul Newman gives a powerful performance as the legendary Judge Roy Bean. Mr. Newman is truly the star of the movie and he carries the movie well. His presence is enough to take a good movie and make it great. This movie is an example of how the actor makes the difference between a movie being likable but forgettable and wonderful and memorable. Mr. Newman captures the essence of the Bean character, the judge's eccentricities, his homespun philosophy on life and his essential humanity. True, Judge Bean was known as the hanging judge and he was a law unto himself, but he knew who he was dealing with and that there was nobody to back him up. He was THE LAW and had to command respect. Portraying an historical figure is tricky, but Paul Newman does it well and for that reason alone the movie is worth watching.