Western RoundUp: Joe Kidd | Classic Movie Hub Blog

Western RoundUp: Joe Kidd

It may be hard to believe, given my love for Westerns, but up to this point the only Clint Eastwood Western I’d seen was his early film Ambush at Cimarron Pass (1958), which I reviewed here close to two years ago.

I watch relatively few post ’60s Westerns, being leery of
the more overt violence often found in films of that era, but I’ve nonetheless
been intending to give Eastwood’s “spaghetti Westerns” a try.
However, I decided I’d start my Eastwood Western viewing with Joe Kidd (1972).

I was drawn to Joe Kidd by its locations,
including Old Tucson, which I’ve visited a couple of times, and Lone Pine’s
Alabama Hills, an area with which I have great familiarity. The movie also
filmed around Bishop and Sherwin Summit, spots further north of Lone Pine on Highway
395.

I was also interested as the movie was directed by John Sturges. Sturges had previously worked in Lone Pine on Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and The Law and Jake Wade (1958). Coincidentally, Sturges also directed the last movie I reviewed for this column, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

Joe Kidd is set in Sinola, a
town in the American Southwest, circa 1900; the film was actually titled Sinola in
some countries. Eastwood plays Kidd, a one-time bounty hunter in jail for
disturbing the peace.

Kidd, now a rancher, is recruited by wealthy land owner
Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall) to track down Chama (John Saxon), a revolutionary
trying to reclaim local ancestral lands for his people.

Kidd initially declines to join Harlan but changes his mind
after he finds Chama has injured one of his workers and stolen his horses.
However, Kidd quickly becomes dismayed with the brutality of Harlan and his
men.

Harlan’s gang takes over a small village and sends a
message to Chama that he’ll periodically kill five hostages if Chama refuses to
surrender. By that point Harlan no longer trusts Kidd and puts him in the town
church along with the hostages.

One by one, Kidd manages to quietly knock off some of
Harlan’s men standing guard at the church, then puts in motion a plan to escape
and capture Chama himself. Kidd plans to deliver Chama to the sheriff in
Sinola, which will also draw Harlan away from the hostages.

I thought Joe Kidd was a solid film with a
good performance by Eastwood. He’s clearly an imperfect person, as evidenced by
his rather childish behavior as the film opens, but he’s also a strong, observant
man who isn’t to be trifled with.

Eastwood’s Kidd may be downright scary at times, but he
also has some wonderful moments of dry humor, starting with a scene early on
where he holds off one of Chama’s men in a saloon, pouring himself a beer while
holding a rifle. A French film poster alludes to this moment:

There’s also a very amusing set piece near the end where
Kidd drives a steam train straight through a saloon, gaining the advantage in a
shootout with Harlan’s men.

Robert Duvall is as good as one might expect as the
powerful Harlan. Initially the viewer sees Harlan as someone willing to spend
money and hire bad men in order to have his own way. As the film progresses,
however, Harlan reveals he is completely evil, willing to kill indiscriminately
and threaten the lives of innocent women and children if Chama doesn’t comply
with his wishes.

Saxon’s character isn’t quite so developed, and he shows
himself to be an ungrateful chauvinist in a scene with his loyal girlfriend
(Stella Garcia). That said, Saxon does what he can with the material he has to
work with, particularly near the end when he and Eastwood reach a situation
where “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Chama may not like Kidd
trying to take him to the law, but he does recognize Kidd is far more ethical
than Harlan.

The section of the film where Joe is held with the hostages
but manages to knock off a couple of his captors seemed strikingly
familiar…and then I made one of those wonderful movie connections which
helped explain that feeling. The Joe Kidd screenplay was by
Elmore Leonard, who also wrote the story which inspired the Randolph Scott-Budd
Boetticher film The Tall T (1957).

In The Tall T, Scott is held hostage by Richard
Boone, but late in the movie he manages to cleverly dispatch a couple of
Boone’s henchmen. No wonder that Joe Kidd sequence seemed so
familiar! In another nice connection, The Tall T was also
filmed in the Alabama Hills.

Speaking of locations, it’s somewhat amusing to have the
characters in Joe Kidd ride out of the Alabama Hills straight
into Old Tucson, but that type of editing is also something Western fans are
accustomed to seeing. For instance, I recall a Hopalong Cassidy Western where
characters in the Alabama Hills shoot at people who are at Iverson Ranch!

The movie was beautifully shot in Technicolor Panavision by
Bruce Surtees, son of Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Surtees. Bruce
Surtees worked on numerous Eastwood films as both camera operator and
cinematographer.

The unique Alabama Hills landscapes look marvelous in Joe
Kidd, as shot by Surtees. Here’s a screenshot prominently showcasing Lone
Pine Peak, in the background at the left. Mount Whitney, the highest point in
the contiguous United States, is deeper in the background, just left of center.
I suspect it was as cold as it looks here!

Here are a couple additional screen captures of the
stunning views of the Alabama Hills:

As it happens, my husband has taken horseback tour groups
past some of the Joe Kidd locations in his role as a tour
trail guide for the Lone Pine Film Festival. Fans of the film should
considering attending the festival for an “in person” look at the
scenery.

There are a number of familiar faces in Joe Kidd’s supporting
cast, including Don Stroud, Dick Van Patten, Gregory Walcott, and Chuck
Hayward.

It was fun to see Clint Ritchie, who plays Calvin, in this
film; Ritchie later spent a couple decades playing Phil Carey’s son on the soap
opera One Life to Live.

Lynne Marta, who plays Duvall’s rather giddy mistress, who
finds herself attracted to Joe, just passed away in January 2024, at the age
78. Marta was part of a sad story in Hollywood history, providing eyewitness
testimony on the shooting death of her friend, actress Rebecca Schaeffer, in
1989.

The Joe Kidd musical score was composed by
Lalo Schifrin.

Joe Kidd is a solid mid-range
Western with a number of positive things to offer, including good performances,
excellent locations, and connections to Westerns past. I found it worthwhile,
and seeing it encouraged me to continue digging deeper into Eastwood’s
Westerns.

I watched this film on an attractive Universal Pictures Blu-ray released in 2018. The disc had English subtitles but no extras. Two years later the movie was released as a Kino Lorber Special Edition Blu-ray with a commentary track and an interview with cast member Don Stroud.

…

– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub

Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns.  She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals.  Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.