The Chase

"The Chase" is a powerful and underrated drama. It has most of the ingredients that are required for a solid dramatic picture: exceptional acting (particularly by Brando), careful directing, well-drawn characters and good production values. The first half meanders a little, but in the second half the tension mounts and the film becomes constantly more and more involving and moving. So why does it have such a low reputation? Maybe because of all those reported production problems. But who cares? They're certainly not evident in the film! Recommended for mature viewers.

The Chase did get pretty awful reviews when it was released but this is a movie to seek out, if for nothing else the performances. A young Richard Bradford is extremely believable as the town bully and womanizer. Robert Duvall as a henpecked husband. Jane Fonda and Robert Redford in early roles. The real reason to catch this one, however, is Brando's performance, which (as noted by another reviewer) is one of his better ones. I saw this movie when it was released and left the theater feeling exhaustion as well as an inner turmoil because the movie made me so mad! The fight scene at the sheriff's office was pretty violent for it's time and was quite upsetting. Great acting all around. Check it out.

What starts as a simple prison break turns into an incredibly tense emotional thriller in The Chase. With an all-star cast and a perfectly eerie tone set by director Arthur Penn, you'll be kept on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

Robert Redford and his cellmate break out of prison, but when his cellmate kills a man and flees the scene, everyone thinks Robert Redford is the murderer! He tries to make his way back to town to see his wife, but when the town residents get wind of his plan, they all panic. E.G. Marshall, a very important figure, is worried about his son's safety, since he's having an affair with Redford's wife, Jane Fonda. Robert Duvall, whose wife is having an affair with Richard Bradford, is worried because he knows a secret about Redford's crime. Redford's parents, Miriam Hopkins and Malcom Atterbury, feel guilty about not hiring him a lawyer before. Ken Renard knows where he is, and knows he'll get harassed because of it. And finally, Marlon Brando, the sheriff, tries in vain to keep the peace.

Lillian Hellman's script, based on Horton Foote's play, is very well-written, with plenty of characters to root for and against. Marlon Brando's character is by far the most interesting and likable, and even though he isn't usually cast in peace-keeper roles, he's very convincing as he's pulled by all sides and still tries to maintain law and order. This is a pretty heavy movie, so be prepared. There's infidelity, violence, and racial harassment. But if you tend to like dramatic films from the 1960s, rather than the fluffy ones, you'll probably enjoy The Chase.

The lukewarm reviews and comments led me to expect less than what I found in this decent movie of small-town corruption. Most of it is probably due to a pretty good cast - Brando is excellent, and Duvall, Dickinson, and E.G.Marshall put in good work. Redford's part is too small to do much with. I too was astounded at James Fox's pretty darn good Southern accent; it was so good that at first I couldn't place him, and then all those British roles came back to me in surprise. The script is ok too, and one would like to know more about the backstage fighting that went on over it between Hellman & company. The Panavision color is excellent; far better than what we have today. The portrayal of small-town bigotry, duplicity, jealousy, betrayal, and infidelity is well-done, and the spectacular junkyard Gotterdamerung is a chilling finale. The flick is definitely worth seeing.

A town in the southern United States is presented as a kind of microcosm in which hypocrisy, class struggle, lust, the cult of power and money, jealousy, but also dignity, common to all societies, coexist. As the minutes go by, the townspeople become increasingly brutalized and debased, on a Saturday night that will end in tragedy. Robert Reford's character is a born loser, who has escaped from prison and returns to the only place he knows, his hometown, where his wife Jane Fonda lives, or his parents, rude people who have not given him the affection necessary to make him a worthwhile man. Marlon Brandon and his spouse Angie Dickinson, they are without a doubt the most humane couple in that 'wretched' town. The direction is sublime, with no concessions to any kind of unneeded 'joy'.