The Bull of the West

Almost has a 'film noir' feeling. Has 'heavier' drama than what current TV shows depict. More 'real life' atmosphere than 'bigger than life'atmosphere which is what a lot of westerns go for. The sentiment of the past few decades is easily reanimated to potency in the post 911 USA. I've noticed that in viewing westerns, especially the ones that were candidates for quick categorization by critics into 'template' scripts, the actions and characters now take on more mythic proportions. I think this has to do with the attack on the west in the 21st century. Mechanically has good mix of three plots but has some 'tv-esque'acting, however this is easy to ignore and enjoy the film anyway. Good mix of big stars seen in roles before they broke out and dominated the western/action film scene in Hollywood.

In fact, calling this stitched together piece of tripe a movie at all is a distortion. I hesitate even to call it a television show, although supposedly it was created by combining two episodes of "The Virginian." It has an all-star cast, including Charles Bronson, Lee J. Cobb, George Kennedy, Brian Keith, and Doug McClure, but the script is terrible, the acting almost as bad, and the plot nearly non-existent. The motivation of the various characters is never very clear, their loyalties and direction seeming to shift regularly, while many of the segues are abrupt and atrociously amateurish. You have to wonder how otherwise talented actors could appear in such an obvious chunk of dung and be able to look themselves in the mirror the next morning. Brian Keith plays a wandering Texan who practically adopts a youngster from the East, buying him a set of western duds and teaching him how to shoot, but soon enough, advises the kid to get lost. Charles Bronson is a cattle rancher who insists on doing everything his way and taking help from nobody. Lee J. Cobb plays "the judge." He comes off like some sort of saint, even though he is apparently the richest rancher in the valley and the chief honcho. He and his peers in the ridiculously goody goody Cattlemen's Association do all they can to get along with Bronson, but he wants nothing to do with anyone, not even his own son or, for that matter, his comely (if annoying) young wife. When we aren't groaning at how bad the flick is, we wonder what is eating at the guy to make him such a jerk, but the most we ever find out is that he can't do anything right and always runs from trouble. A rich, ambitious young woman moves into the valley and is determined to ride roughshod over everyone, especially the judge and his friends. She plans to bring in too many cattle and overgraze the available grass on the open range they all must share. When the judge tells her that she is being "shortsighted and foolish," she responds that he is exactly right and gets to be that way because she is a woman. Figure that one out -- it's the high point of this turkey. Brian Keith becomes her top man after clobbering his chief rival for the job and inexplicably goes from Mr. Nice Guy to unprincipled Lothario. If all this makes sense, it's only because I've attempted to inject some sense into it. There is only one way to characterize a movie that is this bad -- amazingly awful.

Television Western about confrontation between cattlemen . As cattlemen and some homesteaders battle for land in the open spaces of the Wild West when some put barb-wires over countrysides . Rowdy cowboys and all types of frontier riff-raff and the place became notorious for its lawlessness . At the beginning a wandering Texan named Johnny Wade (Brian Keith) is traveling on a train and adopts a drifter youngster (Gary Clarke) from the East . As serious and smooth-talking gunfighter adopts him and teaches to shoot and defense . Experimented Wade trains his new disciple and both men look for work and fortune , being hired by Landlady Georgia Price (Geraldine Brooks). Meanwhile , a two-fisted but poor owner called Ben Justin (Charles Bronson) married to Mary (Lois Nettleton) attempts to progress surrounded by land barons ; furthermore he has hard problems with his son . Ben Justin carries out his dream: the introduction of Hereford cattle into the American West . Ben enlists Gilly (Vito Scotty) in their efforts to transport their lone bull, a Hereford , a "rare breed" of cattle, to breed , but the trail is fraught with danger . Of course , there appears the Virginian (James Drury) , Shilo judge (Lee J. Cobb) and brief appearance by the intimate Trampas (Doug McClure) attempting to resolve troubles , as usual .

The picture gets action Western , shootouts , stampede , a familiar drama and is entertaining but lousily realized . It is two episodes of the TV series "The Virginian" lousily edited together : "Duel at Shiloh" (2 Jan. 1963) and "Nobility of Kings" (10 Nov. 1965). It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians, production values and mediocre results . There are two separated stories , the first dealing with an experimented cowboy played by Brian Keith and his disciple and the second about a tough father with dark past played by Charles Bronson who attempts to rebuild his ranch . Most of the fun in this one is picking out the locations and identifying stock performers , as there appears several secondaries such as Ben Johnson as Spinner , DeForest Kelley as Ben Tully , George Kennedy as 'Bear'Suchette , Doug McClure as Trampas . Two episodes are respectively directed by Paul Stanley and Jerry Hooper . Stanley directed a lot of TV chapters such as Mission impossible , Jim West , Time tunnel , Lost in space , Combat , Peter Gunn . Jerry Hooper also filmed a great quantity of television episodes such as Voyage to the bottom of the sea , The fugitive , Perry Mason , Shenandoah , Adams family , Caravan , Gunsmoke and occasionally for cinema as : Hurricane Smith , Alaska seas , Naked alibi ; in addition : The Private War of Major Benson , Secret of the Incas and Pony Express , all of them starred by Charlton Heston .

I compliment myself for having the patience and strength to watch this entire movie. IMDb says it is 90 minutes long; it seemed like 2-1/2 hours. Much of it was well acted and written, and I give them credit for doing a decent job of melding 2 or 3 episodes of "The Virginian" together, but it moved so slowly and kept repeating itself. I grew weary and angry as I watched Charles Bronson argue, annoy, antagonize, reject and torture all the many characters (wife, son, fellow ranchers) who tried to befriend/love/reach him — over and over. Whew! The conversations between Brian Keith and the young man he mentored also became boring and repititious. Maybe it is just me, but this is another Western where it is never made clear to me what the legal rights some ranchers have in fencing off or appropriating "open free range." Avoid the movie unless you have a keen interest in some of the people who made or acted in it.

The Bull of the West which I saw under the title of Hot Lead is a mix of about three shows from The Virginian television series, spliced together and released in the overseas market as a feature film.

Guys like George Kennedy, Charles Bronson and Brian Keith are all featured in separate stories that get illogically edited together to form a most incoherent motion picture. I suppose it was just a cheap attempt to capitalize on a lot of movie names. It was one cheap film to make since all that was involved was editing.

Unless you are either a stargazer, a fan of The Virginian or like all the guest stars in general, I'd pass this one by. Run do not walk to the remote to change channels when it's one.