Joe Kidd

Excellent and certainly underrated Clint Eastwood western, this time directed by John Sturges and designed very much to cash in on the Spaghetti Westerns Eastwood made with Sergio Leone; you only have to look at the credits to see the wealth of talent involved including a screenplay by none other than Elmore Leonard. Clint is the titular "Joe Kidd" who finds himself in the middle of a war between cold-blooded landowner Robert Duvall and a group of Mexicans lead by John Saxon. There's nothing very original about the plot but it gallops through its less than niney minutes running time and makes for a very entertaining Saturday Afternoon Matinee movie. It's also well cast throughout and boasts some beautiful location photography by the great Bruce Surtees.

This may not be one of the best western to feature Clint Eastwood, but it's still a decent western. Yeah, the plot maybe a bit standard but still the movie does have it's moments few times. The triumphant soundtrack is also a plus. on the negative side the story is pretty standard and the movie just isn't all that character driven either. It just lacked certain elements that made some of Clint's other western films great. The part that I liked was how it's difficult to choose a side for a while. Sometimes the movie seemed to try a bit too hard to show how short tempered and badass the main protagonist is while also having some moral ethics. Although it can sometimes be cool to see the effects of his short temper. Some aspects of this film just seemed a bit forced and although it's a decent western not much really stood out. In fact it seemed more like a western TV show episode than a actual movie. Besides the fact that this movie has two great actors, Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall.

6.4/10

Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood) is a former gunman and bounty hunter, hired by the landlord Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall) to chase Luis Chama (John Saxon), a Mexican-American fighting for land reform. Along the hunting, Joe realizes that Frank's men are cold blood killers, and decides to help Luis Chama. He convinces him to fight for his rights in the court of justice. In the way back to the city, Frank's men try to kill Luis Chama. Clint Eastwood has another great performance, having a great duel with Robert Duvall. The story has some flaws, but anyway, maybe the greatest problem is the expectation generated by the name of John Sturges: we always expect another masterpiece from him, and maybe this is the reason why there are some underrated comments about this above average Western movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Joe Kidd

I've seen "Joe Kidd" quite a few times but not as many times as I should. This movie gets better every time I see it. For some reason it is probably my least seen Clint Eastwood western. I can't explain it. Last night as I watched it I enjoyed almost everything about it. The dialogue was smart and often very funny. The cast was very strong, especially Robert Duvall. Duvall gives an excellent performance. I have many books on movie westerns. None of them give "Joe Kidd" its due. It took me many years to get up to speed with this movie. "Joe Kidd" is another solid entry in Clint Eastwood's Hall of Fame resume.

Clint was already a veteran of many westerns by the time he made "Joe Kidd" and, though many don't find it among his best, it shows Clint as the Joe of the title doing what he does best.

As a ne'er-do-well who ends up siding with Luis Chama (Saxon), a wanted Mexican bandito, Kidd does battle with a group of bounty hunters (led by a suitably villainous Duvall) out for Chama's blood.

"Joe Kidd" is leisurely but not uninteresting; after all, any film written by Elmore Leonard has interesting points (just look at his later work). And when I saw Clint eye that train, I knew something was going to happen (you'll have to see that one yourself).

Overall, "Joe Kidd" may not be as big as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" or as profound as "Unforgiven", but it's a good film nonetheless and bears watching. If just for that classic Eastwood squint.

Eight stars. And for future reference, never upset a man holding a pot of stew.