Posse

Not a bad western, but not a real winner either. Most of the acting was good, but some of the performers need to go back to drama class and bone up a bit. Douglas and Dern kept the show going with their give and take, although I don't think the real lawmen and desperados actually carried on in this fashion. I think Strawhorn was more of a realist than a truly bad person; he saw the reality of life and became practical because of his vision. Dealing with 2 faced con men like Nightingale merely solidified his outlook on life.

U.S Marshal Howard Nightingale is a man who has big political aspirations and to achieve this dream. He and his posse of deputies go after an out-law Jack Strawhorn. When Nightingale captures Strawhorn, just like his other captors or conquests he exploits it through the media for public support. Strawhorn would be Nightingale's ticket into the US senate, but Strawhorn thinks otherwise.

Can westerns be too low-key? 'Posse' felt so. Kirk Douglas directs and stars in this understated, but thoroughly ambitious under-the-radar western that had something cynical to say when it came to its closing credits. Quite heavy-handed and aware of its messages (money buys loyalty with the guys donning their badges being no better than the outlaws and representing an image (the people's?) to manipulative achieve a politically upper-hand), but the story's format is just so odd and subversive. The western conventions are there, but by the end William Roberts and Christopher Knopf's cleverly sharp (if sly) material basically turned it upside down with an ironic turn of events. It has that fragrance of the pioneer Hollywood westerns, but its punishing violence and sexual inclusions with a quiet, but powerful conclusion roots it in the 70s. The unusual theme to it and the effortlessly collected and cool-witted performances of Kirk Douglas and Bruce Dern (who shared a terrific chemistry) cover for how mechanical the film did look. Nothing totally skillful or stylish about it. Douglas' direction is raggedly rough and a little too plain. However some action shootouts and chase sequences were competently entertaining, but when the violence did hit, it wasn't presented in such a meaningless parade. It went hand-to-hand with the thoughtful nature of the script. Dick O'Neill's taut, but at times flashy photography is fluidly shot and Maurice Jarre's uncanny score is strongly delivered. Supporting Douglas and Dern (who's character's made great for sparing confrontations) is excellent performances by Bo Hopkins, James Stacy, Beth Brickell, Dick O'Neill and Alfonso Arau. A western that's too interesting to pass up because of the calculating tone lurking underneath.

This outlandish and politically incorrect Western concerns about an ambitious, pompous sheriff named Nightingale (Kirk Douglas) he's looking for a dangerous robber as platform for his US Senate political career, under the ironic title ¨To the polls, sons of freedom¨. When Jack Strawhorn (Bruce Dern)is double-crossed , he escapes and seek vengeance against Penstleman(David Canary). Later on , Strawhorn is captured and carried a town . After that, happens the getaway and Jack want to take over the loot that was taken him. Then Nightingale finds townspeople are siding with the bandit.

There's much historical revisionism in this offbeat and pleasantly subversive Western as well as reversals of the ordinary 'Good guy' against 'Bad guy' format, similarly as happens in Spaghetti Western sub-genre. ¨Posse¨ attempts at a new rendition the Old West but at its core it's throughly conventional. Excellent Kirk Douglas as cynical sheriff who tries to fulfill political aspirations by detaining a known gunfighter. Bruce Dern steals the show as intelligent and resourceful outlaw . Secondary cast is frankly well as Dick O'Neill as ubiquitous photographer recording everything for future , James Stacy as cripple journalist, the Mexican Alfonso Arau who recently turned into film-maker, and Luke Askew and Bo Hopkins as members of the marshal bunch. This over-directed and fine-written movie extends to style as well as content, though packs some bit flaws. Colorful cinematography by Fred Koenekamp (Patton) and atmospheric musical score by Maurice Jarre (Doctor Zivago, Laurence of Arabia). This solid motion picture is well produced and directed by Kirk Douglas . Kirk's direction and production was taken in various films as ¨The light at the edge of the world¨, ¨Brotherhood¨, ¨Grand Prix¨, ¨Paths of glory¨ but he only directed ¨ Scalawag¨ and ¨Posse¨, though he told that made some scenes of ¨Spartacus. Rating : 6,5, good and well worth watching.

Well, not 'the best', perhaps, but an interesting and stylish western starring Kirk Douglas, who also produced and directed it. Bruce Dern is great as Strawhorn, the bad guy who ends up stealing the show.

Howard Nightingale is running for a seat in the US Senate. He is a man of great complexity, and one trait very much to the fore in his personality is a ruthless desire to impress the voters. He has assembled a posse of rangers, his own personal uniformed army of crimebusters. Nightingale (played by Douglas) has calculated that he can win the election on a clear-the-territory-of-lowlifes ticket. He and his posse are hunting down Strawhorn, and have fitted out a crusade train for the purpose of capturing their prey. The plan is to grab Strawhorn and hang him just in time for the election.

Nightingale is in the pocket of the railroad owners. The local newspaper is the Tesota Sentinel, and one of the film's themes is the valuable role played by the press in speaking truth to those in power. One-armed, one-legged journalist Harold Hellman (played by James Stacy, who had recently lost both limbs on a motor cycle accident) is the equal of the photogenic wannabe Senator. Nightingale works the crowd with glib words, but his position is being eroded by a different formula of words - that used by The Sentinel.

One of the film's elegant touches is the photography motif. At various points in the story, the participants pose to have their picture taken, and the resulting stills form a freeze-frame chronicle of the action. A lot of post-production work went into dubbing extraneous voices onto the soundtrack, so that the crowd scenes are laced with apposite little remarks.

A violently-burning train provides terrific visuals, as well as offering acerbic comment on Nightingale's political aspirations. The film's concluding message, that by its nature a standing army is a threat to democracy, is well made - as is the point about the fickleness of public opinion.

Verdict - A clever, enjoyable little western.

One thing about Kirk Douglas is that he's never been afraid to let the public see him as a bad guy. It's a great tribute to his ability as an actor to develop such a wide range of characters from the heroic Spartacus to the villainous George Brougham in The List of Adrian Messenger.

Posse falls somewhere in the middle of those two films in terms of the good versus evil scale for Kirk Douglas. Politicians running on "law and order" platforms were just coming into vogue at the time and this western is spot on about those kind of politicians and the motivations behind them.

Kirk Douglas is a U.S. Marshal with political ambitions to be a United States Senator. He's got his photographer with him to record his exploits and travels on a private railroad car provided by the railroad.

He's on the trail of outlaw Jack Strawhorn, played by Bruce Dern. Before capturing Strawhorn, Douglas and his posse burn alive Dern's gang in a barn fire and then butcher another group of misfits he's put together even as they want to surrender.

What I like most about Posse is that it doesn't try to make Dern out any kind of a hero. He's an outlaw the way some people are grocers, bakers, shoemakers, etc. This may very well have been Bruce Dern's best screen role.

It turns out that Dern is a far better judge of human nature than the fatuous Douglas is. The town of Tesota, Texas where most of the action takes place is very much sadder and wiser when the film concludes.

A lot of the same themes are covered in the more acclaimed The Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood who also starred and directed himself. But I think Kirk Douglas got there first.