The Ballad of Cable Hogue

- The Ballad of Cable Hogue

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Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Release Date: 2006-01-10

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Review
Sam Peckinpah's light-hearted, rambunctious ode to the dying Wild West, with Jason Robards as a rascally prospector who transforms a desert water-hole into big business. Year: 1970 Director: Sam Peckinpah Starring: Jason Robards, Stella Stevens, David Warner

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Customer Reviews
Summary: Not without merit despite juvenile comedy and Peckinpah's misogyny Overall Rating: Comment: Confounding expectation, Peckinpah's follow up to "The Wild Bunch" is a broad comedy. The humour is on a pretty juvenile level though and a scene in the middle where a drunken priest (David Warner) consoles a grieving woman is particularly idiotic and demeaning to women (one could write a whole thesis about Peckinpah's misogyny and generally warped attitude to women). Despite this, Peckinpah does recreate the atmosphere of an old Western town and extends the boundaries of the Western genre. Summary: Dying Of Thirst In The Desert? Stop By And See Cable Hogue!!! Overall Rating: Comment: I enjoyed The Ballad of Cable Hogue alot. It's quite a wonderful, lesser-known cinematic gem from 1970 and certainly not your typical western, which is a good thing. Out of all of director Sam Peckinpah's numerous westerns, this one is probably the most viewer-friendly and identifiable. The story concerns titular frontiersman Cable Hogue (the great Jason Robards) doing his best to live out a minimalist existence while resisting change out on the western Arizona/Nevada plains in the very last days of the waning Old West in 1908. When we first meet him in the film's opening, he's betrayed by his two former partners, Bowen and Taggart (Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones, respectively) who steal his mule and provisions and leave him to die out in the blazing sun of the vast Arizona desert. He stumbles around dehydrated for four days close to death until he is saved by miraculously discovering water from a natural underground spring close to a regularly traveled wagon route. With the help of supplies dropped off to him from the passing wagons and stagecoaches, he decides that instead of leaving the desert behind, he will instead stay with the spring he has discovered and build it up into his very own little pitt-stop-style oasis in the desert, so other thristy travelers and wanderers passing through the area will have a place to stop and drink. Along the way, Cable is befriended and assisted by a lascivious preacher, Joshua Sloan (David Warner) and a feisty prostitute, Hildy (Stella Stevens), from a local, nearby town who dreams of the big, upscale life in San Francisco. Early on he even stakes a claim and gets a bank loan on the land and spring and eventually even builds it up into an impressive little hitching post complete with a cabin, horse pens, rattlesnakes and a picnic area and watering spring. Pretty soon, customers from all over are stopping by Cable's now bustling and thriving little watering hole and pitt-stop. He eventually starts making good profits and becomes a legitimate, locally well-known businessman. He even dubs his oasis as Cable Springs, a cinematic implication that this watering hole was the foundation of what eventually became the modern-day city. Interestingly enough, Cable Hogue's primary motive for starting the oasis is not profit, but a patient revenge strategy in knowing the fact that his two afforementioned former comrades are still out there and will eventually and unsuspectingly drop by for a drink at some point. That's when Cable Hogue will be ready for them! Will he have his retribution on the two no-good weasels who left him for dead? You'll just have to watch and see. It's an interesting and original little story, with good humor and characterization throughout. Jason Robards provides an excellent, gently wry performance and his character of Cable Hogue is a man with passions we can feel and understand. It's fairly safe to say that The Ballad of Cable Hogue is the most likeable and watchable of Sam Peckinpah's films, especially to the casual viewer. Unlike Peckinpah's other western features, the focus here is less on action-violence and more on characterization, which should make it a good introductory film for those new to or not as familiar with Sam Peckinpah's normally gritty style. It also even has a few poignant elements here and there, namely that of people's attitudes in the very first days of the 20th Century toward the progress and changing landscapes of the American West, a theme that was recurrent in many of Sam Peckinpah's westerns. Overall, a great, enjoyable film that's still worth a view. Summary: Great . . . but Overall Rating: Comment: As other reviewers have pointed out, this is a feel-good gem (unlike so much of the director's movie work---not TV, though): great cast, great acting, well directed, lovely story, if a trifle "episodic". Meaning too long. Could'a been about a half hour shorter. Summary: Thirsty for a good western? Here it is. Overall Rating: Comment: This is a great western. Nontraditional? Yes, but in a good way. The story is a quick tale of revenge and regret. A window into how a man's soul can be spoiled be hate and greed. All in all, not a bad example of the 60s western. I would suggest everyone see this one. Summary: Love Stella Stevens Overall Rating: Comment: Oh My; Stella Stevens! How do I love you!? Let me count the ways! Love this film.

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