Review of The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) by Luis G — 13 Jun 2012

As a fairly soft humanist emotive film such as this (especially considering peckinpahs previous film effort). It is an enjoyable film but I can't honestly say I felt too engrossed in this film, the acting is outstanding and particularly Jason Robbards performance and also a hand goes out to the soundtrack as well.

I think for the major issue is the comedic aspect is too slapstick for me and doesn't quite work as a western. I feel though apart from that there isn't too much I disliked about the film, great story, great acting and good soundtrack. I felt the ending was a bit off, though fairly intelligent the use of comedy and drama was just too polar for me. Bittersweet endings work best when the story is often left to the audience's imagination of whether it is a "happy" or "sad" ending, I feel anyway. All in all, id say though not my favourite Peckinpah film, it is a good western and definately had a modern unique feel to it.