Review of The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) by Zack B — 23 Apr 2012

Directed by John Huston and written by John Milius, this is an offbeat western with a black vein of comedy throughout. It has a spirted lead and an all star supporting cast. A lot of people may forget that Huston directed this film, but it's up there with The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and The Man Who Would Be King (1975) as one of Huston's best films.

Set in the wilds of Texas towards the end of the 19th Century, Roy Bean (Paul Newman) is an outlaw who after a lynching takes vengeance on those who robbed him of what money he had and appoints himself as Judge, and anyone who tries to stand in his way gets either shot or hung, and Bean even acquires himself a pet bear from the passing Grizzly Adams (John Huston), and all the while Bean holds a light for the music hall entertainer Lily Langtry (Ava Gardner).

But, things change when lawyer Frank Gass (Roddy McDowall) comes to town claiming that the land Bean rules over is owned by Gass, and years later, things comes to a head when Gass wants to destroy Bean's property to get oil.

It's a forgotten western which see's Newman play almost against type, and it's actually one of his better performances, with a cast including Ned Beatty, Anthony Perkins, Tab Hunter, Victoria Principal, Jacqueline Bisset and Stacy Keach, It shows the lighter side of the revisionist western, but it has the fingerprints of New Hollywood all over it.