Das war Roy Bean

An odd, uneven and off-beat western from '71-72 that most downbeat of hippie years - incidentally coinciding with the year the modern-western, 'Pocket Money' also starring good-looking blue-eyed American superstar, Paul Newman was released. Bleak but playful and full of quirky scenarios and cameos with a cine-literate script although without the surrealism of the Italian western genre. The night-time scene when Bean travels to the theatre by train dressed in a top-hat and tails and is subsequently mugged is lyrical and timeless; while the scene when Bean accompanied by his Mexican wife Maria-Elena, played by Victoria Principal surveys the mellow golden-brown Arizonan prairieland vistas has a compelling purity of vision. The early-'70s were pioneering years and stood often for intelligent cinema. It reveals just how multi-faceted Newman's acting style was.

This whimsical western is a mixed bag, though I was slightly distracted throughout waiting for the appearance of a young Victoria Principal. Only knowing her "work" from FANTASY ISLAND, DALLAS and EARTHQUAKE, I expected her to be hopelessly flat in the company of higher echelon performers like Paul Newman. Well, was I ever shocked and humbled to note in the closing credits that our Miss P. had slipped right past my poised-to-be-nasty laser vision by slipping seamlessly into the role of Judge Roy Bean's young Mexican mistress. Principal is mellow, charming and realistic in the part, coming across like a more talented Claudia Cardinale. After making a debut like this in a John Huston film....WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED???

Wanted bank robber Roy Bean (Paul Newman) arrives in a dusty Texas town. He is quickly robbed by the locals and dragged behind a horse with a noose. After being saved by Maria Elena (Victoria Principal), he returns to take his revenge by shooting the whole lot of them. He appoints himself the new judge as he lays out his own brand of law and punishment. He is a dedicated fan of Lily Langtry (Ava Gardner) and later makes an enemy of Frank Gass (Roddy McDowall).

This movie doesn't have a narrative flow. It's one incident after another. He hangs one person after another. It needs to build tension over time. It needs to build up a villain. In this case, it's Frank Gass. This needs to be a battle between Roy Bean and Frank Gass. Instead, Frank is almost a side character and the climatic battle is nothing more than a physical bombast. The most emotional moment comes at the end. It's telling that Roy Bean isn't there. All in all, this is fascinating for some of the performance, the great cast, and the idea within the premise.

I enjoyed very much this tale of the judge Roy Bean.A story about law and justice near the Pecos River: a former outlaw who decides to build a town where the bads guys and the outlaws will be punished.But also a romantic man who has fallen in love with an actress Lily Langtry. who is writing her letters and once tried to meet her in San Antonio. A great Paul Newman who plays very well the role of Judge Roy Bean and in this cast we have goods actors such as Anthony Perkins, Ned Beatty,Matt Clark , Jim Burk and Jim McKinney, and good actresses such as Victoria Principal, Jacqueline Bisset and Ava Gardner.

If you're looking for a factual account of Judge Roy Bean, this is not the film. One has still to be made for veracity. You won't find it in the old television series that starred Edgar Buchanan as the judge nor will you find it in the old William Wyler western, The Westerner, that got Walter Brennan an Academy Award for playing Roy Bean.

But if you're looking for good rollicking entertainment than this is the film for you. I have to believe that Paul Newman must have loved making this film, because it allowed him to be colorful, outrageous, and overact like a ripe Virginia ham. John Huston as director doesn't hold him in check in any way and the results are grand.

In fact the real Roy Bean (1825-1903) lived a good deal longer and had a longer career than what is shown here. He was probably more of a hell raiser than what Huston and Newman give us. He had more children than the one daughter played by Jacqueline Bisset towards the end of the film. Huston did incorporate some of the legend, it is true that he had a stiff neck as a result of a hanging attempt.

Please note that the real Bean did die in 1903 so the whole last 20 minutes or so of the film is pure fabrication. But it's great stuff.

His obsession with fabled actress Lillie Langtry is also part of the Bean legend and it is true. They never did meet, but it is a fact that Lillie as played here by Ava Gardner did visit Bean's town now named Langtry, Texas after Bean's death here and in real life.

Victoria Principal made her screen debut in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean as the woman who nurses him back to health after some unfriendly bandits nearly lynch him and who becomes his wife. It's hard to believe that this is the same woman who played a much different Texas female in Pamela Barnes Ewing on Dallas.

Huston assembled a good supporting cast for Newman besides those I've mentioned, Anthony Perkins, Tab Hunter, Ned Beatty, Roy Jenson, Bill McKinney are some of them. My favorite is Stacy Keach as the crazed Albino killer who challenges Bean. His demise at Newman's hands is the image I carry most from this film.

I think when you see The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean it will be the same for you.