El juez de la horca

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.

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.

Unlike other comedic Western films of this era, John Huston's THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN is based on a singular premise: that God Almighty has decided to judge men on this earth through Roy Bean, a petty outlaw and drifter. Early in the film Anthony Perkins (as the circuit riding Methodist minister the Reverdend LaSalle)recites the salient portion of Psalm 58 at an impromptu funeral he is presiding over for the deceased frontier scum that tried to kill and rob the solitary Roy Bean, (to their catastrophic destruction by Bean himself) Thia will remain the recurring theme and leitmotiv that will dominate and justify the startling and unlikely quest of Judge Roy Bean, petty criminal turned self appointed judge of Vinagaroon county Texas.

Despite the extreme rusticity of Bean's surrounding and beginnings, his quixotic position of dispenser of justice steadily grows and grows until Bean has become the most respected and influential man in that extreme outpost of civization.His position takes on a unmistakable sort of grandeur, as does his chivalrous obsession with Lily Langtry, which in the end has flowered into perhaps the last shout of true chivalry in the ancient European sense. When the corrupting forces of the encroaching outside world seem to have completely swallowed up Bean's life's work, the judge, who has been 'down the pike/' for twenty years, unexpectedly returns for a true DIES IRAE, a reckoning. The final scenes with Ava Gardner as Lily Langtry, visiting the tiny remaining outpost and museum which bear her name delivers a ending moment of surprisingly fine sentiment. I LOVED this picture, with the exception of the idiotic song that was inserted into the middle of this soaring myth (probably insisted upon by investors who thought an original song, no matter how dismal would increase the projected box office to the level of BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID.

This underrated/underseen Huston film is definitely worth a look. Newman is wonderful as Roy Bean, and the large supporting cast is amazing, especially Anthony Perkins as a travelling padre, Stacy Keach as Bad Bob, Roddy McDowell as a wormy lawyer, Ned Beatty as the outlaw who'd rather be a bartender, and John Huston himself as Grizzly Adams. This is not a perfect picture at all. It falls apart by the last third or so, has a terrible day-for-night process shot that doesn't really work, and a unnecessary and embarrassing "raindrops keep falling on my head"-type musical montage, but the rest of it is great fun. This is the crazy kind of script Milius used to write in the 70s, like Apocalypse Now and especially 1941. The tone is very odd, but if you like your comedy dark and your westerns satirical you'll find lots to like about this one. A very broad and dark performance by Newman, who manages to find the pathos and integrity of this western charicature. It's a nice companion/contrast to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Kind of what Rami must have been going for in The Quick and the Dead (minus the Spaghetti Western style), and the examination of the mythic hero that Roderiguez tried for in Desperado, but much better achieved by Huston (duh). Fun stuff.

The real-life Judge Roy Bean, the law west of the Pecos, was a legendary figure who pulled off numerous publicity stunts for "his" town of Langtry, meanwhile administering a little justice along the way. If you'ver ever watched Northern Exposure, a good comparison might be Barry Corbin's Maurice Minnifield. That being said, the real Judge Bean pales in comparison to the legend that has built up over the years. That legend is what Huston concerns himself with, and it serves him well. The film is very episodic in nature, and for the first half, it does not disappoint. Paul Newman's first scene, where he's beaten, left for dead, and returns to wreck vengeance on every last one of his attackers sets the tone for the rest of the film. This is high mythology, tall tales at their best; you get the impression that this is how we Texans really wish our history read--colorful, eclectic, ruthless at times, and occasionally downright bizarre. From beer drinking bears to albino bandits, it's certainly interesting.

That being said, the film definitely takes a melancholy tone as civilization comes to Langtry. With it comes the disdain for such colorful characters as Bean, who seemingly has no place in the new, modern world. It's sad, but makes for an especially poignant ending. Newman's Judge is a blustering wonder; other standouts include Anthony Perkins, Ned Beatty, Roddy McDowell, and a very young and fetching Victoria Principal. Also making cameos are Jacqueline Bissett, Stacy Keach, Ava Gardner, and even the director himself.

All in all, a funny, touching film.