O Pecado de um Xerife

Peck does a nice job playing a middle age crazy sheriff who meets and goes over the edge for a rawboned hillbilly girl. He has a decent, loving wife at home but his discontent with his life leads to his making one stupid mistake after another in not only his private life but his professional as well. Well played out film with top notch performances by the entire cast and a sound track by Johnny Cash which intertwines nicely with the picture.

The subject of small town boredom and emotional unrest; Gregory Peck portrays the sheriff in a small rural Tennessee town. He has a mid-life crisis(before it was fashionable to call it that).

Estelle Parsons is the long-suffering wife, and Tuesday Weld the femme fatal. There is also a part with Charles Durning, as a racist small- minded police officer, who feels his job is to run everyone out of town who is not a "good church-going man". Some of the dialog and themes explored in this movie are interesting, and if one has ever traveled to this part of the country, there are still small towns a bit similar to this, even though they may now have a Wal-Mart 100 miles away.

Gregory Peck's performance is excellent, though his involvement with a penniless moonshiner's daughter is a bit hard to swallow. You will enjoy the cinematography, and a depiction of American life which does still exist. This film is not as extreme as "Deliverance" but if you drive along Route 26 through North Carolina and Tennessee mountains, you will still see people living without heat, with plastic on their windows to keep out the cold.

Underrated, overlooked gem from director John Frankenheimer has Gregory Peck in fine form playing Tennessee sheriff and family man in a depressed hillbilly town falling for Tuesday Weld, the comely daughter of a moonshiner. The sheriff, torn by sexual longing and responsibilities--and throwing all morality out of his path--strikes a subtle arrangement with the mountain clan to continue seeing their daughter if they keep their business under-wraps...but is this girl just stringing the lawman along? Frankenheimer bookends the film with a collage of sorrowful faces (scored with music by Johnny Cash) and the effect is a bit pretentious (it seems like a put-on); however, the director's dramatic compositions (helped immeasurably by David M. Walsh's superlative cinematography) overcome this arty overreaching and actually take on some meaning. Alvin Sargent's screenplay, adapted from Madison Jones' book "An Exile", is literate and engrossing, and the obtrusiveness of that stilted opening (as well as Cash's songs, pushed too far out in front) can easily be forgiven. Sexual obsession wears surprisingly well on Gregory Peck, and when he asks Weld to run away with him, you believe it. Both performers are terrific (even Peck's arched eyebrow and granite jaw work well for him here) and the supporting cast is equally solid. Atmospheric and charged with emotion. *** from ****

I happened upon the film on French television. It was very well done. Gregory Peck gave a wonderful performance. The changes in his character and his anguish were felt. I was impressed that in 1970 there was a nude bedroom scene. I did compare it to Damage with Jeremy Irons and what they visibly display nowadays. G.P. and Tuesday Weld did a great job without that display. Ralph Meeker was a charmer as always. It does not require an R rating. The incest was suggested in a subtle fashion. Albeit an eerie moment. The photography was very interesting. I am not a Johnny Cash fan but his music was fitting. Loved the film. Azignon

A totally under-appreciated and unseen film (except for some Gregory Peck fans) with Estelle Parsons and Ralph Meeker and the glorious totally bashed actress (in movies since age 12) and this is AFTER Pretty Poison, a witty and insightful script directed by (apparently a one-shot guy, Noel Black) that nobody got to see!

1970 was a great year for films and this didn't make my top TEN, but it's very interesting...with a moral that actually plays out in a semi-realistic and human AMERICAN way, but unfortunately, it was considered drive-in fare by whatever studio released it. Try to find this one. It's like Deliverance combined with Love with the Proper Stranger and it's quite unique, mainly because of Tuesday Weld's performance. An 8 out of 10 in a very good year. Best performance = T. Weld.