Deux Hommes dans l'Ouest

Ross Bodine (William Holden) and Frank Post (Ryan O'Neal) are a couple of cowboys complaining about life. They work for cattleman Walter Buckman (Karl Malden). They play with the idea of robbing a bank and riding off to Mexico. They are forced into a fight and wreck the saloon. Walter holds back their wages to pay off the damages. The two men see no way out other than to really do the robbery. Ross robs banker Joe Billings while Frank holds his wife Sada hostage. They allow him to keep some money to pay the local cowboys but Sada convinces him to steal it. Walter is angry that his two employees did the robbing. His two sons, John Buckman (Tom Skerritt) and Paul Buckman (Joe Don Baker), join the posse.

The poster is a little funny. The intention seems to be portraying this a light fun action western. I don't actually find it funny. It tries to be light at times. Mostly, it's bit muddled and long. I would rather have some better action. Blake Edwards is using too much slow motion when he doesn't need it. The bank robbery should be better. The horse roundup is the best action. Otherwise, the action is less than impressive. All in all, this is fine but I would find a comedian to be one of the leads especially if Blake intends this as a comedy. Apparently, the studio took over the finishing and Blake disowned the final product. At least, he got material for another film. I doubt he has a sense of the western genre.

Wild Rovers is written and directed by Blake Edwards. It stars William Holden, Ryan O'Neal, Karl Malden, Joe Don Baker, Tom Skeritt and James Olsen. Music is scored by Jerry Goldsmith and the Panavision/Metrocolor cinematography is by Philip Lathrop.

It's a Western that not only was butchered by cretinous execs at MGM, but has also proved to be divisive among the Western faithful - those that have seen the now thankfully available un-butchered version that is. Wild Rovers is one of those Oaters that is very much concerned with the changing of the West, where cowboys start to find themselves out of place with their era. Think Monte Walsh/Will Penny/Ride The High Country, with a bit of Wild Bunch/Butch & Sundance thrown in for good measure, and you get where Wild Rovers is at.

Some critics were quick to accuse Edwards of merely copying Western films of past, but that is unfair. For this is a loving homage to those movies, also managing to be its own beast in the process. The tale is simply of two cowpokes, one aged and world weary, the other a young excitable buck, best friends who want more from life, so decide to rob the local bank and flee to Mexico to start afresh. Of course two men and destiny are quite often not the best of bed fellows...

There's an elegiac beauty to Edwards' screenplay, with some of the scripted dialogue lyrical and poetic. And yet even though the harshness of the West, of the life of a cowboy, and the violence that is abound, is deftly pulsing within the story, there's plenty of dashes of humour as well. This is not a perpetually downbeat movie, slow moving? Absolutely, short on ripper action? Also correct. But as the themes of heroism and honour, of friendship and folly, are born out, and the many tender sequences draw you in, a pratfall is never far away.

Technically it's high grade stuff. Holden is superb and he drags O'Neal along with him to avert what could have been a casting disaster. They make a fine and beguiling partnership and both men are turning in some of their best ever work here. The photography of the Arizona locations is outstanding, with Lathrop (Lonely Are the Brave) managing to add some ethereal beauty to the story. Goldsmith knocks out a triffic score, part blunderbuss Western excitement, part intimate pal to all and sundry.

Skip any version that is under two hours, for that is an MGM crime. The MOD DVD comes complete with overture, intermission, entr'acte and exit music, while TCM shows the uncut version but minus the aforementioned roadshow segments. This is not a Western for those looking for a Magnificent Seven style actioner, for as fun as that great movie is, this is an altogether different and mature beast, and it deserves to be better known. 9/10

I saw WILD ROVERS when it first came out - in the early 70s. It had been butchered by the powers that be at MGM. Still there was a lot to recommend the western: William Holden at his post-WILD BUNCH grizzled best, Jerry Goldsmith's classic, Copelandesque score that somehow manages to be lyrical, evocative but not a bit cloying (learn something, James Horner and Hans Zimmer), and the stunning cinematography. I saw it again in the late 80s restored to its original length (on a double bill with the restored PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID, also butchered by MGM in the early 70s). I found more to like about the movie: the unexpected spurts of humor, the observations of the connectedness between cowboy and animal life, and Blake Edward's staging of the scenes of violence - he never does the same thing twice, and the barroom shootout is an object lesson in blocking and editing. (If there is any complaint one can level against Clint Eastwood's UNFORGIVEN was how uninterestingly the action scenes were staged.) Anyway, I just caught WILD ROVERS again on HD.Net Movies during 4th of July weekend, and its virtues have actually grown with age. And it looks gorgeous on a 16:9 Hi-Def screen. Give it a few more years and it might attain classic status.

I was very surprised when I saw that "Wild Rovers" was written and directed by Blake Edwards. Edwards is more known for his comedies and occasional dramas...not westerns. Was he up to the task? Well, considering what sort of film it is, having a non-western writer/director is actually a very good thing!

Why would I say this? Because "Wild Rovers" is a totally deconstructed view of cowboys. Instead of the usual macho theatrics you see in a western, this one is much more like the lives of REAL cowboys....their dull and somewhat pointless lives. In the film, the guys work hard, get paid little, visit prostitutes, fight because they are bored, puke, and die young...like a real cowboy of the era. There's nothing romanticized about the men in this film and, if anything, they are a bit sad and pitiful.

In the story, two of these drifting cow punchers, Ross and Frank (William Holden and Ryan O'Neal) begin to question their lives and their futures. To escape this, they consider robbing a bank. After all, better to die this way than to die on the job. But if they follow through with their plan, it's pretty certain that it won't be easy and some folks will come gunning for them.

In order to maintain the realistic style of the film, Edwards does not rush the film at all. Instead, it's slow and deliberate. Additionally, the cinematography often helps to convey a sense of loneliness--with wide screen shots of the lonely prairie. It's lovely...but stark. This could make for a dull film (like "Heaven's Gate") but the writer/director seemed to maintain the proper balance of dullness, scope and the story itself.

So is it any good? Well, it's difficult to judge based on the IMDB reviews. They run the gamut...from those hating it, the indifferent as well as those who think it's a masterpiece. As for me, I really appreciated "Wild Rovers" because I used to be an American History teacher...and know Edwards' view of the west is far more realistic than 99% of the movies in this genre. Thoroughly exciting? No...but neither was life in the old west. Overall, very well made and well worth seeing provided you have an open mind and don't demand the usual western cliches and plot twists.

It seems like it could have been great but fails at just about every turn, unfortunatly. Likeable characters with all their actions unfolding logically and leading to dilemmas but for whatever reason the movie is rather boring and a bit over sentimental at times. It seems like the script was prob great but lost in the execution of production.