The Hired Hand

1971 Western

Rating: 15/20

Plot: After trouncing around the country with a buddy, a man decides to return home to his wife and daughter. She allows him to stick around as a hired hand.

If nothing else, this Peter Fonda Western preaches "bros before hos." This one's got complex characters created in very simple ways. The filmmaking, with its slow dissolves and languid pace, almost seems lazy. These characters--especially Fonda's and that character's wife played by Verna Bloom--have all kinds of unexplored dimensions. Instead of fleshing them out with needless flashbacks or exposition, the characters are just allowed to exist in this time and in this conflict. Fonda and Bloom are good, and it's always fun to see Warren Oates.

I like the easygoing stylistic touches of this one. There are some really beautiful shots and all those slow dissolves, but the real star might be the soundtrack by Bruce Langhorne, Dylan's inspiration for "Mr. Tambourine Man." It's so pretty, just stunningly beautiful, and it fits the pace of the narrative perfectly.

My favorite moments include a death scene in which a young buck convulses and moans, "Mother!" I also liked a messenger's giggle.

It's funny to see how drastically different this Peter Fonda film is compared to his Easy Rider cohort Dennis Hopper's from the same year.