From Our Vaults:
Ted Kotcheff directed Billy Two Hats, a two-generational Western, starring Gregory Peck, Jack Warden, and Desi Arnaz, Jr.
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Grade: C+ (** out of *****)
Shot on-location in Israel, the movie is penned by Scottish writer Alan Sharp, the writer of Rob Roy and Ulzana’s Raid.
After bank robbery in the American West, the partner of Scottish outlaw Arch Deans is killed and his young Kiowa half-breed friend Billy Two Hats is captured.
While Billy is being transported, Deans gets the drop on Sheriff Henry Gifford at a remote trading post, enabling Billy to escape.
As they flee, sheriff’s friend Copelan takes down his old, long-range buffalo rifle and kills Deans’ horse.
Deans and Billy encounter trouble on the trail, when some Indians demand whiskey, but Billy talks their way out of it.
The two then meet Spencer and wife Esther at their remote homestead. Deans persuades Spencer to take him in his wagon to get horses on the condition that Billy stays with Esther to protect her and the homestead from marauding Indians.
When Spencer is killed, Gifford, Esther, and Billy set out after Deans, who’s near death. With Esther’s help, Billy kills Gifford, while Deans dies of wounds. Billy then places Deans’ body in a tree atop a hill, Indian fashion, an ride off together with Esther.
Like Ulzana’s Raid, a better Western also written by Alan Sharp, Billy Two Hats is about hunters and hunted, centering on father-son relationship. Here, however, the roles are reversed, with the grizzled Deans (Peck struggling with Scottish accent) forced to rely on his resourceful young companion.
When the action turns to conversation between Peck and Arnaz, Billy Two Hats becomes vapid, and when young Arnaz strikes up romance with the rancher’s mail-order bride things get worse.
In short, the story and characters are too tame and obvious for Peckinpah’s wild bunch viewers, which explains the film’s failure.
Cast
Gregory Peck as Arch Deans
Desi Arnaz, Jr. as Billy Two Hats
Jack Warden as Marshal Henry Gifford
David Huddleston as Copeland, Saloon Owner
Sian Barbara Allen as Esther Spencer
John Pearce as Spencer
Dawn Little Sky as Copeland’s Squaw
W. Vincent St. Cyr as Indian Leader
Henry Medicine Hat as Indian
Zev Berlinsky as Indian
Antony Scott as Indian
Vic Armstrong as Harry Sweets Bradley
Credits:
Directed by Ted Kotcheff
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by Norman Jewison, Patrick J. Palmer
Cinematography Brian West
Edited by Thom Noble
Music by John Scott
Production: Algonquin Films
Distributed by United Artists
Release date: March 13, 1974
Running time: 100 minutes
Budget $1.1 million
