From Our Vaults: Gregory Peck, Major Star of Classic Hollywood
Vet studio director Henry Hathaway helmed Shoot Out, a Western starring Gregory Peck, adapted from Will James’s 1930 novel, “The Lone Cowboy.”
Grade: C
| Shoot Out | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster
|
|
The film was produced, directed, and written by the team that delivered John Wayne’s 1969 Oscar-winning film, True Grit.
This was the second-to-last of the 65 films directed by Hathaway.
Released from prison after serving seven years for robbing a bank, Clay Lomax goes looking for his former crime partner, Sam Foley, who shot Lomax in the back while running from the bank, which caused his arrest.
Learning of his release, Foley hires a trio of thugs—Pepe, Skeeter and Bobby Jay Jones—to track Lomax.
Lomax locates an old friend, Trooper, a former U.S. Army cavalry soldier, now confined to wheelchair and running a saloon, and offers him money for information about his ex-partner.
The thugs catch up to Lomax at Trooper’s saloon and hotel and force Alma, a prostitute-saloon girl working for the kindly old soldier, to spend the night with them. They disturb Lomax and old girlfriend Emma with racket in the neighboring room, and have an altercation in the corridor.
During a journey to Gun Hill, Lomax and stubborn little Decky bond, after he throws her in a stream to wash and scrub her, then gently dries her by the campfire. He denies being her father, but claims to have known her mother, thus paternal implication becomes clear.
Bobby Jay tries to outdraw Lomax but heis shot dead by the more experienced gunslinger.
In the end, Lomax leaves the money with Foley and Bobby Jay’s bodies, telling the housekeeper to get the law, then goes to find Decky at Juliana’s house.
Hathaway had long wanted to make a version of The Champ in Western setting with Gary Cooper before Cooper’s death, in 1960. Wallis arranged to make the film with Peck who Hathaway thought was too “cold” for the part. He was also unhappy Wallis cast older guys as the villains, wishing to have actors who are teenagers.
After filming I Walk the Line, Peck was looking for a good follow-up. Teaming Hathaway after True Grit, along with the producer Hal B. Wallis and screenwriter Marguerite Roberts sounded like a solid idea. Like True Grit, the film even followed a similar theme of a bond between a crusty gunfighter with a young girl as companion.
Peck deferred his usual salary for a percentage of the film’s profits, which reduced the production budget to $1.19 million.
The film was shot on location in Santa Fe-Los Alamos, New Mexico, between October 12 and December 2, 1970.
The film received negative reviews from critics, partly due to the obvious repetition of the formula seen in John Wayne’s True Grit, though lacking the latter’s humor and charm, resulting in a largely predictable and tiresome revenge story.
Others remarked about the slump in Gregory Peck’s career, with the film serving as a glum reminder of the inadequate use of a major Hollywood star.
Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune counted at least five scenes in which an overhead microphone appeared in a shot, suggesting a shoddy, amateurish filmmaking, embarrassing for such pros as Hathaway and Peck.
Cast
Gregory Peck as Clay Lomax
Pat Quinn as Juliana
Robert F. Lyons as Bobby Jay
Susan Tyrrell as Alma
Jeff Corey as Trooper
James Gregory as Sam Foley
Rita Gam as Emma
Dawn Lyn as Decky
Pepe Serna as Pepe
John Davis Chandler as Skeeter (as John Chandler)
Paul Fix as Brakeman
Arthur Hunnicutt as Homer Page
Nicolas Beauvy as Dutch
Credits:
Directed by Henry Hathaway
Screenplay by Marguerite Roberts, based on the novel “The Lone Cowboy” by Will James
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Cinematography Earl Rath
Edited by Archie Marshek
Music by Dave Grusin
Production: Hal Wallis Productions
Distributed by Universal
Release date: October 13, 1971
Running time: 94 minutes
Budget $1.19 million
