One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

ONE-EYED JACKS is a western, which is based on a conflict between the brutality of the Wild West and an intense romance.The three outlaws successfully rob bank in Sonora, Mexico. However, Mexican rurales track them and catch them celebrating in a cantina. The two outlaws manage to escape. One of the outlaws has, during an exciting chase, betrayed his partner and ran away with their gold. The second outlaw is arrested and transported to prison by way of a jacalito where he learns first hand of betrayal from an owner. He spends five hard years in a Sonora prison, before he escapes with his new partner. He decides to find his old friend. However, the betrayer has used their wealth to become the sheriff of Monterey, California. The fugitive plans a revenge, but he falls in love with a lovely sheriff's stepdaughter...This is an unlikely illusion, which runs between insecurity and greed. Mr. Brando has, despite the fact that the main protagonist is an outlaw (an antagonist), exaggerated with melodramas in this film. This is an important flaw. The conflict between the two antagonists emphasizes anti western style as sub-genre. This is a positive aspect, which causes a cold tension in this story. The duel between the two of them is very realistic. A romance, with a lot of charm, is a quite tasty and unobtrusive. Simply, Mr. Brando was not experienced enough to connect all the positive aspects in a single unit. The scenery, together with the photography is excellent, although not corresponded to the mood in this film. I can not be sure, maybe it's just a game between different contrast.Marlon Brando as Rio is a dominant and very interesting character, who has a frequent and somewhat inappropriately explosion of his feelings. He shows the complexity of an outlaw. Karl Malden as Dad Longworth is a villain, who is rotten to the core. Katy Jurado as Maria Longworth is not got enough space. Her character is not fully developed. Pina Pellicer as Louisa is a charming voice of reason, which is very quickly thrown into the fire.This is a very ambitious experiment by an inexperienced director.

Before Clint Eastwood, there was Sam Peckinpah. Before Peckinpah, there was Sergio Leone. But before Leone there was Marlon Brando and One- Eyed Jacks. It is impossible to think of Unforgiven, The Wild Bunch, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, or even The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance without One-Eyed Jacks. Here is a film which Peckinpah couldn't realize and one that Kubrick abandoned. It was Brando's destiny to produce, direct and act in it. The result was a commercial disaster. It was also in many ways the end of a remarkable phase in Brando's acting career. For anyone interested in studying his stellar career, it is essential to divide it in two phases i.e. career before and career after One-Eyed Jacks. After the failure of the film, Brando ceased to be the actor he once was. The fascination for cinematic art got replaced by cynicism and although he would go on to deliver unforgettable performances in movies like The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris and Queimada, his charming innocent side would permanently be lost. In order to truly appreciate the complexity of One-Eyed Jacks one will probably have to watch at least a dozen other Westerns. Here is a film that marks a departure from the tenets and values established by the Classic Westerns of John Ford and Howard Hawks. The characters here aren't necessarily good or bad and perhaps that's what makes them more relatable. Take the case of Brando's Rio who is arguably one of the genre's foremost anti-heroes. He isn't beyond cheating women or shooting his adversary in his back and yet he has certain heroic qualities. He is willing to take the bullet for his partner. Similarly, Dad Longworth isn't all evil. He has his own share of virtues unlike the Classic Western villains.On a whole, One-Eyed Jacks is one of the greatest Westerns ever made. The performances are topnotch: be it Brando, Karl Malden, Ben Johnson, Katy Jurado, or even Slim Pickens. Groundbreaking and far ahead of its time, One-Eyed Jacks is a testament to Brando's commitment to the cinematic artform before he suffered from disillusionment. Thanks to the brilliant restoration supervised by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, One-Eyed Jacks looks just as refreshing today as it would have looked in the good old days of VistaVision. If you are a Western fan or appreciate good cinema, here is a film that you just cannot afford to miss.For more on the world of cinema, please visit my film site "A Potpourri of Vestiges".

This movie has it all and then some. One-Eyed Jacks will trick you in a lot of ways as it will come off as a one dimensional western revenge story(which wouldn't have been a bad thing at all) but as the layers keep getting peeled away as the movie progresses, the viewer will find out that there is much more to this movie than meets the eye. It is a story about finding ones self and finding the best, most longing true love one can imagine. The chemistry between Brando and Pina Pellicer is one for the ages. It's as if you're waking up from a dream where you had a great romance and you long to go back to sleep to find that romance again. That's exactly how the longing feels with Brando and Pellicer(especially when Brando is in jail). And that Jail scene where Pellicer is pulled away by the deputy is one of the best scenes I've ever seen, it was so real, passionate, in your face and gritty. Pellicer fights for Brando in all his flaws in that scene. And Brando has a great scene where he's about to blast away Ben Johnson's character as Brando fights for Pellicer's honor. A great character study, a great love story and a great western. Brando and Malden are in top form. After watching this movie I thought I would find Pina Pellicer to have been nominated for at least 2-5 academy awards with winning one or two. I was very sad to learn she died only just a few years after this movie. In some way, I feel Pina Pellicer was the female version of James Dean without the fame. She was a fantastic actress, and what she could have done on the screen, oh what she could have done, she was unbelievable. This is a must see for her and Brando.

Although many reviewers mention that "One-Eyed Jacks" was based on the novel, "The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones" by Charles Neider, few seem to have read it. If they had, they could hardly fail to mention its brilliance – a thinly disguised retelling of the story of Billy the Kid, it captured a sense of nostalgia for the passing of the Old West like no other.When Brando's production company purchased the novel and a number of earlier treatments, even more writers went to town on it under the working title of "Guns Up", the name of Neider's novel when it was reprinted in paperback. By the time the cameras turned, the story had been passed around like a tube of sunscreen in a nudist colony and had undergone considerable changes. Eventually the film bore little resemblance to Neider's masterpiece. After director Stanley Kubrick quit, Brando claimed that he had little choice but to slip into the canvas chair and pick up the megaphone. Eventually, the five-hour movie he turned in was cut to two and a half by the studio.The plot of the movie sounds fairly routine but Brando brought intensity, and psychological overtones to the party that make it anything but routine.Brando's character, Rio, is out for revenge on his former outlaw partner Dad Longworth played by Karl Malden. Rio teams up with a couple of cowboys and finds Longworth who is now the sheriff of Monterey, and married to a Mexican woman, Maria, who has a grown-up daughter, Louisa. The women are played by Katy Jurado and the tragic Pina Pellicer whose vulnerability and intensity matches Brando's performance. Rio plans to rob the bank and kill Longworth but he falls for Louisa and his plans for revenge come unstuck. The film has a number of riveting scenes especially Rio's escape from jail. The fadeout sees Rio ride off to an uncertain future – an ending nowhere near as downbeat as in Neider's book or in the real story of Billy the Kid who after all, didn't make it past his 21st birthday.Despite excesses behind the camera, out in front Brando gave a complex and riveting performance. He broods and holds many profile poses – there is no shortage of method. He projects the angst driven man beloved of filmmakers of the late 50's and early 60's.Only Karl Malden over-reaches himself in his playing of Dad Longworth, displaying characteristics that today would probably see him diagnosed with bi-polar disorder – on second thoughts, maybe it is a great performance after all.The film's quality, despite savage editing, rests on inspired direction and performances. Although "One-Eyed Jacks" rarely appears at the top of lists of the great westerns – it probably should.