Shoot Out (1971)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

If you visit the Chicago Tribune archives and go to the July 20, 1971 issue you will find a review of Shoot Out from Gene Siskel. He gives it his lowest "no stars" rating, saying the film was so poorly made he noticed the overhead microphone on at least five separate occasions. He further dismissed it as a blatant True Grit knockoff. I'm surprised no other reviews have mentioned noticing those microphones.

This film from a novel titled ¨The last cowboys¨ and adapted by Marguerite Roberts (True grit) deals with Clay Lomax (Gregory Peck) , he leaves the prison and seeking vengeance of his former partner named Foley (James Gregory) who double-crossed him . He carries the revenge in his heart after suffering the treason . He embarks on his vendetta and during his quest he gets stuck an eight-year-old little girl . Meanwhile , Foley contracts a young gunfighter (a violent , savage Robert F. Lions) who along with other gunmen (Pepe Serna and John Davis Chandler) abduct a prostitute (Susan Tyrell) and after that , they go out in pursuit Lomax .An average Western revenge story plenty of violence , action and shoot'em up ; though the veteran director Hathaway is uninspired and the ending is pretty predictable . The film relies heavily on the continuous relationship between the tiring gunslinger and the orphaned girl . The picture is well played by Gregory Peck in one of his last Westerns (he starred ¨McKenna gold¨ , ¨Big country¨ , ¨Stalking moon¨ , ¨The gunfighter¨). The movie displays a wide plethora of secondary actors usually seen in Western genre : Jeff Corey (True grit) as an old brawler in wheelchair , the usual Arthur Hunnicutt (El Dorado), Paul Fix , Rita Gam (Tomahawk) , Willis Bouchey's last film and the habitual cocky nasty named John Davis Chandler . Evocative and imaginative musical score by Dave Grusin . The motion picture was regularly directed by Henry Hathaway in his last film along with ¨Raid on Rommel¨ , both made in 1971 . Hathaway hired Ben Johnson for the lead role but he turned it down . Henry was an excellent filmmaker who directed several classic Westerns , such as ¨True grit¨ , ¨Sons of Katie Elder¨ , ¨Nevada Smith¨ ,¨Rawhide¨ , ¨How the west was won¨ (also with Gregory Peck) , among others . The film will appeal to Gregory Peck fans.

I didn't vote it 10 stars because of the wonderful directing, acting, dialog or story value--because quite frankly, it doesn't have any of those going for it--I voted it 10 because I enjoyed watching this film so much.This is a western starring tall and handsome Gregory Peck, and it has some scenes and dialog that are a real hoot, as well as a couple of scenes where it is blatantly obvious the characters are not really on horseback. There is also some so-called acting by Patricia Quinn as Juliana Farrell, where she sounds like she's reading her lines out a book, rather than saying them in a natural speaking manner.Not the kind of western you see every day, that's for sure.Clay Lomax (Gregory Peck)is getting out of prison after having served 7 years for an unsuccessful bank robbery. To my amazement, the Warden hands Clay back his gun belt and gun and what's even cuter, the gun is loaded.Clay immediately unloads all the bullets from the gun. Since he definitely has plans to get back at his bank robbing partner, Sam Foley, who shot him in the back right at the scene of the hold-up and then took all the money, I don't know why he unloaded the weapon.That's just one of many strange behaviors on the part of various characters in this film. For example, when Sam shot Clay, how come no one saw him do it? And for that matter, weren't there people working in the bank - why could none of them identify Sam Foley as being one of the bank robbers? Ah, well, kiddies, we're not going to let logic interfere with a fine, rousing tale, now, are we.Sam Foley, now a rich and apparently respected citizen in the town of Gun Hill, knows Clay is out and knows he'll undoubtedly be looking for him. He hires 3 young punks, Bobby Jay Jones (Robert F. Lyons) and his 2 worthless pals, Skeeter and Pepe to follow Clay around and keep an eye on him, but he doesn't want Clay shot. Why do it this way? Why not shoot him, knowing Clay is undoubtedly gunning for him? Maybe the writer knew, if so, it never made it to the screen.After an early encounter between Clay and Bobby Jay and the boys, Clay meets a train on which he expects an old girlfriend to arrive with some money she's been holding for him.Unexpectedly the girlfriend has died and the young daughter traveling with her has been left to Clay. Decky (Dawn Lyn)is an obstinate little girl of about six, with a mind of her own.After getting stuck with Decky, Clay learns where Sam Foley is and sets out with his young charge.On the way to Gun Hill, there's another run-in with Bobby Jay and the boys, who at this point have forced a young prostitute, Alma,(Susan Tyrrell) to go along with them.During a drenching rain, Clay and Decky arrive at the ranch house of Juliana Farrell, a widow and her young son, Dutch.Juliana wastes no time getting down to business with Clay--five minutes after they meet. Apparently she's a woman who needs a man in her life--any man--considering she's just met Clay and doesn't know him at all. Ah well, life was tough on the western frontier - when a gal saw a 'good man', she figured she'd better grab him.They immediately confess their short-comings to each other. The scene is very close to being like this: Clay: You might not be a wantin' me, I've been in the pen. Juliana (undeterred): Oh yeah, well, guess what, I get drunk every night, so there! An ex-con and a possible alcoholic - now you know this has got be a romance destined for a "happily ever after" ending.Of course, Bobby Jay, Alma, Skeeter and Pepe also reach the ranch house, where Bobby Jay has loads of fun with some parlor games. The rest of the group being sour-faced spoil sports.Eventually Sam Foley comes into the story again for a rousing finish at his house, and a good time was had by all, except Bobby Jay who turns into the sport spoil this time around.

This film barely held my interest, mainly because it was fun identifying the same locations where "True Grit" scenes were filmed. The most glaring was the spot where Gregory Peck and the girl camped before he got the drop on the three outlaws. That was the same place where John Wayne, et al. raided the shack where Moon and Quincy were waiting for Lucky Ned Pepper. It even looked like the same camera angle for the initial shot. Could have been cribbed from "True Grit", who knows? Other than playing "what happened on this spot in "True Grit", there wasn't much else to recommend this film. Gregory Peck looked like he was sleepwalking, and Dawn Lyn as the little girl was annoying, at best. The music was awful - it was like something out of a TV western, or even a crime show. One plus was the performance of John Davis Chandler (credited as John Chandler here), playing yet another whiny, heavy lidded heavy. He wasn't given much to do, unfortunately, since most of the bad guy attention went to Robert F. Lyons. Not worth a second look, IMHO.