I find it interesting that Joe Kidd was written by Elmore Leonard. The stories of both Joe Kidd and 3:10 to Yuma have a distinct similarity, if not plural similarities, in that both are about an individual who needs to be brought in by a bunch of cowboys and in each story the group that's going after the man hires out another (reluctant) fellow who is doing it for money and/or for justice. In fact, watching the first half of Joe Kidd, I wondered if Leonard might be just ripping himself off for this one. Thankfully, this isn't entirely the case as Leonard wants to try and explore a story of a Mexican man (played by John Saxon, yes, he can play just about anything) who wants his proper land rights back and is up against a ruthless killer (Robert Duvall) with Clint playing the title character a the hired man who is conflicted on both sides. Should be bring in the Mexican or should he realize Duvall's bunch are mean and homicidal SOB's?
Some of these questions and ideas make Joe Kidd a little more than it might look to be to most people which is a fairly average star vehicle for Eastwood. If it suffers from anything really it's that the mid-section of the picture, when Duvall and Eastwood and their bunch are hunkered down in the tiny town in the mountain areas waiting out their culprit, it starts to lag (I actually tuned out for one or two minutes as the movie played on television). And in some respects Leonard's script, along with the usually excellent direction of John Sturges, doesn't always provide the best lines of dialog or anything straying from the uncomplicated. But luckily Duvall is really excellent in his part as this determined villain and Eastwood is sturdy as always as a man who knows how to shoot and knows his sense of justice well, which is actually kind of gray.
Minor characters, like Duvall's woman and Saxon's guy, are less developed, though they're supplemented by some good suspense scenes, a shoot-out over a very wide range of space between mountains, and that climactic train rolling into the bar. It's fairly predictable and not anyone's best work, but it's not as sub-par as you might have heard: Joe Kidd is like Elmore Leonard (and by proxy Clint Eastwood) almost lite.
Some of these questions and ideas make Joe Kidd a little more than it might look to be to most people which is a fairly average star vehicle for Eastwood. If it suffers from anything really it's that the mid-section of the picture, when Duvall and Eastwood and their bunch are hunkered down in the tiny town in the mountain areas waiting out their culprit, it starts to lag (I actually tuned out for one or two minutes as the movie played on television). And in some respects Leonard's script, along with the usually excellent direction of John Sturges, doesn't always provide the best lines of dialog or anything straying from the uncomplicated. But luckily Duvall is really excellent in his part as this determined villain and Eastwood is sturdy as always as a man who knows how to shoot and knows his sense of justice well, which is actually kind of gray.
Minor characters, like Duvall's woman and Saxon's guy, are less developed, though they're supplemented by some good suspense scenes, a shoot-out over a very wide range of space between mountains, and that climactic train rolling into the bar. It's fairly predictable and not anyone's best work, but it's not as sub-par as you might have heard: Joe Kidd is like Elmore Leonard (and by proxy Clint Eastwood) almost lite.