A disillusioned preacher (William Shatner) is abandoning Silver Gulch after a trial of a despicable crime. A scruffy prospector (Howard Da Silva) finds him waiting at train station. A con man (Edward G. Robinson) sleeping there join them at recounting the events leading to the trial. Mexican bandit Juan Carrasco (Paul Newman)'s encounter with husband Wakefield (Laurence Harvey) and wife Nina (Claire Bloom) had ended with the husband's death and the raping of the wife. The couple was leaving the post war south. An old Indian shaman (Paul Fix) performs a séance at the trial using the spirit of the dead man.
It's a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa's iconic Rashômon in the old west. This is definitely not the traditional western which probably confused some people at the time. It just happens to take place in the old west. Paul Newman is almost unrecognizable as a Mexican bandit. He's pushed to the limit with such a vast range of an unlikely role. The acting is all first rate. This is an engaging film throughout. The slapstick humor and the mannerisms in the last act doesn't quite fit. Overall, it's a good attempt at a remake. Even Newman's brownface didn't put me off.
It's a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa's iconic Rashômon in the old west. This is definitely not the traditional western which probably confused some people at the time. It just happens to take place in the old west. Paul Newman is almost unrecognizable as a Mexican bandit. He's pushed to the limit with such a vast range of an unlikely role. The acting is all first rate. This is an engaging film throughout. The slapstick humor and the mannerisms in the last act doesn't quite fit. Overall, it's a good attempt at a remake. Even Newman's brownface didn't put me off.