Joe Kidd
1972 · United States · 88 min
- Director
- John Sturges
- Screenplay
- Elmore Leonard
- Producer
- Sidney Beckerman
- Music
- Lalo Schifrin
- Cinematography
- Bruce Surtees
- Editing
- Ferris Webster
Cast
What it is about
In Sinola, New Mexico, in the early 1900s, Joe Kidd, a disillusioned former bounty hunter, is serving a short jail sentence for hunting on Indian land and disturbing the peace. Meanwhile, Mexican revolutionary Luis Chama leads a peasant revolt against landowners who are driving the poor off their ancestral lands. Wealthy landowner Frank Harlan assembles an armed posse to hunt him down. Kidd, who at first refuses to join, changes his mind when Chama's men attack his own ranch.
How it was made
The project came from a script by Jennings Lang and novelist Elmore Leonard, inspired by Reies Tijerina, who in 1967 stormed a courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico. Eastwood became interested in the story and helped produce it. Directed by John Sturges, filming began at Old Tucson Studios in late 1971, overlapping with John Huston's Judge Roy Bean western, and exteriors were shot near Bishop, California. During the shoot Eastwood suffered a bronchial infection and panic attacks, which fed a false rumor that he had a fear of horses. The train finale grew out of a joke by producer Robert Daley that the crew took seriously.
Reception and legacy
Joe Kidd opened in the United States in July 1972 and earned 5.8 million dollars in domestic rentals, placing it among the year's highest-grossing Westerns. Critics were divided. Roger Greenspun of The New York Times praised the first half hour but found the climax artificial. Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel each gave it two stars out of four, and Variety found it compelling enough despite Eastwood's thin characterization. It holds an 80 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from ten critics, and a Metacritic score of 52 out of 100. Its place is within the revisionist Western of its era.
Stills
Trailer
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Trivia
A joke turned into a scene
During filming, producer Robert Daley joked that a locomotive should crash through the saloon. The crew took the idea seriously and it ended up in the script.
The false horse rumor
Eastwood suffered a bronchial infection and panic attacks during filming. The press reported it as a horse allergy, a claim that became an urban legend.
More films by John Sturges
The Magnificent Seven
The Great Escape
Bad Day at Black Rock
The Old Man and the Sea
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
The Eagle Has LandedOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.