The Missouri Breaks
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Movie Reviews of The Missouri Breaks
Movie Review: A terrifying masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
A criminally underrated film (Maltin rates it a BOMB!!)which I consider one of the best Westerns made. Essentially a story of a bunch of criminals - rustlers- being brought to heal by the law represented by a ruthless landowner. However, it is also has the elements of great storytelling with good, represented by the rustlers, fighting evil, represented by the landowner. Yes , it is a clouded even twisted morality, but rings very true with many parallels to modern society. The rustlers, Jack Nicholson and his sublimely wonderful bunch which include Harry Dean Stanton, Randy Quaid, Frederick Forrest and John P. Ryan, are trying to make their way any way they can in a hard country. The landowner, who is an educated man with a large library and has reason and business as his master, whose focus is on the percentages of profit and loss, has seen his wife run off with the first unreasonable man she could find and whose beautiful daughter offers herself to Jack Nicholson -who beds her willingly - hires a Regulator to run down rustlers. This creature of the law, a bounty hunter of sorts, a sniper, is played with eccentric and powerful relish by Marlon Brando and is truly a fearsome character.
It is a great script enlivened by humour - "why do they put Canada way up here ?" laments the rustlers when they venture North to rustle from the Mounties; wit; and glorious photography - the stunning shot of the foal moments before rescued by Nicholson, which stumbles towards the camera resonates as an innocent in a world of man made horror yet survives through an act of compassion by a man. This intelligent film is full of such contradictions.
It is one the most terrifyingly realistic portraits of life on the frontier. The symbolism of the Regulator shooting the cabbages on Nicholson's farm says more about violence and the law and the misuse of power than many an essay. Two scenes of man crossing the Missouri River says more about the power of nature than the nightly news of hurricanes in Florida. The brothel scene is a revealing and realistic and sympathetic portrayal of women on the frontier. To view and review over time. Brilliant. A very worthy addition to your DVD library.
Movie Review: Maltin Shmaltin.
Summary: 5 Stars
Leonard Maltin calls "Missouri Breaks" a BOMB. I think he's looking in the mirror and sees everything backwards. "Missouri Breaks" is a studied, nuanced, greatly acted, directed, scored, designed, and photographed masterwork. It is pure genius from Penn, Brando and Nicholson in carefully shaded characters, and a marvelously talented supporting cast headed by Harry Dean Stanton and Kathleen Loyd. There are no false steps.
The violence Maltin decries is sudden, graphic, and realistic. It shows the brutal nature of the frontier American experience directly, without moral or relish. If anything, it is sincere reportage, which may be what Maltin really finds objectionable; we do like our pretty myths. Students of American western frontier history will instantly recognize the authenticity of setting, society, and events.
He calls it "plodding." It's about a bunch of lazy no-count horse thieves, who are at bottom just human beings with tough beginnings trying to survive in tough conditions. It is a leisured film, but not casual. The viewer enters the world on the screen, to dwell intimately therein as a participant observer, seeing at ground level how these people deal with the events of both a mundane and peculiar life. "Breaks" creates a solid environment with a natural pace that enters the remorseless realm of Greek tragedy. We watch helplessly as the players march relentlessly to an avoidable, but inevitable climax. We see the survivors in the brief still aftermath fumble for new lives, and new beginnings.
If as Maltin says, "Missouri Breaks" is a BOMB, I guess I like this BOMB VERY MUCH. It is a mature, fully realized vision, film as literature that matures like fine wine. Highly recommended for people who think. Leonard?
Movie Review: underrated and sublime
Summary: 5 Stars
saw this film the other night on cable, pan & scan sadly, and was utterly blown away. forget anything anyone has said about pacing, brando's over the top perf., the ending, just bask in the glow of one of the most literate and sophisticated scripts ever. the complexity and nuances of human interaction, the shifting dynamic and subtextual messages, all thoroughly explored here by thomas mcguane and robert towne. and the film is frequently hilarious. the editing is often abrupt in a way that serves the script beautifully. the portrayal of frontier life, the rutted streets, the human degradation, the brothels, and most of all the humanity, combine to make this a film that transends its shortcomings in a way that almost couldn't have been planned.Movie Review: The Missouri Makes!
Summary: 5 Stars
An overlooked "western" drama of the duel of two men, both of dubious professions portrayed by Nicholson and Brando as if they were born for the parts, is lowkey and brilliantly done. Director Arthur Penn creates a subtle drama of hunter and hunted- and finally the hunted hunter- set in a nearly-unknown part of the West, more about greed and retribution than the two-dimensional traditional gunslinger confrontations from most directors. This film is not to be missed by not only Nicholson and Brando admirers but also by anyone who loves a drama slowly,artfully and carefully tightened to a startling end.Movie Review: A great Brando performance
Summary: 5 Stars
People banned Brando in this for many reasons, he was heavier, his character does some very bizarre things, and Brando apparantly wouldn't (couldn't?) memorize dialogue so he either made things up or had "cue cards" posted out of the camera's way. Regardless or because of...his performance is an interesting one, and by watching it the viewer can experience a true actor "putting on" another persona for the role. Brando did this a lot and sometimes it is a miss, but I think this one hits the mark.