Will Penny
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Movie Reviews of Will Penny
Movie Review: Good Performances & Beautifully Filmed
Summary: 4 Stars
I think this is a good, solid Western with an excellent, low-key performance by Charlton Heston. The scenery is beautiful, and the filming is artfully done at times, especially of cowboys guiding their herd and otherwise riding the range. The parts with Charlton Heston and the young boy were touching. I agree with another reviewer that Donald Pleasance's performance is over-the-top, although his character, along with his sons, are pretty vivid villains at times. Joan Hackett and the actor playing her son do a good job, and so do Slim Pickens, Ben Johnson, G. D. Spradlin, Lee Majors and Anthony Zerbe in minor roles. There are one or two inconsistencies in the story but I didn't think they were a big deal. Unlike another reviewer, I liked the ending. (*warning, possible "spoiler" ahead*) I hope I'm not giving too much away by saying that I thought the end was realistic by not falling into a phony, typical, "love-conquers-all" trap, and it was touching.Movie Review: Heston's lone cowboy
Summary: 4 Stars
This minor classic Western, totally ignored by Paramount when it was released in '68, stands as one of the best performances the late Chuck Heston ever gave even over "Major Dundee" which he wrote off as a fiasco in an interview he gave. He should be proud of this film because unlike many Westerns of its time, this one is more character-driven than like say "Silverado" which sacrifices character development for action (Lawrence Kasden could take a pointer from this flick). The late Joan Hackett is also excellent as the lone woman who takes in Heston after he is beaten by the crazen Donald Pleasance & his family (Bruce Dern, etc) and learns to love again as she falls for this lonely, 50'ish cowboy. Tom Gries directed with a sure hand and the outdoor photography is fantastic. This western along with Peckingpah's "Ride the High Country" stands as one of the true classics of this genre. Whole heartedly recommended for Heston enthusiasts and western buffs!!Movie Review: Wonderful film, terrible score
Summary: 4 Stars
Charleton Heston has gone on record as naming Will Penny his favorite of all of his films and it is easy to see why. The story has depth and heart, the actors all put in wonderful performances and the film looks magnificent, which is something that cannot be said for many films of it's era. Unfortunately, there is one huge, glaring flaw in an otherwise faultless movie: The score. The music is jarringly out of place and does not convey a sense of the old west at all. If only the original score could be dumped and new score added by a talent on the order of, say, Elmer Bernstein or Jerry Goldsmith, this would be a true 5-star film.Movie Review: Best realistic western before Lonesome Dove
Summary: 4 Stars
One can see why C. H. loved making this movie. He SO fit into the character, one wonders why it was so hard for him to shed the Moses/Ben Hur
image. Much care was made by the producer and director to create a realistic western, and STILL have a very interesting story about a very interesting character. When some people talk about great western riders in movies (Ben Johnson is counted as one of the best, and he's in the movie), they shouldn't leave out old C. H. He looks like a true cowboy in all his riding scenes, and he was a great rider.
Movie Review: 3 1/2 Stars - A Frustratingly Good Movie
Summary: 3 Stars
For me, watching Will Penny was a very frustrating experience. The performances of Charlton Heston, Lee Majors, Anthony Zerbe, and Ben Johnson were all quite good - especially Charlton Heston's. The script is excellent in most areas, and the direction & photography are often inspired. What goes wrong with Will Penny is the one part of the script that doesn't work.
The villians of the story are so unbelievable and unrealistic that they seem like they came out of a Western spoof, rather than the serious, realistic Western which Will Penny attempts to be. It's hard to figure just where the heck Donald Pleasance's character is supposed to come from as his accent is all over the place. It's also hard to figure out just how this family of nut-jobs hadn't been killed long before they could encounter Will Penny. They would have either been killed or jailed for their pattern of committing crimes based on their warped religious beliefs. These characters are both written and performed as such over the top crazies that they don't come across as real people, which is in stark contrast to the rest of the characters in the movie. As noted before, it almost seems like they came out of a spoof of a Western movie rather than a serious one.
And that's the shame of the whole thing - if the villians of the movie had been just a little more realistic Will Penny could have easily been one of the best Westerns of the 60's and 70's. As it is Will Penny is still a good movie (great in spots), but because of the way that the villians were scripted (and acted) the movie is brought down a notch or two from what it could have, and should have been.