The Balled of Cable Hogue - 1970 - Sam Peckinpah

Betrayed by his partners, Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) vows to survive and take his revenge. Cable wonders the desert, giving the occasional prayer, looking for water. In a dust storm and at deaths door, Cable stumbles upon his salvation. He sets up shop to sell water to the stage and any other passers by. After an eventful encounter with his first customer, Cable meets Joshua (David Warner), a traveling priest who points out that Cable does not legally own the land that he has set up his shop on. Cable borrows Josh's horse and head into town to file a claim on the land. While in town Cable meets Hildy (Stella Stevens), a lady of the evening, and falls fast and hard. Cable goes back to his claim and builds a house and a rest stop for his customers. Hildy soon comes out to stay with him for while before moving to San Fransisco. Cable stays at his oasis until he meets up with the men who double crossed him and left him in the desert without water to die. Cable decides he will go to San Fransisco to find Hildy, but she returns before he leaves. When Hildy makes her reappearance it is in a car, not a stagecoach.

Sam Peckinpah was a master of the western, but he focused on the end of the mythical west that was built up by men like John Ford. Cable Hogue is as much comedy as you are going to see from bloody Sam. Instead of slow motion gore, Peckinpah tries his hand at speeding up the action for comic effect. Funny is not what Sam did best, but fortunately we do not get beat over the head with the slapstick. Cable Hogue is a man of the the old west and it is fitting that the movie ends when the modern world moves in and Cable is planing to leave town. While not the best Peckinpah western The Balled of Cable Hogue is a well done film by a skilled director in his prime.
7/10