Posse (1975)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

On screen I find Kirk Douglas to be without peer, but I have come to admire him as much if not more for his real-life advocacy of some highly unorthodox, yet worthy projects.If this movie doesn't rank among his very best, it is still remarkable for how unapologetically it goes against the grain and makes a very bold personal statement (one that was not so popular at the time but resonates to this day). All the while he is producing and directing himself in what proves to be a rather unflattering role. I can't think of anyone else who would have the real-life grit to do such a thing - Kirk Douglas has done so repeatedly with aplomb.

kirk douglas being a rather intelligent man, I was still a little surprised the way this movie turned out. I didn't think he had that much OOMPH in him or whatever. The good guy is the bad guy and the bad guy is the good guy - that's always a good start. But then the good/bad guy gets too greedy and forgets about paying his men decently and then they leave him. If it was only like that in reality! Things have become too complicated today with too big societies and the crooks just too stupid and coward. they don't steal from the rich anymore - they steal from the poor and when they don't get caught they get to be presidents or whatever. Where is the modern day Robin Hood? Nowhere or maybe the media just refuse to write about him - who knows? Anyway, great finish on a film that, without this glorious OOMPH, would have been mediocre. Kirk belonged to the old school of decency and he shows it here. By the way, it's he, who plays the bad guy, in case you would miss it.

It's amazing what you'll watch when you've been at sea a while. Like 32 year old westerns. What's even more amazing is how much you enjoy them. To be honest, I've always been a bit of a fan of the old Horse Opera. There's a lot to be said for good old fashioned, uncomplicated entertainment, especially after a few weeks sitting off the coast of Indonesia staring at geophysical equipment. And this one co-starred an actor who used to give me distinct palpitations of the heart when I was 14 years old, (James Stacy), and I wanted to see if the effect was still there. (It isn't.) The story is straightforward and opens in a spirited style with a barn burning. Howard Nightingale (Kirk Douglas who also directed and produced) wants to be elected a Senator from the state of Texas. In order to win public support, he takes a train around the state traveling from place to place with a posse and horses, ready to leap out of the train at every stop to round up criminals in general and one notorious gang of train robbers led by Jack Strawhorn (Bruce Dern) in particular. If ever an outlaw felt entitled to utter the phrase "How can I soar like an eagle while I'm surrounded by turkeys", it's poor Strawhorn. His ambition is blighted by a series of dumb and dumber gang cohorts with a rampantly low IQ and a collective sense of loyalty less reliable than a railroad timetable. They betray him, lose his carefully hoarded loot, allow themselves to get carelessly burned to death and generally let him down at every turn, until the inevitable happens and he's caught. With Strawhorn in jail, Nightingale allows himself to be feted by the towns' folk (generally portrayed as good, honest imbeciles) before moving on to Austin, the state capital, and greater things. Of course Strawhorn escapes by tricking his predictably stupid guards, the plan goes awry, and, besides which, is Nightingale really the honest and upright, baby-kissing political servant he claims to be, on the side of the people? Or is he really just in the pay of the railroad kings, willing to sacrifice the voters for richer masters? Will the disabled but honest newspaper editor (Stacy, in his first movie after losing an arm and a leg in a horrific motorcycle accident) find him out? Will Nightingale's posse seduce every woman in town before the train pulls out? And did someone steal that dramatic scene of the mounted horses leaping out of the railway carriage for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Or from Butch Cassidy? I can't recall which movie is older. The acting is pretty basic - with the exception of Dern and Stacy - who gives a low key but quite effective performance in a small role which I think was written especially for him - the characters are pretty much stock Western types, and the movie contains just about every Western cliché in the book, and yet………………… I admit to having enjoyed it. It's an uncomplicated, fun melodrama that doesn't take itself too seriously and doesn't claim to be especially meaningful. It whiled away an hour and a half quite pleasantly.One slightly worrying note; some of the stunts using horses looked horribly real, this movie may well have been made in the bad old days when animals were routinely maltreated during movie production and often sacrificed for a good stunt. Horses appear to take crashing falls, leap out of moving trains and tumble off cliffs into rivers with alarming regularity. I hope it wasn't all as real as it looks.

Kirk Douglas had already directed the somewhat terrible Scalawag in 1973, but that previous flop did not deter him from having a second stab at the directing job a couple of years on. Fortunately, Posse is a much more accomplished film than Scalawag in every way: Douglas's own direction is more assured, the script by Christopher Knopf and William Roberts is very literate and clever, and Fred Koenekamp's cinematography has a good, professional look about it. By 1975, one would have thought that there would be little mileage left in the western genre. It seemed that nothing new could be done, but this one comes up with a fresh twist by having the "hero" gradually revealed as an unlikable and ambitious social climber.Marshal Howard Nightingale (Douglas) publicly announces that he will bring in infamous railroad bandit Jack Strawhorn (Bruce Dern). Although Strawhorn is a criminal of considerable notoriety - and definitely a man who belongs behind bars - Nightingale has an ulterior motive for apprehending his man. For the good Marshal has decided to run for the Texan senate, and believes that if he can nail Strawhorn - painting himself as a hero into the bargain - he will win over plenty of voters. Gradually, more and more people begin to see through Nightingale's selfish and egotistical political plans. His own posse have their doubts about how they will figure in the Marshal's future schemes; a news editor named Hellman (James Stacy) expresses distrust over the Marshal's ludicrously self-important opinion of himself; even Strawhorn eventually realises what his sly adversary is up to. Ultimately, Nightingale loses his posse and his public favour, with a little clever intervention from Strawhorn, and sees his political dreams left in tatters.The critical response to Posse was much more favourable than Douglas's previous directing attempt, and deservedly so. The western action in the film is good, solid stuff, not too violent (as was the trend in '75), but certainly tough enough to satisfy genre addicts. Douglas gives a strong performance as the absurdly self-obsessed marshal, and Dern is even better as the charismatic, even likable, bandit. The subversive nature of the plot (hero gradually turns out to be villain, villain gradually turns out to be hero) is intriguing and fairly fresh, and helps to add interest to the film. While Posse has occasional lulls, and a few noticeably amateurish performances lower down the cast list, it remains a fresh, interesting, and intriguing addition to a virtually exhausted genre.