Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageWill Penny (1967)
Director: Tom Gries
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This mean, moody and magnificent Western still remains Tom Gries' sole claim to fame: before it he directed mid-'50s piffle about the Korean War and lumberjacks; afterwards he went on till the mid-'70s directing piffle about absolutely anything, mostly for TV. It's a downbeat tale of hardships and loneliness out on the cattle trail, with Heston as the ageing, illiterate cowpuncher brought face to face with his own hopeless, dead end existence in an encounter with a good but unattainable woman (Hackett), while simultaneously tangling with a psycho preacher (Pleasence) and his three murderous sons. It's blessed with crystal-clear photography by Lucien Ballard, understated performances (Pleasence naturally excepted), and a neatly idiomatic script by Gries himself.Author: GB
Cast & crew
Director: Tom Gries
Producer: Fred Engel, Walter Seltzer
Cast: Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett, Donald Pleasence, Lee Majors, Anthony Zerbe, Jon Francis, Bruce Dern, Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, Clifton James full cast
Genre(s): Westerns
Duration: 108 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Jackson's This Is It: review
Kenny Ortega's posthumous concert film is a rousing eulogy for one of pop's great enigmas
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
Lone Scherfig talks 'An Education'
Danish director Lone Scherfig was an unlikely choice for a very English affair like 'An Education'. Cath Clarke meets her
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now