The Ballad of Cable Hogue

A strange and fascinating Western from the man renowned for the blood baths of The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs. In gentler vein than usual, he portrays the efforts of a prospector, robbed and left to die in the desert, to turn a waterhole into a personal oasis, and to take revenge on the men who betrayed him. Hogue is probably Peckinpah's most likeable hero, and the film benefits from Robards' wry performance, as well as from the unusual mixture of comedy, action, romance, nostalgic elegy, and even song. The tone is uneven, but it's a touching and original portrait of a man trying to go it alone in the world, with tragically ironic results.