Will Penny

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.