Will Penny

Will Penny
Directed by Tom Gries
Produced by Fred Engel
Walter Seltzer
Written by Tom Gries
Starring Charlton Heston
Joan Hackett
Donald Pleasence
Ben Johnson
Bruce Dern
Slim Pickens
Music by David Raksin
Cinematography Lucien Ballard
Edited by Warren Low
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • February 16, 1968 (1968-02-16) (Finland)
  • April 10, 1968 (1968-04-10) (U.S.)
Running time
 108 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $ 1,400,000
Box office $1,800,000 (US/ Canada)[1]

Will Penny is a 1968 western film written and directed by Tom Gries starring Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett and Donald Pleasence. The picture was based upon an episode of the 1960 Sam Peckinpah television series The Westerner called "Line Camp," which was also written and directed by Tom Gries. Heston mentioned that this was his favorite film in which he appeared.[2] The supporting cast features Ben Johnson, Bruce Dern, and Slim Pickens.

Plot

As the film opens a trail drive is coming to an end, with the resulting payoff of the now out-of-work trail hands. A trio of punchers, Blue (Lee Majors), Dutchy (Anthony Zerbe), and an aging Will Penny (Charlton Heston) decide to drift south, and avoid the oncoming cold, northern winter.

One morning they awaken in a quiet, river bottom bordered by tree cover. A lone bull elk is spotted, and fired on. As they move together to claim their prize they encounter a grizzled, ragged man near the riverbank. He contests their right to the meat, shouting “That there elk is our’n”. Seeing other men in the willows the trio become wary, backing away. Gunfire erupts, and Will shoots a man. He appears gravely injured, and his companions stop fighting in order to assist. Dutchy is wounded in the exchange, so Will and Blue decide to head to a nearby sutler’s store.

As they enter the run-down shack they encounter two out-of-place travelers, Catherine Allen (Joan Hackett), and her son Horace (Jon Gries) taking a meal at a table. Dutchy is left covered with a buffalo robe, reclining in the freight wagon outside. After a few drinks of whiskey the duo decide to search for a doctor, if there is one.

They come across a horse without a rider, and locate a dead cowboy, thrown from his saddle. Will decides to back-trail the rider and turn the body over to the ranch (the brand) that he rode for. Knowing that a job might be in the offing, Will ventures a guess at the dead man’s former duties. Foreman Alex (Ben Johnson) studies the matter, and an offer is made.

Will hires on to ride the boundaries of Flat Iron range over the coming winter. As he heads for the nearby hills leading a few packhorses with extra supplies he catches sight of grey smoke from a line-shack chimney. A rifle is fired in his direction as he nears the cabin door. He identifies himself as a peaceable ranch hand, asking no trouble. The shooter relents, and allows his approach. Will is surprised to see the same two from the sutlers. After learning that they have been abandoned by the guide that her husband had paid in advance to lead them over the mountains Will has a change of heart for their situation. Mindful of his boss’ instructions on “No squatters, no matter what” he rides away to inspect the fence line, warning them that they cannot over-winter on the property, but must be gone when he returns in one week.

The very next morning as Will is sleeping near his almost-extinguished campfire he is ambushed, and savagely beaten up by the Quints. Will has run afoul of a sadistic family clan, led by Preacher Quint (Donald Pleasence), who has sworn vengeance on him for the death of his son sometime before, at the river. After delivering a stern, Scriptural laden warning on his ultimate demise, they leave him for dead. Penny manages to drag himself back to the cabin, where he is slowly nursed back to health by Catherine, with whom he has little choice but to stay afterward.

As Christmas and the winter pass, the lonely Penny and sexually repressed Catherine fall in love, and Penny begins to develop fatherly feelings towards the young boy Horace. The three have lived together as a family unit, during which time Penny has caught poignant glimpses of everything that has been missing from his own nomadic, rootless life. For a while, it seems that there is a possibility that he can settle down with the woman and child and continue this happy arrangement.

Around this time the Quint family bursts into the cabin, forces Penny into hard, rough labor, and coerces Catherine into making plans to marry one of the ruthless, ne'er do well sons. When his two former saddle pals suddenly appear, it is just in time to aid in his escape from the Quints. They return to the cabin to free Catherine and Horace from their tormentors.

At last, it seems that a happy ending may result, at the appropriate moment. Part of Penny desperately wants to put down roots and end his lonely existence as an itinerant cowhand. Ultimately, however, Penny realizes that he is simply too old to change his long-held habits (he is around 50) and that he is too set in his ways to ever settle down into a domestic setting. Deeply regretful about what he is leaving behind, he rides away from the woman and child, never to return.

Production

The film features a David Raksin and Robert Wells song "The Lonely Rider" with vocals by Don Cherry. The exteriors were filmed in Inyo County, California, USA.

Cast

Reviews

"The admirable thing about the movie is its devotion to real life. These are the kind of people, we feel, who must really have inhabited the West: common, direct, painfully shy in social situations and very honest." — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"And I got to really like the guy. A lot of people told me that I wouldn't like him, but I liked him. And he tried very hard. I mean, Will Penny is far and away the best thing he's ever done." - Bruce Dern on Charlton Heston

"Intelligent and thoughtful, Will Penny is a good Western and even a better character study. The West is more than deglamorized here; we get a good approximation of what a real cowboy's life might have been like around the turn of the century." — DVD Savant, DVDTalk

"The villains in Will Penny are so unbelievable and so unrealistic that they almost seem like they came out of a Western spoof, rather than the serious, realistic Western which Will Penny aspires to be (and achieves in most other aspects of the story)." — Erik Rupp, Vista Records

"This is one of the classic movies of all time. It will last for all eternity as a classic in writing and in acting.." - Ange Kenos, OPA Magazine, Australia

"Charlton Heston told me this was the film he is most proud of and was his favorite screen roll.." - Rick Schmidlin:Producer of the re-edit of Touch of Evil

Accolades

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Big Rental Films of 1968", Variety, January 8, 1969 p 15. Please note this figure is a rental accruing to distributors.
  2. ↑ Charlton Heston: The Last Interview on YouTube
  3. ↑ "AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
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