- Director: John Huston
- AMG Rating:
- Genre: Western
- Movie Type: Revisionist Western
- Themes: Vigilantes, Miscarriage of Justice
- Main Cast: Alfred G. Bosnos, Fred Brookfield, Karen Carr, Dolores Clark, Margo Epper, Barbara J. Longo, Lee Meza, Paul Newman, Victoria Principal, Anthony Perkins, Ned Beatty, Jacqueline Bisset, Tab Hunter, John Huston
- Release Year: 1972
- Country: US
- Run Time: 120 minutes
- MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Paul Newman plays the title role in John Huston's surreal, revisionist western as the infamous Texas hanging judge. Upon arriving in the tiny West Texas town of Vinegaroon, Roy Bean draws a moustache on a wanted poster of himself, marches into a saloon, and declares his presence. He is immediately robbed, beaten within an inch of his life, tied to a horse and dragged out into the prairie, then left to die. Rescued by a young Mexican girl, Maria Elena (Victoria Principal), Roy Bean heads back into town and murders everyone in the local saloon, declaring that he'll kill anyone of the same sort who turns up. He also sets himself up as the sole arbiter of law and order and renames the town Langtry, in honor of the legendary actress Lily Langtry (Ava Gardner). The community prospers as Judge Bean dispenses his own brand of frontier justice upon strangers passing by, robbing or killing anyone who tries to make their way through the town. But when Maria dies, Bean's old associates begin to turn on him, one at a time (in response to his constant harping on their wives, many of whom were former prostitutes) and Bean is forced to leave. Years later, Bean rides back into town, called back to the place to save his daughter from trouble - and finds that the community has been taken over by a shady character called Frank Gass (Roddy McDowall) - a circumstance that requires Bean to dispense his own unique brand of justice once again. Stacy Keach lends a neat comic turn to the film as Bad Bob, an albino gunslinger whose dining habits consist of chowing down on raw onion, drinking hot coffee from a pot, and demanding that an entire horse be cooked for his supper. John Milius (Red Dawn) scripted.~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
Opinions on The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean tend to vary wildly, perhaps because the film itself is a huge, uneven (and often unwieldy) hodgepodge. Judge Roy Bean attempts too much; it is allegorical (including a political allegory to Richard Nixon), surreal, ironic, blackly comic, both mythologizing and de-mythologizing, and both brash and ponderous -- so the mixture simply doesn't work. Yet any film directed by John Huston and written by John Milius that aims so high is bound to have a certain fascination, and the things that Huston and Milius attempt (and sometimes succeed at) in Judge Roy Bean will please some people to the point that they will overlook its many faults. For many people, however, the disjointed, rambling, confused, and often confusing film will be a bit too much, even with a sturdy performance from Paul Newman at its center and an exceptional, wildly funny turn from Stacy Keach on its periphery. (Those who like their Westerns "straight," of course, needn't even bother checking in.) Even those for whom the film doesn't work may appreciate individual moments, the spirit with which the film was made, and the fact that the filmmakers respect the intelligence of their audience. All in all, Judge Roy Bean is a muddle, but one that is hard to forget. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie GuideCast
- Paul Newman - Judge Roy Bean
- Victoria Principal - Maria Elena
- Anthony Perkins - Rev. LaSalle
- Ned Beatty - Tector Crites
- Jacqueline Bisset - Rose Bean
- Tab Hunter - Sam Dodd
- John Huston - Grizzly Adams
