BITE THE BULLET
Stars Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, James Coburn and Jan Michael Vincent.
A newspaper sponsors a horse and rider race across a rugged landscape annually and offers a prize of $2000. Doesn't sound like much, but this is the turn of the century.
Hackman plays a compassionate man and a real animal lover who eally doesn't like these races because some ride their horses to death. But he was late delivering a race horse to one of the rich sponsors and was fired. He enters because he needs the money, and wants to win by using a stratagedy that won't harm his beloved horse. Coburn is an old friend; they were Roughriders together and they become friendly rivals during the race. Bergen is not what she seems, and has ulterior motives for entering the race. Vincent is a young braggard and is cruel to animals. Oh, yeah, Hackman does teach this boy a serious lesson that sees him become a man later in the film.
This is a cut above the usual western because it is written and directed by Richard Brooks, the man who did such a great job on Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD. It is more about men and women and what motivates them to do the things they do, which includes entering races like this. Some do it for the money, but most do it because they want to be winners. So this is a character driven film, but it has enough action, and a few shootouts that make for a fast 2 plus hours of entertainment.
Candice Bergen is very young here, and very gorgeous. Hackman, though filmed 28 years ago, doesn't look much different than he does today. This guy ages well. And Coburn, well he was a lot slimmer here, and without the arthritic hands of later years.
I give it 4 Stars and an extra one to Blockbuster for making it available at $12.00. This is another western addition to my dvd collection. I have a couple of James Stewart ones on the way, and I will comment on them after I have had a chance to view them. But if you like westerns and the stars mentioned above, you really should have Bite The Bullet in your collection, too. Are you listening, Tex ?
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Stars Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, James Coburn and Jan Michael Vincent.
A newspaper sponsors a horse and rider race across a rugged landscape annually and offers a prize of $2000. Doesn't sound like much, but this is the turn of the century.
Hackman plays a compassionate man and a real animal lover who eally doesn't like these races because some ride their horses to death. But he was late delivering a race horse to one of the rich sponsors and was fired. He enters because he needs the money, and wants to win by using a stratagedy that won't harm his beloved horse. Coburn is an old friend; they were Roughriders together and they become friendly rivals during the race. Bergen is not what she seems, and has ulterior motives for entering the race. Vincent is a young braggard and is cruel to animals. Oh, yeah, Hackman does teach this boy a serious lesson that sees him become a man later in the film.
This is a cut above the usual western because it is written and directed by Richard Brooks, the man who did such a great job on Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD. It is more about men and women and what motivates them to do the things they do, which includes entering races like this. Some do it for the money, but most do it because they want to be winners. So this is a character driven film, but it has enough action, and a few shootouts that make for a fast 2 plus hours of entertainment.
Candice Bergen is very young here, and very gorgeous. Hackman, though filmed 28 years ago, doesn't look much different than he does today. This guy ages well. And Coburn, well he was a lot slimmer here, and without the arthritic hands of later years.
I give it 4 Stars and an extra one to Blockbuster for making it available at $12.00. This is another western addition to my dvd collection. I have a couple of James Stewart ones on the way, and I will comment on them after I have had a chance to view them. But if you like westerns and the stars mentioned above, you really should have Bite The Bullet in your collection, too. Are you listening, Tex ?
My Homepage!
As you know, I love the Westerns, so I'll definitely check it out. 
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