by John Bear
Daily Lobo
"The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" is a film that features large amounts of fairly graphic violence and spicy language that - only four years before its 1972 release - would have landed anyone associated with it under the harsh scrutiny of The Senate Committee on Lewd and Lascivious Blah, Blah, Blah.
It is directed by John Huston and stars Paul "The Man" Newman - I intend on asking Mr. Newman to be my new dad, as soon as the restraining order expires.
The film opens with Newman, who plays the title character, walking into a roughneck bar in the middle of nowhere Texas to boast about a train heist he and some buddies just pulled off. The patrons, apparently unimpressed by his exploits, proceed to relieve him of all his money then tie him by the neck to a horse and send him packing.
Fortunately, the rope breaks and a badly injured Newman is nursed back to health by a scorchingly hot Mexican woman who lives in the village adjacent to the offending bar. Once he has recuperated fully, he returns to the bar and kills everyone inside, save for one plus-sized prostitute who runs screaming into the desert. The shootout is one of the most deftly framed and executed scenes I have ever had the privilege of viewing. The look on Newman's face and his justification for the carnage - "They were bad men, and the whores weren't ladies" - sets the mood for the remainder of the film.
After idly watching Anthony Perkins - in a characteristically creepy and unsettling Anthony Perkins' role - bury the slain bar patrons, Newman declares himself judge of the township of Eagle's Nest and everything west of it. Numerous characters come and go. Some of them stay. Some of them get shot or hung for various offenses that seem to change with Newman's mood at that particular moment. One man is shot dead and subsequently fined for loitering.
The high point of the film occurs when Bad Bob, an extremely unfriendly albino played by Stacy Keach, arrives in town to challenge the judge to a duel. He kills a horse and orders a townsman to cook it. When asked how he wants his horse he simply says, "Blue." Then he drinks a pot of boiling coffee right off the campfire, eats an onion, and moments later is shot in the back by Newman in an amazing zoom-in camera shot that moves right through the bullet hole. When he is criticized for not giving Bad Bob a chance, he replies, "He didn't deserve a chance. If he wanted a chance, he should have gone somewhere else."
The one-liners in this movie are many, and they are classic.
Eventually an alcoholic bear finds its way into the film. In one of the more tear-jerking scenes he is shot and killed in a failed assassination attempt against Newman, ordered by a greedy lawyer who will eventually take over and turn the town into an oil field. These events lead to the film's explosive climax which triples the already impressive body count.
"The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" is a classic '70s flick and is not as well known as it should be.
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It is relevant today, considering the present political climate. It should appeal to both sides of the American political spectrum. Lefties will love it because it features greedy oilmen and an unelected warlord from Texas. Righties will love it because it features greedy oilmen and an unelected warlord from Texas.
Feel free to draw conclusions as you see fit.
