The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean (1972)

After being hanged and left for dead, an outlaw (Paul Newman) takes his revenge by slaughtering the entire town (which consists of a handful of bandits, killers and prostitutes) but spares the miniscule Mexican population. He then declares himself the town's judge. Directed by John Huston (THE AFRICAN QUEEN) from an "original" screenplay by John Milius (THE WIND AND THE LION). This whopper of a tall tale has a sense of deja vu about it. There's a familiarity to it and that's probably because the movie seems cobbled together from bits and pieces of other movies. It's also schizophrenic in its execution. It seems to be winking its eye at us that it's good natured in its exaggerations and we're not take it seriously but it's also seems to take relish in the brutality of its violence. John Huston has proven in the past that he's capable of doing an amusing movie satire (his BEAT THE DEVIL) but here, he's on shaky ground though I'll confess the movie is moderately entertaining for the most part. Still, the sentimental montage accompanied by the movie's theme song (sung by Andy Williams) is tacky. With Ava Gardner, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Perkins, Tab Hunter, Stacy Keach, Roddy McDowall, Ned Beatty, Victoria Principal and Anthony Zerbe.