The Ballad Of Cable Hogue (1970)

Set in 1908 Arizona, a grizzled prospector (Jason Robards) is left to die without water in the desert by his two cohorts (Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones). But as fate would have it, he finds water and survives and plots his revenge on the men who left him to die. Directed by Sam Peckinpah (STRAW DOGS), this beguiling western finds Peckinpah in a gentler mood tempering his often violent packed cinematic output with a sweet love story. I've seen this film described often as a comedy but the real core of the film is the relationship between Robards' frontiersman and an ambitious prostitute (a radiant Stella Stevens). The film is less successful with its third character, a lustful "minister" (David Warner). While using the traditional elements of the western, Peckinpah brings a fresh prospective to the genre. There's a lovely musical interlude with Robards and Stevens singing Butterfly Mornings that almost makes you wish Peckinpah had turned the film into a musical. With Slim Pickens, Gene Evans and Kathleen Freeman.