Prismark10 It is unusual to see a beach and ocean scene in a western but maybe it took a first time director to incorporate these elements in a western set in Monterey, California.One-Eyed Jacks is Marlon Brando's only film as a director. He was reportedly unhappy with the production company trimming the film down in post production. In turn they were also not happy that the film went over budget.Brando plays Rio who hangs out with 'Dad' Longworth (Karl Malden) in Mexico. When they are trapped in the desert, surrounded by the Mexican police, Dad makes off with his liberty and the gold while Rio ends up in prison.Five years later Rio escapes and arrives in a Monterey town where Dad is the sheriff. He has settled down with a wife and step daughter. Rio is looking for revenge despite saying the past is the past. Rio and his gang want to rob a bank and Rio takes the opportunity to seduce the stepdaughter. After Rio shoots a bully in a bar in self defence, Dad publicly whips Rio and breaks his shooting hand.There is an Oedipal relationship between Rio and 'Dad.' However both go about at a leisurely pace in taking their revenge. Dad knows he has done wrong by not coming for Rio. He now has a lot to lose after making a respectable life for himself. Rio remains a rogue, constantly lying, always fibbing to the ladies. I could not for a moment believe in his relationship with the step daughter after his mendacity.The film benefits from nice cinematography, it was one of the last movies made in Vista Vision, it captures the desert landscape really well. Given Brando's view of American history, he does not have a misty eyed view of a golden age of the west. His vision is of liars, cynics and cheaters. Dad and Rio are rogues, it is just that Dad is hiding it underneath the veneer of respectability. When goaded by Rio, Dad shows his true face.The problem is that the film is too long even after being cut down by the production company. The story meanders too much in a leisurely way. Brando was astute enough to have those familiar western faces such as Slim Pickens, Ben Johnson and Elisha Cook jr in the picture.

qmtv Pile of Trash. Current IMDb rating 7.2 Incomprehensible This is a slow and boring pile of crap. Over 2 hours of nonsense. The acting is the worst. There is zero chemistry with the actors. The dialogue is trash. Music is filler. This is Brando's only directed movie. And we now why. It sucks. It lost money. The producers fired Rod Serling as writer. Not a good movie. Stanley Kubrick was supposed to direct, that didn't happen. Not a good movie. It's 2 hours and 21 minutes of slow moving scenes. Talking, with supposed drama, action looks like one takes, camera angles are crap, I could go on. Brando and Malden meeting first time in Monteray, supposed to be suspenseful. It was not. No chemistry. Brandon and Louisa, zero chemistry. He lies about being a government employee, gives her a necklace given to him by his dying mother, this is some genius writing. And now we are left with the question of did Brando do Louise or not. She lies to her mother, and to Malden. And these people are real religious and the mother says she does not lie. So, we are to believe her. Well, more spoiler. Brando did Louise, and she will have his kid. This is just a pile of crap soap opera nonsense. Unbelievable characters and it goes on and on. Brando's character is "Rio" aka "The Kid" great stuff here. Malden's character "Dad" wow, some more great writing. The backdrop of the actors is clearly fake. Slim Pickins, very sad role. Best actor here was Elisha Cook, Jr. as the bank teller, and the ugly blond girl who gets killed in the bank, not bad. She went down quick. But the camera angles are trash. Real amateur cinematography. It apparently won an Oscar nomination. So, Brando gets wiped and he gets his hand busted. But guess what. No agony, no screams, I guess no pain. I guess this guy is not human. He must be a tough guy. Maybe he's superman's dad. Or Don Corleone. Those guys don't feel pain.I could continue to spell out how bad this pile of trash is. But I'm gonna stop. What gets me is people apparently like this enough to give it a 7.2My rating is an F, 1 star. The only reason to watch this is if you study film critics and want to compare notes.

ma-cortes In Sonora, Mexico in 1880 , Rio (Marlon Brando , the character of Rio originally was based on Billy the Kid), his pal Dad Longworth (Karl Malden) and a third man, Doc (Hank Worden) are robbing a bank. As the bandits escape from the town with a loot . The bandits flee but the Mexican mounted police trail the bunch to the mountains . The mounted police follow and trap the bandits atop a desert hill (Death Valley that bears remarkable resemblance to Almeria desert where were filmed lots of Spaghetti) , with one of their horses shot . Their only option is for one of them to ride their single horse to a little post down the canyon and return with two fresh mounts . But Dad double-crosses him and flees . Rio is detained and locked in Sonora Prison but five years later he breaks out . Then Rio seeks vengeance against his former friend Dad who lives now as a sheriff married to a Mexican woman (Katy Jurado) and an adopted daughter (Pina Pellicer who sadly committed suicide a few years later) .Riveting Western with psychological tones is stunningly performed , richly photographed and well directed , though overlong . Marlon Brando took over the reigns of filmmaking by first and only time . Very good performances from main duo : Brando as an obstinate revenger and Karl Malden who steals the show as his double-dealing former partner . Superb support interpretations from Ben Johnson , Timothy Carey , and Slim Pickens , Katy Jurado , both of whom a few years later played as an intimate couple in ¨Pat Garret and Billy the Kid¨. Lively and adequate musical score by Hugo Friedhofer . Striking cinematography by Charles Lang , being Paramount's last release in VistaVision and filmed on location in California , the following places : Cypress Point, Pebble Beach,Death Valley National Park, Monterey Peninsula,Pebble Beach, Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, Seventeen Mile Drive, Warner Ranch, Calabasas, California, USA.Marlon Brando's inexperience behind the camera was obvious on set , he took the direction from Stanley Kubrick, who originally was slated to direct the film. He shot six times the amount of footage normally used for a film at the time , he was indecisive in his only filmmaking effort and ran extremely overlong in getting the film finished , in spite of the problems , the film resulted to be visually striking and with interesting character study . Marlon Brando's first cut of the film was allegedly five hours long. He was reportedly unhappy with the final product, despite its box-office success , Paramount eventually took the film away from him and re-cut it as Marlon Brando's original cut of the movie was over five hours long . Rating : Better than average despite troubles during filming and the result is a terrific outing in this Western genre .

bebop63-1 Marlon Brando's first - and only - directorial debut, which was originally slated to be over 5 hours long! I'm glad it was cut down to just a little over 2 hours, and even then that was overly long for a Western movie in my opinion. Kudos to Brando for efforts to create a different backdrop of scenery like ocean waves crashing against the coastline with a beach house in the background instead of the usual dusty and grassy plains or desert that one usually associates in the Western genre. The score by Hugo Friedhofer is fitting, though not of the unforgettable category like, say John Williams' in Jaws or Indiana Jones or Ennio Morricone's soundtracks in The Good The Bad and The Ugly. On the other hand, the plot appears to be somewhat disjointed - it appears that in whittling down the original 5-hour to the present, some vital elements were inadvertedly removed, such as the main character Kid Rio escaping the Sonora prison chained to his Mexican cellmate, fleeing on foot through arid country with the nearest town hundreds of miles away - and the next scene shows they are resting in the shade of rocks liberated from each other. How did they manage to break the leg chain without any visible tools or aid from other people? Brando's method acting is plainly seen, his mumbling sweet-nothings in the ears of pretty women and his animal magnetism that is almost primitive permeates throughout the film, faintly reminiscent of the character Kowalski that he played in A Streetcar named Desire, one can't help feeling some disgust at the way he lies and wheedles his way into women's hearts yet be mesmerized. His amateurish attempts to direct, however, can be clearly seen as in too much time,was wasted on the coastal beach scenes where Rio and his gang relax and recuperate at the Chinaman's beach hut. Also, it is not explained why a sheriff would choose to live in an isolated, albeit beautiful home near the coast away from the main town that he is policing, wouldn't it make /more sense for him to live closer to town for easy availability should emergencies arise? Also how Rio manages to trick the odious yet dimwitted deputy Lon into releasing him from his cell with an empty gun makes for a questionable if comical highlight of the film.