martinxperry-14868 This was a great film for Kathleen Lloyd, who brought a spunky kind of freshness. I don't think Susan Sarandon would have done as well. Jack Nicholson could have carried this film without Brando. What Brandon brought was a touch of excentrisity that only he could do. I really like this film. The twists that Marlon Brando brings are very entertaining. The throwing weapon that he used, helping Randy Quaid swim, and his dressing up as a woman was entertaining. It's not the best western out there, but it is very entertaining.

deickos Mr. Arthur Penn has directed some of the best films ever made - his instinct of a great story is unmistaken. His love for the best literature is again proved here. Thomas McGuane wrote a wild west Hamlet version that maintains the original theme plus lots of humor. But the original story is cruel and so this post 60s western should be eventually.

ducatimatz28 I remember this Movie well; Mostly filmed in Billings, Mt.,Brando and Nicholson one afternoon while off set went to a well known local Beer Bar called "GRAMMA'S".After about an hour of drinking Both Brando and Nicholson were fairly intoxicated and thought throwing their Beer Glasses up in the air and having them crash on the floor was OK, after all we are Movie Stars, Wrong! The Bar owner Mr. Staley literally threw them out into the Parking Lot;Saying I don't care how big of hotshots they think they are,Their not going to disrespect my Bar or Me. It was classic to say the least.The Movie was alright but never close to "LITTLE BIG MAN" shot here in 1969.Sometimes even High Profile Celebrities make forgettable Films.,,S.M.

Spikeopath Starring two titans of cinema in Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, The Missouri Breaks sees Arthur Penn (Bonnie & Clyde) direct, the screenplay provided by Thomas McGuane (Tom Horn) and John Williams composes the score. In the supporting cast are Harry Dean Stanton, Randy Quaid, Kathleen Lloyd, Frederic Forrest and John McLiam. With all these people in place the film was one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Anticipation that was not met at the time as the film became a critical and commercial failure. However, time has been kind to the piece and now it shows itself to be far better than the iffy reputation that's afforded it.The story is a sort of working of the Johnson County War that surfaced in the early 1890s in Wyoming, where newer ranchers tried to settle but were set upon by the more established cattle barons of the land. One of the tactics by the wealthier ranch owners was to hire gunmen to terrorise anyone they saw as a threat. Here in Penn's movie we see David Braxton (McLiam) ruthlessly deal with anyone who he sees as a threat to his property. However, when someone enacts revenge on him by hanging his foreman, Braxton hires himself a "Regulator" named Robert E. Lee Clayton (Brando) to seek and destroy as it were. This spells bad news for the rustling gang led by Tom Logan (Nicholson), especially since Logan has started to form a relationship with Braxton's daughter, Jane (Lloyd). Somethings gotta give and blood is sure to be spilt.The most popular word used in reviews for the film is eccentric, mostly in reference to Brando's performance. The big man was growing ever more erratic off the screen and sure enough he changed the make up of his character and improvised at his leisure. Yet it does work in the context of the movie. With his dandy nastiness playing off of an excellent Nicholson turn, McGuane's richly detailed screenplay gets added bite, particularly during the more solemn parts of the story; where patience would be tried were it not for the brogue Irish Clayton. With Penn at the helm it's no surprise to find the piece is an amalgamation of moods. Poignancy hangs heavy for the most part as we deal in the ending of an era and the need to move on. But Penn also delivers much frontier action and snatches of cheery comedy. Then there is the violence, which doubles in shock value on account of the leisurely pace that Penn has favoured. It's sad to think that one of the best splicers of moods was so upset at the reaction to his film he quit cinema for the next five years.The film, well more realistically the reaction to it, possibly sounded the death knell for the Western genre until Eastwood & Costner refused to let it die. The 70s was an intriguing decade for the Oater, with many of them veering between traditional and revisionist. But of the many that were produced, the ones that dealt with the passing of the era, where the protagonists are soon to be relics of a tamed wilderness, have an elegiac quality about them. Penn's movie is fit to sit alongside the likes of Monte Walsh, The Shootist and The Outlaw Josey Wales. Yes it's quirky and is slowly driven forward, but it has many qualities for the genre fan to gorge on. 7.5/10