The Hired Hand [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of The Hired Hand [VHS]
Movie Review: The Hired Hand DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
I am very pleased with the product. It was cheap and arrived very quickly in perfect order. Many thanks.Movie Review: montage editing mastery
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a masterpiece without a doubt, decades ahead of its time and a glittering milestone in the history of both the western genre and American filmmaking. Frank Mazzola, a genius of montage editing artistry adds a new dimension of delight and rapturous beauty to this brilliant work lifting it into the pantheon of timeless cinematic perfection. A feast for the eye, the mind and the soul. Bravo to all involved in re-issuing this new cut.
editor of both the original and recut versions, is perhaps the best montage artist ever to come out of Hollywood. His extraordinary work
Movie Review: It's the supporting characters that make it work
Summary: 3 Stars
Warren Oates may not be the star of The Hired Hand, but both he and Verna Bloom outshine director Peter Fonda's quiet performance. A lot of that's down to the writing, with screenwriter Alan Sharp giving both supporting players excellent parts - indeed, Bloom's is one of the best women's roles ever written for a Western - and part of it seems to be down to the gentle generosity of spirit that Fonda imbues his cut of the film with. While never quite as affecting as it could be, and at times over-egging the artistry with not always successful montages or camera techniques in Vilmos Zsigmond's otherwise marvellous cinematography, it's still a satisfying and rewarding character piece that just happens to be set out West
The collector's edition DVD comes with a plethora of extras, including ample deleted scenes that were restored for the NBC television version that eventually supplanted the theatrical version. They're interesting, and highlight Larry Hagman's nice performance as a very diplomatic sheriff, but their deletion does make the film much stronger, placing the emphasis on the interplay of the three central characters and, most crucially, allowing Oates' character to make his own decision towards the film's resolution. It's a shame that screenwriter Alan Sharp isn't among the interviewees on the one-hour documentary on the disc, but perhaps that's because, ever the realist, he always regarded his fine Western scripts as pastiches where everyone else is arguing in favor of the film's realism and revisionism. But most bizarre among the extras are Universal's original trailers and radio spots, marketing it as an all-action revenge Western for the Easy Rider crowd - `Peter Fonda is riding again - back to the woman he loves and the revenge he craves!'
Movie Review: A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Hired Hand" was Peter Fonda's first stab at directing (he only directed two more films). The story involves Fonda going back to his wife and homestead after several years absence; he brings his buddy Warren Oates along with him. His wife, Verna Bloom, isn't so interested anymore with being his wife (and who can blame her?) so she hires him and Oates on as ranch hands, hence "The Hired Hand."
Speaking of Verna Bloom, she's not made out to be very attractive in the film; she just comes across rather bland and plain. One could argue, of course, that this adds to the realism of the picture; after all, would you likely catch a bodacious goddess living alone in the Western wilderness for very long? I only bring this up because Verna appears one year later in Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter," wherein it is revealed that she is actually quite a fair-looking woman. Who knows, perhaps it's simply because she has her hair down in the latter film.
In any event, "The Hired Hand" is a quiet, highly believable picture that boldly sneers at Western film conventions. Yes, you'll see a couple of gun fights, but they're realistic in tone and unconventional to the Western genre.
This may make the film boring to some, but not to me. Truth be known, I like a variety of Westerns, everything from "Shane" to "The Missing" and everything in between. The only Westerns I don't like are ones that have that goofy, unrealistic vibe, like "Hondo" (I'm not talking about Western comedies here; I love "Support Your Local Sheriff").
"The Hired Hand" probably won't blow you away or anything; it's a quiet, adult-oriented film. I saw it last December for the first time and, somehow, various sequences have just stayed with me; like they're burnt into my psyche. It's hauntingly memorable. If this sounds like your cup of tea, don't miss out.
Movie Review: A patient, delicate and redemptive Western.
Summary: 4 Stars
Martin Scorsese in the two minutes he contributed to disk number two, described the film industry during which "The Hired Hand" was born, adventurous and willing to take chances after the success of "Easy Rider." Not a description one would typically assign to a picture that is as gentle and patient as "The Hired Hand." The film begins like a baptismal dream, with a slightly out of focus lens capturing the shimmering beauty of a man joyously splashing in the water and another fishing at the rivers edge. Behind the tranquil images a banjo and a fiddle, lazily easing their way through the morning. When the two men become three we learn that they're California bound . . . to see the "Ocean like a great blue prairie." When the body of a drowned seven or eight year old little girl gets snagged on the leader's fishing line, the tenor of the serenity changes, resonating more deeply and with purpose. Harry will not make the journey to the sea but instead will make the journey back home to the wife and child he left for his wanderlust. When he arrives home to find an embittered, lonely, but determined woman along with a carefree 7 year old girl, he offers his services as a "hired hand" to work the place to "see how it runs." With this arrangement having been made, the slow process of healing and reconciliation begins but caution must be heeded because loneliness is like a cancer: it eats away at one's resistance and is a poor surrogate for commitment. This balancing act is played out with delicacy, tenderness and a devotion to the characters. "The Hired Hand" is a film laced with religious symbolism with the action coming only after long spells of traveling, trading horses and reflection. From the moment that we see the drowned girl till the moment our protagonist tells his wife "I'll be back" there is this sense of inevitability, and it is the tension between the desire to rest and the need to act that keeps the film moving forward. Extremely well done.