The Missouri Breaks (1976) Reviews

• A western that deserves better

  Whythorne2005-02-17

  If you're looking for a Howard Hawks/John Wayne-style western, the Missouri Breaks may not be for you. It is, in my opinion, the most sadly underrated western ever. This film didn't get the treatment it deserved when it came out in the 70s in part because its two stars, coming off movies like the Godfather and Chinatown, were box office powerhouses in their prime when uniquely paired together. I don't know what film could have matched the expectations of the critics, especially a western that was probably more low key and off-beat than anticipated. I will never forget the first time I watched this movie and how pleasantly shocked I was at how good it actually is. Brando's portrayal is so wonderfully eccentric it gets more and more enjoyable with repeated viewings. Nicholson's, meanwhile, exemplifies the charisma that we associate with him being at the top of his craft during the Chinatown/Cuckoo's Nest era in his career. While the two big name stars don't disappoint, the rest of the cast is stellar. Kathleen Lloyd gives the kind of performance from a lesser known actress that has me scrambling for the video guide wondering what other films she might be seen in. Randy Quaid's role is fascinating for being so early in his career. But Harry Dean Stanton delivers an especially understated, yet weighty performance as Nicholson's closest partner. The dialog is often humorous, especially one scene between Lloyd and Nicholson where he drawls: "Keep the dang thing, I don't want it!" The Missouri Breaks has extremely interesting, individual characterizations with authentic settings that take you back to a credible old West that is not Hollywood back-lot. The story is funny at times, but extremely tense as it approaches its climax. Nothing irks me more than a movie that is wonderful in all aspects expect for the score, but that is not an issue here. John Williams' music, with occasional emphasis on the harmonica, fits well with the style of the movie. If you appreciate the genre, this is entertaining and worth owning. It's the kind of western that should be watched several times to appreciate some of the more subtle nuances and details.

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• Worth a look for Brando's Eccentric Performance

  eht5y2004-07-26

  'The Missouri Breaks' was filmed from a screenplay by National Book Award-winner Thomas McGuane, whose novels are often characterized as 'revisionist westerns', a sort of sub genre in which the romantic conventions of the western--the noble, idealized hero in the white hat taking on swarthy outlaws or bloodthirsty Indians, occasionally aided by a lone, sage, 'noble savage'-type Indian sidekick--are upended for the sake of a muddier, morally ambiguous, more historically truthful account of 'how the west was won.' Suffice it to say that there are no heroes in 'The Missouri Breaks.' Our protagonist, Tom Logan (Jack Nicholson), is the de facto leader of a gang of fun-loving outlaws in post-Civil War Montana, pistoleros who make their living stealing horses from wealthy ranchers, laughing all the way, a bit like Robin Hood's Merry Men, only Logan and his boys keep the money and spend it on whiskey and whores. Egomaniacal rancher David Braxton (John McLiam) captures and hangs one of Logan's gang, which retaliates by returning the favor to Braxton's ranch foreman on the same noose. Intent on ridding the country of horse thieves and avenging his friend's murder, Braxton sends for Robert E. Lee Clayton (Marlon Brando), the most feared of the Regulators, mercenary frontier detectives famous for their ruthlessness and their ability to kill suddenly and without warning from long distances with their trademark Creekmore long-rifles. Posing as an aspiring cattle-rancher, Logan buys an abandoned ranch next to Braxton's property to serve as a relay station for moving stolen horses across the plains. He is left to mind the ranch while his buddies move the latest take of horses, and while busying himself reviving the ranch's garden and orchard, Logan begins a relationship with Braxton's daughter Jane (Kathleen Lloyd). Jane suspects that Logan is an outlaw, which makes him only more appealing to her, as she has grown to resent her father's tyranny, particularly after witnessing the slow death of the young horse thief from Logan's gang. Enter Robert E. Lee Clayton, one of the strangest and most curious of Marlon Brando's acting creations. 'The Missouri Breaks' was Brando's last starring role before 'Apocalypse Now!' (1979), and was preceded by 'The Godfather' (1972) and 'Last Tango in Paris (1972). Like Coppola and Bertolucci, director Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde) clearly sensed that the best thing to do with Brando the Mad Genius was to sit back and watch. From the moment Brando's Clayton appears--bursting in on the funeral of the murdered foreman dressed like a western dandy in fringed leather coat and scarf, bellowing and yanking the corpse up out of the open casket to borrow a few of the ice cubes used to keep the body from decomposing as a compress for a tooth-ache--we know we are in for some vintage Brando. Nicholson is typically likable, but he isn't given much to work with; 'The Missouri Breaks' is clearly Brando's show, as he systematically works his way through Logan's gang, farting, spritzing himself with perfume, dressing in drag as a frontier granny, singing love songs to his horse, and delivering odd soliloquy's while constantly munching on carrots. Lee Clayton is comic, but he is also sadistic and perverse. Brando seems to be having the time of his life, and it's a genuine pleasure to watch one of the most brilliant and magnetic screen actors of all time given free reign to fashion the lunatic Clayton. Like much of McGuane's fiction, 'The Missouri Breaks' has a muted, understated tone disturbed only by acts of brutal, unsentimental violence. The scenes and dialogue are meant to reflect the stark beauty of the Montana plains along the fall line of the great Missouri River (the title of the film refers to the long stretch of the river between the plains and the mountains, the corridor by which Lewis and Clark made their way to the Pacific). The plot is fairly predictable once Lee Clayton arrives and starts hunting the horse rustlers, and so the film's main pleasure is in the acting performances, of which only Brando's is truly exceptional. Nicholson can do no wrong, but Tom Logan is a relatively bland, inarticulate character, and, hidden behind an unruly beard, Nicholson's facial expressions can't compensate for the minimalistic dialogue to create a more distinct character. There is little apparent chemistry between Nicholson and Kathleen Lloyd, who followed this film up with winners like 'Deathmobile' and 'Skateboard: The Movie' before settling into a long string of guest shots on TV. Given all the fun Brando seems to be having, Jack must have felt gypped. 'The Missouri Breaks' is all about Brando, and is well-worth watching just for his scenes. It also features an excellent soundtrack by John Williams ('The Missouri Breaks', interestingly, was Williams' project between 'Jaws' and 'Star Wars') and fine supporting performances by Frederic Forrest ('Chef' in 'Apocalypse Now!'), Randy Quaid (a very much underrated dramatic actor in his younger, pre-'Vacation' days), and cult-favorite Harry Dean Stanton ('Wise Blood,' 'Repo Man,' 'Paris Texas') as Logan's fellow horse-thieves. Jack is Jack--one of the greats, with a career that easily stacks up to Brando's--but here, unfortunately, he's stuck playing the straight man to Brando's nut-case, making the movie a disappointment for viewers hoping to see two of film's finest actors at their best.

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• Often overlooked, but one great western

  huntington02004-07-02

  Marlon Brando died yesterday. I just got the news and felt compelled to comment on this flick specifically, because it seems that whenever I ask of self-professed Brando or western fans, "Have you seen Missouri Breaks?" the answer is, "No." But what a great western! And what a great performance by Brando! Yes, it is 'quirky;' yes, Brando uses a different accent in nearly every scene; and yes, his performance seems at times almost improvised, shooting off in unexpected and rewarding directions. For all this quirkiness, however, I never once felt that the character's affectations were Brando's, or that Brando was somehow on-the-outside-looking-in, overly pleased at his own theatrical acrobatics. This is a brilliant man at work here, living in the moment, a vessel of the character. This has always amazed me about Brando's work: that working from the inside, he can so transform the outside--the physicality and mannerisms of his characters. Good bye, Mr. Brando, and thank you.

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• Unusual western that entertains with its anti-heroes

  JuguAbraham2006-09-09

  Seeing the movie for the second time after a break of some twenty plus years, I realized that I was watching a film that deserved more attention than it has received over the decades. Apart from the fact that it contains one of the finest lines in cinema "You know what woke you up? You just had your throat cut!" most reviewers have logically zoomed in on the obvious—the swaggering performance of Marlon Brando at the peak of his career and an overshadowed but endearing performance of Jack Nicholson. Yet the film belongs not to these two worthies but to Arthur Penn, the director. Penn seems to be constantly attracted by characters that are out of the ordinary—those who are constrained either physically or mentally ("The Miracle Worker," "The Chase" "The Little, Big Man," "Night Moves" etc.). He loves anti-heroes. In "The Missouri Breaks" there are three anti-heroes—a rustler, a cross-dressing bounty hunter, and a gay rancher who reads "Tristam Shandy" but serves as judge and jury as he metes out death sentences to make his little world better to live in. One would assume in a film studded with such unlikable characters that Penn would paint them black. Penn does the opposite—he manipulates the viewer to sympathize with the bad guys. Nicholson's horse rustler is smart—he knows the circumstances when a gun would have a bullet in it. He knows how to court a woman by brewing Chinese tea in the Wild West. Brando's bounty hunter is equally erudite—he carries a book on ornithology while horseback as he watches eagles seek its prey through binoculars, just as he follows desperadoes before he moves in to his kill. The ranch owner, with a gay lover on the ranch, is a good father and well read with 3500 works of English literature in his library. What a weird set of anti-heroes! One would have expected good women to balance the bad guys. The women of Penn have shades of gray—"Missouri Breaks" is no exception. The leading lady seems to be fascinated by the bad guys and "demands" sex. Another rancher's wife has illicit sex with a guest. The final sequence of two important characters leaving for different destinations after checking out where they would be 6 months hence leaves the viewer guessing of what would happen. Penn's films tend to end with a perspective of a detached outsider, making the characters quixotic and the end open to several viewpoints. Brando was a treat to watch—only his "Quiemada" (Burn) appealed to me more among all his films. Interestingly, in both films Brando had problems with the director and took matters in his own hands. The music and screenplay are in many ways a tribute to the rising fame of the spaghetti Western and therefore quite stunning—also because of the very interesting and intelligent use of sound editing. The opening fifteen minutes of the film underline this argument, although this is a Penn film and not a Sergio Leone film. All in all this film is a major western as it has elements that never surfaced in most others—women who were not mere attractions, the effect of carbines on those shot by them, and of course the slow death by hanging, in contrast to the lovely countryside (stated by the leading lady). This western entertains in a way most others do not. (Exceptions are William Fraker's "Monte Walsh", "Will Penny," and Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller"). Thank you, Mr. Penn and all those that contributed to making this deceptively interesting film so enjoyable.

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• Satisfaction

  terkanas2005-02-27

  Maybe a bit disjointed, but I liked it, a lot, actually. Lead males were all great, but like so many westerns The Girl was a let-down. With most of the cast playing it pretty straight Brando doesn't seem over the top at all, it works well and is not too silly at all, reminds me of a eccentric uncle combined with Hannibal Lector, without the, you know.... Otherwise a film you should definitely consider watching, if only to see how Brando, Nicholson, and Harry Dean Stanton do a western. I loved it, Brando stole the show. See it to decide for yourself whether you like the direction Brando takes it. There's nothing like it, and this is not a run-of-the-mill western.

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