Wuchak
September 11, 2018Great desert scenery, modern filmmaking and great cast, but it absurdly rewrites history
Loosely based on the true story of the Westâs last famous manhunt in 1909, a Chemehuevi-Paiute Indian named Willie Boy (Robert Blake) kills a man in self-defense and escapes into the desert wilderness with an Indian woman (Katharine Ross). They are pursued by a posse led by Sheriff Cooper (Robert Redford). Meanwhile, residents of the region are preparing for a visit from President Taft.
Redford was in his prime after his breakthrough success with âButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidâ (1969) and the outstanding âDownhill Racerâ (1969). âTell Them Willie Boy Is Hereâ came out next and was critically acclaimed. While a modest hit, it failed to achieve the success of the other two films, especially âButch Cassidy.â It has since fallen into nigh obscurity and is almost never mentioned in âBest Westernâ lists.
Along with âHombreâ (1967) and âButch Cassidy,â and soon-to-come Westerns like âThe Missouri Breaksâ (1976), âWillie Boyâ ranks with the breakthrough âmodernâ Westerns of the 60s-70s. The movie is polished and hardly seems to have dated after all these decades. The director was an admitted communist who was blacklisted by the McCarthy squad in the late 40s and âWillie Boyâ was his big return to filmmaking.
The cast is great, also including the stunning Susan Clark as a patronizingly liberal white missionary, and the desert scenery is spectacular. But the first half is dull and the story doesnât perk up until the 50-minute mark. Still, this is a worthwhile late 60âs Western if you like the style of the others noted.
What lowers my grade is the LIEberal rewriting of the historical facts in order to gel with the Indian-as-tragic-victim theme that was fashionable at the time. The real Willie Boy was in his mid-20s and kidnapped the 15 year-old Isoleta, his second time, after murdering her father in his sleep. Willie Boy used Isoleta as a pack animal and, when she couldn't walk any more, shot her in the back. Her clothes were shreds while her skin had swellings & bruises and there were cactus needles in her body. Her shoes were worn out and her feet bloodied.
Willie Boy ultimately committed suicide with his last bullet and his corpse was found after the part-Native posse chased him for eleven days and over 500 miles in the picturesque wasteland. In short, Willie Boy was a piece of sheet who executed two of his own; and yet this movie has the audacity to make him out to be tragic figure oppressed by righteous authorities. Why Sure!
The film runs 1 hour, 37 minutes and was shot in the deserts of S. Cal (Banning, Pioneertown, Joshua Tree, Riverside, Palm Springs, Whitewater and Lake Sherwood).
GRADE: C