Bite the Bullet (film)
Bite the Bullet | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Brooks |
Written by | Richard Brooks |
Produced by | Richard Brooks |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Harry Stradling Jr. |
Edited by | George Grenville |
Music by | Alex North |
Production companies | Persky-Bright Productions Vista |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 131 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $4 million[1] |
Box office | $11 million[2] |
Bite the Bullet is a 1975 American Western film written, produced, and directed by Richard Brooks and starring Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, and James Coburn, with Ian Bannen, Jan-Michael Vincent, Ben Johnson, and Dabney Coleman in supporting roles.
Plot
Based on actual events of the early twentieth century, the story concerns a grueling 700-mile (1,100 km) cross-country
The fifteen colorful contestants include: two former
The film touches on the themes of
When Miss Jones helps free her beau from a railway chain gang, they steal the contestants' horses and attempt to escape. The convicts are pursued and the riders get their mounts back, and the race is able to continue. Miss Jones, now free of her former boyfriend's malevolent influence, rides away into the countryside.
In the end, with all but three of the contestants knocked out of the race, Clayton and Matthews cross the finish line together as co-champions, beating the championship thoroughbred by a matter of minutes to win the prize money, plus any side bets they had placed.
Cast
- Gene Hackman as Sam Clayton
- Candice Bergen as Miss Jones
- James Coburn as Luke Matthews
- Ben Johnson as Mister
- Ian Bannen as Sir Harry Norfolk
- Jan-Michael Vincent as Carbo
- Robert Donner as Reporter
- Jean Willes as Rosie
- Mario Arteaga as Mexican
- Dabney Coleman as Jack Parker
- John McLiam as Gebhardt
- Robert Hoy as Lee Christie
- Jerry Gatlin as The Wood Cutter
- Sally Kirkland as Honey
Production
The movie was filmed on location in
Factual inspiration
While the film's race is set in 1906, producer/writer/director
Awards
Bite the Bullet was nominated for two
Reception
Box office
According to Variety the film earned $5 million in theatrical rentals at the North American box office.[4]
Critical
Vincent Canby of The New York Times was not impressed: "(It) is a big, expensive Western that doesn't contain one moment that might be called genuine. In spite of all the care, the money and the hardships that apparently went into its production, the movie looks prefabricated, like something assembled from other people's earlier, better inspirations."[5] Canby did find the cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr. to be "spectacularly beautiful."
However, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times liked the film: "Brooks is a proven master of the Western on a grand scale (the 1966 classic The Professionals was his) and Bite the Bullet is a film that reexamines and reaffirms the Western myth — both as it affected our history and as it has been considered in the movies. ...Bite the Bullet finds the traditional power and integrity of the Western intact after all."[3] Likewise, Ebert was impressed with Stradling's cinematography.
See also
References
- ^ "AFI|Catalog".
- ^ "Bite the Bullet, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- ^ a b Ebert, Roger (June 27, 1975). "Bite the Bullet". rogerebert.com. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- ^ "All-time Film Rental Champs". Variety. January 7, 1976. p. 48.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (June 27, 1975). "The Screen: 'Bite the Bullet' is Richard Brooks Error". The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
External links
- Bite the Bullet at IMDb
- Bite the Bullet at Rotten Tomatoes
- Roger Ebert review, Bite the Bullet Archived September 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine