inspectors71 Henry Hathaway, a man who knew how to shoot scenery, apparently forgot how to make a decent movie with 1971's Shoot Out. This quickie flick, destined for the NBC Saturday Night Movie about 10 minutes after its theatrical run, has Gregory Peck being peckish, about a minute of James Gregory being the baddie that double-crossed Peck, Robert F. Lyons as the psycho gunslinger hired by Gregory, and 7-year-old Dawn Lyn as the cutesy, foul-mouthed little 'un dumped on Peck when he gets released from prison for a robbery gone sideways.You also get the startle of seeing a hooker's slobber-covered boobs in the saloon's back room. And this thing got a GP?Hathaway's talent for lovely landscapes is lost on the viewer trying to translate the grammar-challenged westernese that spills out of everyone's mouth and with the grimacing from the scenery-chewing bad-guy behavior that would make anyone long for the quiet rationality of Richard Widmark's sociopath in Kiss of Death or the social responsibility of Andy Robinson in Dirty Harry.Just to show you how stolid Peck got toward the end of his big-star career, he gets the chance to have a heart-to-heart with a farm widow (a pretty, curvy actress named Patricia Quinn), and when she opens up to him about how lonely she is, how she drinks herself to sleep every night pining away for a man in bed, Peck doesn't kiss her or make goo-goo eyes at her, he grasps her head, and I thought, "My God, he's gonna check her teeth!"It's amazing how snarky one can get when watching a bastard stink- pot western.

Michael Morrison Henry Hathaway and Marguerite Roberts almost destroyed "True Grit," and here, in "Shoot Out," they again made a bumbling team.Apparently Mr. Hathaway was just past it, and I don't know if Ms. Roberts ever had any ability. In "True Grit," she just basically typed the original book. The book was a story as if told by a very prim and proper elderly lady who wrote in a prim and proper style, with no contractions, for example.When Ms. Roberts merely typed the book, rather than attempting some degree of realism in the dialogue, she made "True Grit" a parody, a burlesque of a great western story with most of the characters speaking their lines in a ridiculously stilted manner.Mr. Hathaway made no effort, apparently, at improving her script and if it hadn't been for great performers, "True Grit" would have flopped."Shoot Out" was not as badly scripted, nor as badly directed, though there were lots of holes and errors, some of which could have been fixed or at least helped by better editing.Still, Gregory Peck is always good to excellent, and made a surprisingly good cowboy, for such an elegant man.Here he is sometimes upstaged by a darling and petite actress named Dawn Lyn, one of the most likable little girls I've seen in a western, and, more, very believable as the feisty orphan with a mind of her own.Also from "True Grit" is Jeff Corey, one of Hollywood's most outstanding talents, and able even to overcome Henry Hathaway directing.Another of Hollywood's greatest actors is James Gregory, often a villain, as here, although he is on screen very little, but absolutely enthralling as the inspector in the 1970s TV series, "Barney Miller."Any film or show James Gregory is in is improved by his presence.There are several female performers and at least two are great to watch, but Pat, or Patricia, Quinn is not one of them. She must have been somebody's girl friend or wife to have been given the part and to have kept it. She was very attractive, but couldn't deliver her lines worth shucks.Contrarily, the boy who played her son, Nicolas Beauvy, showed great ability, and lots of presence. He's a real talent.Dave Grusin, of whom I know nothing else, wrote a worthy score (which I like a lot), and Earl Rath photographed beautifully some beautiful New Mexico scenery.So, OK, it's flawed. But it's a western, with Gregory Peck and the adorable Dawn Lyn and the hypnotic Jeff Corey. So forget the flaws and watch "Shoot Out." It's available at YouTube in a generally good print and I'll watch it again.

ma-cortes This film from a novel titled ¨The last cowboys¨ and adapted by Marguerite Roberts (True grit) deals with Clay Lomax (Gregory Peck) , he leaves the prison and seeking vengeance of his former partner named Foley (James Gregory) who double-crossed him . He carries the revenge in his heart after suffering the treason . He embarks on his vendetta and during his quest he gets stuck an eight-year-old little girl . Meanwhile , Foley contracts a young gunfighter (a violent , savage Robert F. Lions) who along with other gunmen (Pepe Serna and John Davis Chandler) abduct a prostitute (Susan Tyrell) and after that , they go out in pursuit Lomax .An average Western revenge story plenty of violence , action and shoot'em up ; though the veteran director Hathaway is uninspired and the ending is pretty predictable . The film relies heavily on the continuous relationship between the tiring gunslinger and the orphaned girl . The picture is well played by Gregory Peck in one of his last Westerns (he starred ¨McKenna gold¨ , ¨Big country¨ , ¨Stalking moon¨ , ¨The gunfighter¨). The movie displays a wide plethora of secondary actors usually seen in Western genre : Jeff Corey (True grit) as an old brawler in wheelchair , the usual Arthur Hunnicutt (El Dorado), Paul Fix , Rita Gam (Tomahawk) , Willis Bouchey's last film and the habitual cocky nasty named John Davis Chandler . Evocative and imaginative musical score by Dave Grusin . The motion picture was regularly directed by Henry Hathaway in his last film along with ¨Raid on Rommel¨ , both made in 1971 . Hathaway hired Ben Johnson for the lead role but he turned it down . Henry was an excellent filmmaker who directed several classic Westerns , such as ¨True grit¨ , ¨Sons of Katie Elder¨ , ¨Nevada Smith¨ ,¨Rawhide¨ , ¨How the west was won¨ (also with Gregory Peck) , among others . The film will appeal to Gregory Peck fans.

Bob-45 "Shoot Out" is finely crafted, if old fashioned western, which deserves more respect than it gets. Released in 1971, following an era of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpaugh, "Shoot Out" "Shoot Out" tries to have it both ways. That is, adding violence and sex to what is essentially a "family film." One character is shot repeatedly and I'm sure I clearly saw Susan Tyrell's bare breast at a distance, when she's laying on a bed. In other words, "Shoot Out" is the artistic equivalent of adding tail fins to Mustang. Worse, "Shoot Out" is a victim of television. Television killed out modest musicals and "singing cowboy" westerns in the 50s. By the mid to late sixties, TV westerns were in color, had fine production values and ran as long as 90 minutes, excluding commercials. Worse, the public had grown weary, due to the glut of TV westerns. Roughly, a hundred or more TV western series ran on the airwaves between 1955 and 1971. Just as with musicals, only offbeat or lavish westerns appealed to the movie going public. Finally, Universal appeared, at least, to be mostly interested in producing "B movie" programmers to supplement their theatrical movie inventory, as they were the primary supplier of the NBC prime time movies. As a result, few Universal westerns were made in widescreen (letterbox) format by the "Shoot Out" was released. So, production value wise, "Shoot Out" is barely distinguishable from a TV western.Peck is OK in "Shoot Out." However, his role could have been played as well or better by most of his contemporaries; Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum or James Stewart would have been just as good. Henry Fonda, Kirk Douglas or John Wayne would have been even better. However, even these aging stars had difficulty selling their own westerns during this era. "Shoot Out" may not be a great western, but it certainly better than "The Train Robbers," "Cahill: US Marshall" or "Rooster Cogburn," three made by John Wayne during this time period. However, for those who don't think Peck can play menacing, watch "Spellbound," "Dual in the Sun," "The Boys From Brazil," or, especially, "I Walk The Line." Peck becomes downright chilling in his obsession for Tuesday Weld. Here, he's closer to his role in "To Kill a Mockingbird," and it's inappropriate. Standout performances in "Shoot Out" include Robert F. Lyons, Susan Tyrell and Dawn Lyn. VARIETY criticized Lyons as being unintentionally funny as Bobby Jay, but that was the point. Unlike the sadistic villains of Leone and Peckinpaugh, Bobby Jay is a "child man," the kind of psycho played by Robert Evans in "Fiend That Walked the West," and, to some lesser extent, Gregory Peck played in "Duel in the Sun." Like a school bully, Bobby Jay didn't see his actions as cruel. It wasn't that he enjoyed inflicting pain; as is with most psychopaths, Bobby Jay simply didn't see his victims as human. In many ways, that made Bobby Jay more dangerous than a sadist. Interestingly, Gregory Peck played similar role in "Duel in the Sun". Susan Tyrell is amazing as Alma; a "child woman," Alma related to her exploitation as a little girl playing doctor with three little boys. Thus, Alma was the perfect counterpoint to both Bobby Jay and Decky. In fact, Susan Tyrell and Dawn Lyn look so much alike,Alma could be Decky as an adult. Dawn Lyn does a fine job with a very difficult role, as Decky. Decky is, alternately, a sweet eight year old and a foul mouthed midget, reflecting her upbringing by a prostitute mother. It's apparent Decky will grow up to be Alma if she doesn't get the kind of parental support. As Emma, Peck's love interest, usually fine actress Rita Gam disappoints. Her flat line readings seem "phoned in" and she lacks chemistry with Peck. Worse, director Henry Hathaway fails to cover for this lack of chemistry with tight closeups, which would have helped immensely.WARNING: SPOILERSSome have characterized Peck as "stupid" for not killing Bobby Jay and his partners when he had the drop on them at their campsite. Well, let's see, what do you think the law would have done to Peck had he killed these three men in cold blood in front of two witnesses, Alma and Decky? Even if all three had been "Wanted: Dead or Alive," would Peck have been wise to do so? Peck might have been injured in a shoot out, and he had a eight year old to protect. Sure, Peck should not have left the guns by the window, when he arrived at Emma's. Certainly, he should have unloaded them. However, people make similar errors in judgment all the time, and Peck could not have anticipated Emma coming on to him.Given that Peck and Lyons are dopplegangers (two sides of the same character), producer Hal Wallis would have been better served by using the money he spent for the unnecessary holdup flashback to purchase the "skinny dipping" scene from "Duel in the Sun." With a little careful picture and sound editing, he could have passed off Jennifer Jones as Decky's mother and shown Peck in, arguably his best performance, as a playful psychotic. Inserting this flashback immediatlely following the scene of Peck bathing Decky would have worked beautifully, and better established Peck's character and unruly past.END OF SPOILERSEven given it's weaknesses, "Shoot Out" is worth a view. I give it a "7".