gkhege Why this movie took ten days to film, is beyond me. It cost more to catch the horses and saddle them for the stars than it made at the box office. ( just kidding!) Watching Jack ride around in a 100 degrees and never sweat one drop all while repeating, " you talking to me?" A good movie for us old people, puts you right to sleep!

Scott LeBrun Willett Gashade (the late, great Warren Oates) and Coley Boyard (Will Hutchins) are two cowboy associates, hired by a mysterious young woman (Millie Perkins) who refuses to give her name. The assignment, ostensibly, is to travel with her to a faraway town, but she's clearly got an agenda that bemuses them. The stakes get raised when a newcomer joins them on the journey: a hired gun named Billy Spear (Jack Nicholson), who similarly chooses to be rather cagey.Under appreciated filmmaker Monte Hellman is just one of many who began his career working for the legendary Roger Corman. With Corman as the (uncredited) executive producer, and Nicholson and Hellman as producers, this was filmed simultaneously with another indie Western, "Ride in the Whirlwind", but released separately. It's a very spare film, with a minimum of major roles, and it's one that takes full advantage of some strikingly desolate locations.Carole Eastmans' screenplay takes great care not to spell everything out for the viewer, although by the end it's not too hard to connect all the dots. The result is an intelligent, meticulously made film with a very enigmatic, and atmospheric, quality about it. Performances are superb from the star quartet. Oates has a quietly powerful presence. Hutchins is very animated and engaging. Some fans of the film don't care for Perkins, but this viewer feels that it's actually a testament to her ability since her character is clearly not trying to be likable; he can see that she's bearing some sort of grudge. And the young Nicholson, still a few years away from achieving genuine stardom, shows off that charisma that always served him so well. The ending, a slow motion shoot out among some rocks, is very stylishly done.This is very much essential viewing for fans of the cast and director.Eight out of 10.

AaronCapenBanner Monte Hellman directed this strikingly unique, original, yet experimental western that stars Millie Perkins as a mysterious woman with no revealed name who hires two cowboys named Willit & Coley(played by Warren Oates & Will Hutchins) to track down a man for mysterious reasons, though it appears to be Willit's brother who may have been involved in an accidental death with another cowboy who is later shot dead. Jack Nicholson costars as a cold-blooded gunfighter assisting the woman in the hunt, which leads them to the barren hot desert and a surprise ending, which will no doubt either intrigue or infuriate the viewer, but fine acting and direction keep it on track, especially by Perkins.

Matthew As I read the many reviews of "The Shooting" I am amazed at how "certain" some people are about their speculation while other people seem to completely miss the point of some aspects of the movie. It seems to me that you are supposed to be left guessing about many of the details. I.e. who, exactly, is the woman? and who shoots who in the end.The performance of "the woman" is a very difficult role and done quite well by Millie Perkins. She is playing the part of a clearly troubled and emotionally unstable woman who at the same time is very focused, determined, and calculating about one objective. The fact that she is slight and girlish in appearance is an intentional contrast to the vicious objective on which she has focused. Whatever her history, she is not a "gunslinger."The unknowns during the movie and the unanswered questions even at the end are completely intentional, I think. Reality isn't about being omniscient. Everyone lives and dies having known only part of the story they've lived through.Some clues in the movie that I think have been missed by many are as follows: The woman is more disturbed than would seem to be appropriate for being simply distraught over the death of husband and child. She also exhibits some signs of having been sexually assaulted.Will intentionally leaves a trail of flour for the woman following him. Why? He must have already known something about her and her objectives before he even talked to Coley. Will's hand is injured. How and why?Will was late getting back. He gives Coley an explanation, but it isn't very satisfactory.Will's gun is missing. What's up with that? Again, the dialogue doesn't give a satisfactory explanation.Why is it that the woman gets there so far ahead of the Sheriff?Why did the woman kill her horse? The obvious answer of drawing Will and Coley to her assistance seems to be an awfully high stakes gamble against the odds.Leland didn't seem to think he had anything to fear. So why did he get killed and Coley didn't (initially).If Billy wanted to kill Coley, why didn't he do it the night he killed Leland?Why wasn't Coin (Coan?) "running" faster and why did he trust the Bearded Man and yet leave him to die?What did the Bearded man tell Coley?What exactly was Coley trying to accomplish in the minutes leading up to his death?One might notice that I've switched from clues to questions. If anyone thinks they have easy, or certain, answers to the questions or conclusion from the clues, then they are missing the point of the movie.One last thing, pay careful attention to the colors of the horses and the horses legs.