Wonderful character development!

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Did you people see the same film I saw?

Absolutely Fantastic

ONE-EYED JACKS is a western, which is based on a conflict between the brutality of the Wild West and an intense romance.The three outlaws successfully rob bank in Sonora, Mexico. However, Mexican rurales track them and catch them celebrating in a cantina. The two outlaws manage to escape. One of the outlaws has, during an exciting chase, betrayed his partner and ran away with their gold. The second outlaw is arrested and transported to prison by way of a jacalito where he learns first hand of betrayal from an owner. He spends five hard years in a Sonora prison, before he escapes with his new partner. He decides to find his old friend. However, the betrayer has used their wealth to become the sheriff of Monterey, California. The fugitive plans a revenge, but he falls in love with a lovely sheriff's stepdaughter...This is an unlikely illusion, which runs between insecurity and greed. Mr. Brando has, despite the fact that the main protagonist is an outlaw (an antagonist), exaggerated with melodramas in this film. This is an important flaw. The conflict between the two antagonists emphasizes anti western style as sub-genre. This is a positive aspect, which causes a cold tension in this story. The duel between the two of them is very realistic. A romance, with a lot of charm, is a quite tasty and unobtrusive. Simply, Mr. Brando was not experienced enough to connect all the positive aspects in a single unit. The scenery, together with the photography is excellent, although not corresponded to the mood in this film. I can not be sure, maybe it's just a game between different contrast.Marlon Brando as Rio is a dominant and very interesting character, who has a frequent and somewhat inappropriately explosion of his feelings. He shows the complexity of an outlaw. Karl Malden as Dad Longworth is a villain, who is rotten to the core. Katy Jurado as Maria Longworth is not got enough space. Her character is not fully developed. Pina Pellicer as Louisa is a charming voice of reason, which is very quickly thrown into the fire.This is a very ambitious experiment by an inexperienced director.

Before Clint Eastwood, there was Sam Peckinpah. Before Peckinpah, there was Sergio Leone. But before Leone there was Marlon Brando and One- Eyed Jacks. It is impossible to think of Unforgiven, The Wild Bunch, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, or even The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance without One-Eyed Jacks. Here is a film which Peckinpah couldn't realize and one that Kubrick abandoned. It was Brando's destiny to produce, direct and act in it. The result was a commercial disaster. It was also in many ways the end of a remarkable phase in Brando's acting career. For anyone interested in studying his stellar career, it is essential to divide it in two phases i.e. career before and career after One-Eyed Jacks. After the failure of the film, Brando ceased to be the actor he once was. The fascination for cinematic art got replaced by cynicism and although he would go on to deliver unforgettable performances in movies like The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris and Queimada, his charming innocent side would permanently be lost. In order to truly appreciate the complexity of One-Eyed Jacks one will probably have to watch at least a dozen other Westerns. Here is a film that marks a departure from the tenets and values established by the Classic Westerns of John Ford and Howard Hawks. The characters here aren't necessarily good or bad and perhaps that's what makes them more relatable. Take the case of Brando's Rio who is arguably one of the genre's foremost anti-heroes. He isn't beyond cheating women or shooting his adversary in his back and yet he has certain heroic qualities. He is willing to take the bullet for his partner. Similarly, Dad Longworth isn't all evil. He has his own share of virtues unlike the Classic Western villains.On a whole, One-Eyed Jacks is one of the greatest Westerns ever made. The performances are topnotch: be it Brando, Karl Malden, Ben Johnson, Katy Jurado, or even Slim Pickens. Groundbreaking and far ahead of its time, One-Eyed Jacks is a testament to Brando's commitment to the cinematic artform before he suffered from disillusionment. Thanks to the brilliant restoration supervised by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, One-Eyed Jacks looks just as refreshing today as it would have looked in the good old days of VistaVision. If you are a Western fan or appreciate good cinema, here is a film that you just cannot afford to miss.For more on the world of cinema, please visit my film site "A Potpourri of Vestiges".

See it. Where are all those people who said Marlon Brando couldn't play a cowboy? This is a long epic western, unlike anything you've ever seen before. It's the Ben-Hur of westerns. Believe it or not, Marlon Brando is incredible as a cowboy. And this movie is incredible. The only film Brando ever directed, this is a tale of treachery, anguish, and revenge. It has a great script full of unforgettable quotes that will stick with you forever. And just to clarify, the character's name is not "One Eyed Jack." The meaning is much deeper. In a sense, we are all two-faced, and one side is ugly and eye-less. We are all one-eyed Jack's. Pretty deep for a western. Now for the part you really care about. The action is spread out because the movie is long. It is a little slow toward the middle, but there are multiple gunfights and plenty of danger and suspense throughout. This movie really has it all, and I highly recommend it.

Marlon Brando's first - and only - directorial debut, which was originally slated to be over 5 hours long! I'm glad it was cut down to just a little over 2 hours, and even then that was overly long for a Western movie in my opinion. Kudos to Brando for efforts to create a different backdrop of scenery like ocean waves crashing against the coastline with a beach house in the background instead of the usual dusty and grassy plains or desert that one usually associates in the Western genre. The score by Hugo Friedhofer is fitting, though not of the unforgettable category like, say John Williams' in Jaws or Indiana Jones or Ennio Morricone's soundtracks in The Good The Bad and The Ugly. On the other hand, the plot appears to be somewhat disjointed - it appears that in whittling down the original 5-hour to the present, some vital elements were inadvertedly removed, such as the main character Kid Rio escaping the Sonora prison chained to his Mexican cellmate, fleeing on foot through arid country with the nearest town hundreds of miles away - and the next scene shows they are resting in the shade of rocks liberated from each other. How did they manage to break the leg chain without any visible tools or aid from other people? Brando's method acting is plainly seen, his mumbling sweet-nothings in the ears of pretty women and his animal magnetism that is almost primitive permeates throughout the film, faintly reminiscent of the character Kowalski that he played in A Streetcar named Desire, one can't help feeling some disgust at the way he lies and wheedles his way into women's hearts yet be mesmerized. His amateurish attempts to direct, however, can be clearly seen as in too much time,was wasted on the coastal beach scenes where Rio and his gang relax and recuperate at the Chinaman's beach hut. Also, it is not explained why a sheriff would choose to live in an isolated, albeit beautiful home near the coast away from the main town that he is policing, wouldn't it make /more sense for him to live closer to town for easy availability should emergencies arise? Also how Rio manages to trick the odious yet dimwitted deputy Lon into releasing him from his cell with an empty gun makes for a questionable if comical highlight of the film.