If you were a mid-19th century Ohio farmer with a wife and half-grown boy and you were moving to Oregon to homestead, would you go ahead alone to 'get things started' and arrange for your wife and boy to come later via the 6 month long Oregon Trail, with an unfamiliar male guide/companion, not part of a wagon train, starting late in the warm season, so that a winter stay over in some unknown place was essential for survival? I didn't think so! That was the story cowpoke Will Penny(Charlton Heston) got as he recovered from a bad beating and wound, in his ranch line rider's cabin, illegally occupied by Catherine Allen(Joan Hackett) and her boy H.G.(Buttons).(How did they happen upon this remote cabin, anyway?). They hoped to spend the winter there, having been abandoned by their guide, who had unwisely been prepaid for his duty and didn't fancy spending the winter in some unknown primitive place of refuge. If I were Will, I would assume either that her husband was a complete idiot, was purely fictional, or didn't care a hoot if he ever saw his wife and son again. Unlike cowpokes and miners, homesteaders needed their wife and any children to help shoulder the chores. Thus, the story about him going ahead to 'get things started' makes no practical sense! One time, she said she was heading for CA, but other times it was Oregon!?
As his boss(Ben Johnson as Alex) later pointed out, rather than deciding to spend the winter in this cabin with this married woman, shirking his duty as a line rider, Will should have brought her to the ranch house and discussed her predicament with the boss. Will wasn't too bright in deciding about such situations. Catherine came across as a shy depressive woman who did what her husband said, whether or not it seemed to make any sense...By the way, after they began to warm up to each other, Catherine lets it slip that she's not really married! Then, a few minutes later she says "My husband....". Make up your mind, woman! Sounds like she's only a common law wife or maybe a widow. Thus, it might be easy for her and Will to form a more permanent pair, forgetting about her 'husband'. Unfortunately, Will argued that, as an aging illiterate who only knew how to be a cowpoke and had no family to help, he would make an inadequate breadwinner for her and her boy. I say he should have tried to make a go of it regardless, and if it didn't work out, they could split. How was Will expecting to survive alone when his body could no longer take being a cowpoke? I say he also made a mistake in turning down his understanding boss's offer to continue his winter job as a line rider, despite his miserable previous performance.
Very unclear to me where this story supposedly takes place. Will says they drove the cattle herd 'up' from Texas to this lonely rail head. Such were mostly in Kansas. They discuss whether they want to horse ride or take the train to Kansas City, which is on the eastern border of Kansas. Clearly, they are at some point near the Oregin Trail, which went through KS NE, and southern WY. Yet, we often see rather high snow-capped mountains(presumably , the on-location Sierra Nevada or Inyo mountains) in the background! This can't be Kansas or Nebraska! In any case, the cinematography was very good throughout.
The Quint family adversaries much remind me of the Cleggs father plus 3 sons desperados who harassed the wagon train in John Ford's previous "Wagon Master". No clue what was the Quint's purpose in riding around in this wilderness. Maybe rustlers or looking for strays like Penny and Catherine to rob. Ironic that the fracas over who shoot the elk resulted in one man shot dead and another nearly died, yet the elk carcass was left unused by either party! This very unlikely incident set the tone for the rest of the film. Blue and Dutch, Penny's riding partners during this incident. again show up to help Penny during his 3rd and last encounter with the Quints: another very unlikely coincidence. Why did the Quints show up at the line rider's cabin a few months after they left Penny for good-as-dead nearby? Their earlier stabbing of Penny's bad wound with a hot stick, meant to increase his pain, likely cauterized the bleeding, helping to save his life! Yes, cold weather, as suggested, does tend to render serious wounds less lethal. This fact is emphasized in the book "Miracle in the Andes"
What was that bag of sulfur dust Penny used to flush out the Quints doing at the line rider's cabin? Maybe treat cattle wounds? Anyway, it was a cute trick. ..Despite Catherine being a farm woman, Will finds it impossible to explain what buffalo and cow chips are!
For a film with a more believable plot and details and a more optimistic ending, try "The Mountain Men", where Heston plays a basically very similar character who hooks up with a squaw in trouble, they riding off together in the end despite no clear means of future support. For even more sinister characters than the Quints, try "Mother Lode", where Heston plays the psychopathic twin McGee hermit miners. Heston's son was the screen writer for both those films.
As his boss(Ben Johnson as Alex) later pointed out, rather than deciding to spend the winter in this cabin with this married woman, shirking his duty as a line rider, Will should have brought her to the ranch house and discussed her predicament with the boss. Will wasn't too bright in deciding about such situations. Catherine came across as a shy depressive woman who did what her husband said, whether or not it seemed to make any sense...By the way, after they began to warm up to each other, Catherine lets it slip that she's not really married! Then, a few minutes later she says "My husband....". Make up your mind, woman! Sounds like she's only a common law wife or maybe a widow. Thus, it might be easy for her and Will to form a more permanent pair, forgetting about her 'husband'. Unfortunately, Will argued that, as an aging illiterate who only knew how to be a cowpoke and had no family to help, he would make an inadequate breadwinner for her and her boy. I say he should have tried to make a go of it regardless, and if it didn't work out, they could split. How was Will expecting to survive alone when his body could no longer take being a cowpoke? I say he also made a mistake in turning down his understanding boss's offer to continue his winter job as a line rider, despite his miserable previous performance.
Very unclear to me where this story supposedly takes place. Will says they drove the cattle herd 'up' from Texas to this lonely rail head. Such were mostly in Kansas. They discuss whether they want to horse ride or take the train to Kansas City, which is on the eastern border of Kansas. Clearly, they are at some point near the Oregin Trail, which went through KS NE, and southern WY. Yet, we often see rather high snow-capped mountains(presumably , the on-location Sierra Nevada or Inyo mountains) in the background! This can't be Kansas or Nebraska! In any case, the cinematography was very good throughout.
The Quint family adversaries much remind me of the Cleggs father plus 3 sons desperados who harassed the wagon train in John Ford's previous "Wagon Master". No clue what was the Quint's purpose in riding around in this wilderness. Maybe rustlers or looking for strays like Penny and Catherine to rob. Ironic that the fracas over who shoot the elk resulted in one man shot dead and another nearly died, yet the elk carcass was left unused by either party! This very unlikely incident set the tone for the rest of the film. Blue and Dutch, Penny's riding partners during this incident. again show up to help Penny during his 3rd and last encounter with the Quints: another very unlikely coincidence. Why did the Quints show up at the line rider's cabin a few months after they left Penny for good-as-dead nearby? Their earlier stabbing of Penny's bad wound with a hot stick, meant to increase his pain, likely cauterized the bleeding, helping to save his life! Yes, cold weather, as suggested, does tend to render serious wounds less lethal. This fact is emphasized in the book "Miracle in the Andes"
What was that bag of sulfur dust Penny used to flush out the Quints doing at the line rider's cabin? Maybe treat cattle wounds? Anyway, it was a cute trick. ..Despite Catherine being a farm woman, Will finds it impossible to explain what buffalo and cow chips are!
For a film with a more believable plot and details and a more optimistic ending, try "The Mountain Men", where Heston plays a basically very similar character who hooks up with a squaw in trouble, they riding off together in the end despite no clear means of future support. For even more sinister characters than the Quints, try "Mother Lode", where Heston plays the psychopathic twin McGee hermit miners. Heston's son was the screen writer for both those films.