BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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.

espumoso55-1 I have recently watched this movie. I didn't expect so much according to previous readings about the movie. Right on the contrary, it is one of the best westerns I have ever seen. Evil is shown in a raw way. The acting is great, outstanding the acting of Robert F. Lyons as psycho villain. The whole sequence at the house of the alcoholic mother with a son is full of suspense and thrill. The movie is unpredictable, giving surprises about what will happen next; it deceived me twice at least. I recommend to watch it to anyone who loves good western and good movies in general. It shows a great deal of cruelty and fair revenge. Yet it is not perfect. Some characters, like Pepe, are too stupid or naive, somewhat overacted; I think that some more realism could've been given to this role. The sequence among the horses in the meadow is a real good moment, with excellent photograph and movement.

Michael_Elliott Shoot Out (1971) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Western from the same producer, screenwriter and director of True Grit has Gregory Peck being released from prison after seven years and heading off to kill the man who shot him in the back during a bank robbery. Before he can carry out his plan he has an unexpected gift of a six year old girl who starts to have an effect on the old cowboy. This isn't really a good film but it's a slight entertainment that features some good action and a fine performance from Peck. I wouldn't say this was an A+ Peck performance but he manages to keep the film moving even though the supporting cast doesn't offer him much. The little girl at times can be annoying but that happens sometimes. I think the biggest problem for the film is that we've seen this story countless times before and this one here doesn't offer anything new and even in the end the film goes off on different story lines than what he set out to be.

bkoganbing Shoot Out for all intents and purposes was the last film that Henry Hathaway directed. He did do one more, but from what I'm able to gather very few ever saw it. It's also not a great western for Gregory Peck who in his day has given us classics like The Gunfighter, The Big Country, and The Bravados. Gregory Peck plays a man just out of prison who's looking for his partner from a bank robbery who shot him and took all the loot. Peck's got an understandable mission. But he's also been saddled with another situation. Some wild oats he sowed in the person of little Dawn Lyn arrived by train, a present from her late mother.In the meantime ex-partner James Gregory is now a prosperous rancher, but he can't get any decent help. He hires three punks, Robert F. Lyons, John Davis Chandler, and Pepe Serna to locate Peck and merely keep him informed of his movements. These three are not only punks, but extremely dim bulbs. I can hardly believe Gregory can't do better than these.How Peck deals with both situations is the balance of the film. A lot of the plot scenario has not been well thought out in Shoot Out. The cast struggles, but their hearts are clearly not in it.Best in the cast is Susan Tyrell who plays a prostitute who takes up with the three punks. She's a 19th century version of a Valley Girl and she pays big time for her stupidity and very bad taste in men.Definitely not one of the better films for Henry Hathaway and Gregory Peck. And to think two years earlier, Hathaway and screenwriter Marguerite Roberts were responsible for True Grit.