Cheap Will Penny (DVD) (Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett) (Tom Gries) Price

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Customer Reviews of Will Penny

Aided by a solid script by director Tom Gries, who died too young in 1977, Heston gives a performance of real strength and character, with Hackett (who also died too young) equally fine as the lonely woman having to protect an emotionally fatherless son. WILL PENNY was primarily shot on location in the Owens Valley, at the eastern foot of the Sierra Nevada, during the winter of 1967; and this results in a very cold but still panoramic movie, superbly shot by veteran cameraman Lucien Ballard. For whatever reason, Paramount originally buried it in release in early 1968, choosing to release it simultaneously with the 20th Century Fox film PLANET OF THE APES, another Heston film that got the box office glory. Now, however, WILL PENNY is rightly regarded as a minor classic--and perhaps the real crowning glory in Heston's extremely distinguished acting career.

Heston's best
A well written story of an aging, illiterate cow hand, "Will Penny" has a magnificent portrayal by Charlton Heston, who has been quoted as saying that he loved the script, and felt that it was his best performance; it is a subtle and very touching depiction of a man who is realistic about his fate, which is raw and bitter, but not entirely without humor.
Set in the 1880s in Montana, it was shot on location by cinematographer Lucien Ballard in Inyo National Forest, with sweeping panoramas of the Sierra Nevada.
This film was sadly ignored when it was released in 1968; some say the disappointing reception was because "Planet of the Apes" was running at the same time, but I'm inclined to believe it was because it didn't follow the Hollywood formula, in its characters or plot.

The cast supporting Heston is superb, including a glowing performance by Joan Hackett, as a woman stranded with her son in the wilderness, and Jon Gris (son of director Tom Gris), is a delight as "Button", her son.
Donald Pleasence is appropriately manic as the murderous Preacher Quint, and in a small part as the Flat Iron Ranch Foreman, Ben Johnson truly shines. Other terrific actors in small parts are Bruce Dern, Anthony Zerbe, Lee Majors, Slim Pickens, and William Schallert as Dr. Fraker. Lydia Clarke (the real life Mrs. Heston) appears as Mrs. Fraker.

Rather along the lines of Clint Eastwood's 1992 "Unforgiven", this is an intelligent, beautifully directed and acted Western, with well-drawn characters, and a good balance between action scenes and the inner landscape of a lonely man.
A must for Heston fans, and also for those who say they don't care for his acting, as this film could well change their minds.
Total running time 1 hour and 50 minutes.

One of the great, realistic Westerns

One of Charlton Heston's best roles, even if it was a little touted movie, with little critical notice.

This is one of the recent genre of realistic Western movies which include such masterpieces as The Culpepper Cattle Company, Lonesome Dove, The Unforgiven and a few more. They are notable for few real traditional heroes (square jaw, broad shoulders, narrow hips, tall, dark and handsome, with the fastest gun and horse in the West) but realistic plots and depictions of the harsher, more primitive side of the "old West," as well as some wonderful scenery.

This is the story of an old (around fifty) illiterate puncher (Charlton Heston) and his two buddies who fight over a deer carcass with a family of rawhiders, ending in bad feelings and a shooting. The story involves a lone woman (Joan Hackett) and her young son traveling through the West together to join her husband (not shown) and having to winter in a line shack when her guide deserts her, with a badly wounded and disabled Heston (who recovers and falls for her).

The cast, contrary to one reviewer, is not composed of "pathetic small timers," but includes some of the top Western actors in Hollywood, including Heston, Lee Majors, Joan Hackett, Bruce Dern, Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens and Anthony Zerbe. Hardly small potatoes! The story is excellent, with an ending suitable to the genre, and the casting and acting superb.

Allowing even for differences in taste, I find it hard to justify some negative reviewers' remarks except to note that they must have been made by someone who saw a different movie than I.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books