The Shooting (1966)

The Shooting (1966), directed by Monte Hellman, 3 stars

I’ve most often heard the expression “they just don’t make ‘em like that anymore” applied to classic Hollywood films, by which I mean, studio pictures featuring the likes of John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart or Marilyn Monroe, etc.  Well, they don’t make films like  this one either.  The disaffection of the late 60s and early 70s took cinema in a different direction.  Things could go well for the hero right up until the end and then, wham, a bad thing happens, there's a brief pause or fade out, and the credits start to roll.  Characters are either propelled or proceed aimlessly from scene to scene with little if any motivation beyond a fatalistic submission to whatever comes next.  In “The Shooting,” what lies at the end of the trail seems less important than the journey itself.

Bounty hunter turned prospector, Willett Gashade (Warren Oates), leaves behind a trail of flour as he makes his way to the site of a mine where he expects to meet up with his brother.  When he gets there, he finds a recently dug grave, a young and very skittish, Coley Boyard (Will Hutchison), and no sign of his brother.  Apparently, the dead man was shot from a distance so Boyard didn’t see the killer.

Soon after, a disheveled young woman (Millie Perkins) wanders into camp and offers to pay Gashade to act as her guide and take her to a nearby town.  Although she never identifies herself or gives an explanation for being so far away from civilization on her own, Gashade agrees, and Boyard eagerly tags along. On the way, but close to camp, they discover that she has shot her horse, even though all signs point to it having been hale and healthy at the time.  As they proceed along the trail, she inexplicably shoots her pistol at random.  The sound turns out to be a signal to gunfighter, Billy Spear (Jack Nicholson), whom she apparently has also hired to accompany her on the journey and has been hanging back for reasons unknown.

This no-account narrative quality permeates the film, infecting all of the characters to some degree with a clear case of existential angst.  Young Coley, the film’s most sensitive character, displays the most pronounced symptoms:  nervous and jerky behavior combined with an incessant compulsion to blather.  But Coley is not the only one so afflicted.  The woman descends to near hysteria on several occasions when obstacles present themselves or the trail runs cold.  Gashade doggedly pushes himself on despite the heat, the deteriorating condition of the horses, and the group's lack of water.  And Billy Spear is obsessed with showing his facility with a gun, whether that means shooting a friend or a foe.  The film turns into a hunt for a mysterious character who is always several steps ahead of his pursuers, a very loosely fashioned action-oriented version of “Waiting for Godot,” except that instead of waiting, these characters are absolutely determined to track and hunt him down.

I don’t profess to understand the film, though I think it was designed more to be experienced than understood.  Like its dissonant, jazz-tinctured score, the film does not resolve, so if you like your Westerns served up more traditionally, this cut is not for you.  However, if you’re okay with the possibility of confusion at the conclusion, then there's a good chance you’ll find this film more to your tastes.