''The Reivers'' (also known as ''The Yellow Winton Flyer'' in the UK) is a 1969
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
film in
Panavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company founded in 1953 specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses dur ...
starring
Steve McQueen and directed by
Mark Rydell
Mark Rydell (born Mortimer H. Rydell; March 23, 1929) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has directed several Academy Award-nominated films including '' The Fox'' (1967), '' The Reivers'' (1969), ''Cinderella Liberty'' (1973) ...
based on the 1962
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...
novel ''
The Reivers, a Reminiscence''. The supporting cast includes
Sharon Farrell
Sharon Farrell (born December 24, 1940) is an American television and film actress, and former dancer. Originally beginning her career as a ballerina with the American Ballet Theatre company, Farrell made her film debut in 1959 in ''Kiss Her Goo ...
,
Rupert Crosse,
Mitch Vogel
Mitchel L Vogel (born January 17, 1956) is an American former child actor, musician and director. As of 2021, he is one of two surviving main cast members from ''Bonanza'', next to Tim Matheson.
Having begun his professional acting career at a ...
, and
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television.
Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...
as the narrator.
Plot
Set in 1905, the film follows the exploits of the likable but raffish Boon Hoggenbeck (
Steve McQueen), who takes an interest in a new car, a new 1905
Winton Flyer that is the property of a man named Boss (
Will Geer
Will Geer (born William Aughe Ghere; March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor, musician, and social activist, who was active in labor organizing and other movements in New York and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In Ca ...
), the patriarch of the McCaslin family, who live in the Mississippi area where Boon lives. When the taking of the car first by Boon and then by Ned (
Rupert Crosse) (they show themselves to be reivers, or thieves, in the film's start, hence the title) leads to a public brawl, the local magistrate lets them off by a bond that Boss pays on the condition both men stay out of trouble and far away from the car while he is away with family to attend a funeral. That is soon changed by Boon, who takes the car again to go up to Memphis to see his woman Corrie (
Sharon Farrell
Sharon Farrell (born December 24, 1940) is an American television and film actress, and former dancer. Originally beginning her career as a ballerina with the American Ballet Theatre company, Farrell made her film debut in 1959 in ''Kiss Her Goo ...
) and talks his young friend Lucius (
Mitch Vogel
Mitchel L Vogel (born January 17, 1956) is an American former child actor, musician and director. As of 2021, he is one of two surviving main cast members from ''Bonanza'', next to Tim Matheson.
Having begun his professional acting career at a ...
) into going for the ride. Ned stows away as well, but Boon grudgingly allows him to come. Other characters include a horse that loves sardines and races for them, a friendly bordello madam and her amiable employees, and a man with a horse who lives near an impassable sinkhole full of mud for which he charges expensive rates to get both carts and cars through.
Cast
*
Steve McQueen as Boon Hogganbeck
*
Sharon Farrell
Sharon Farrell (born December 24, 1940) is an American television and film actress, and former dancer. Originally beginning her career as a ballerina with the American Ballet Theatre company, Farrell made her film debut in 1959 in ''Kiss Her Goo ...
as Corrie
*
Mitch Vogel
Mitchel L Vogel (born January 17, 1956) is an American former child actor, musician and director. As of 2021, he is one of two surviving main cast members from ''Bonanza'', next to Tim Matheson.
Having begun his professional acting career at a ...
as Lucius McCaslin
*
Rupert Crosse as Ned McCaslin
*
Ruth White as Miss Reba
*
Michael Constantine
Michael Constantine (born Gus Efstratiou (Ευστρατίου); May 22, 1927 – August 31, 2021) was an American actor. He is most widely recognized for his portrayal of Kostas "Gus" Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula ...
as Mr. Binford
*
Clifton James
George Clifton James (May 29, 1920 – April 15, 2017) was an American actor known for roles as a prison floorwalker in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), Sheriff J.W. Pepper alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond films '' Live and Let Die'' (19 ...
as Butch Lovemaiden
*
Juano Hernandez as Uncle Possum
*
Lonny Chapman as Maury McCaslin (Lucius' father)
*
Will Geer
Will Geer (born William Aughe Ghere; March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor, musician, and social activist, who was active in labor organizing and other movements in New York and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In Ca ...
as Boss McCaslin (Lucius' grandfather)
*
Allyn Ann McLerie
Allyn Ann McLerie (December 1, 1926 – May 21, 2018) was a Canadian-born American actress, singer and dancer who worked with many of Golden Age musical theatre's major choreographers, including George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, and Jerome Robb ...
as Alison McCaslin (Lucius' mother)
* Lindy Davis as Otis
*
Diane Shalet as Hannah
* Pat Randall as May Ellen
*
Diane Ladd as Phoebe
*
Ellen Geer
Ellen Ware Geer is an American actress, professor, and theatre director.
Personal life
Geer was born in New York City, the daughter of actors Herta Ware and Will Geer. Her father was best-known for playing Grandpa Zebulon "Zeb" Walton on ''Th ...
as Sally
*
Dub Taylor
Walter Clarence "Dub" Taylor Jr. (February 26, 1907 – October 3, 1994),Dub Taylor, 87, Actor in Westerns, The New York Times, October 5, 1994, Section B, Page 12 was an American character actor who from the 1940s into the 1990s worked extens ...
as Dr. Peabody
*
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television.
Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...
as the narrator (voice)
Awards
1970 Oscar Nominations:
* Actor in a Supporting Role –
Rupert Crosse ("Ned McCaslin") making him the first African American to receive a nomination in this category.
* Music (Original Score – for a motion picture
ot a musical –
John Williams
Home media
''The Reivers'' was released to DVD by Paramount Home Video on June 14, 2005 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD.
The film was later released on Blu-Ray by Kino Lorber.
See also
*
List of American films of 1969
This is a list of American films released in 1969.
''Midnight Cowboy'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
__TOC__
A–B
C–G
H–M
N–S
T–Z
Documentaries and shorts
See also
* 1969 in the United States
External links
19 ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reivers
1969 films
1960s coming-of-age comedy-drama films
American coming-of-age comedy-drama films
Cinema Center Films films
Films about automobiles
Films based on American novels
Films based on works by William Faulkner
Films directed by Mark Rydell
Films set in 1905
Films set in Mississippi
Films shot in Mississippi
Films scored by John Williams
American horse racing films
American road comedy-drama films
1969 comedy films
1969 drama films
1960s English-language films
1960s American films