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''Wild Rovers'' is a 1971 American
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
film directed by
Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...
and starring
William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...
and
Ryan O'Neal Ryan O'Neal (born April 20, 1941) is an American actor and former boxer. He trained as an amateur boxer before beginning his career in acting in 1960. In 1964, he landed the role of Rodney Harrington on the ABC nighttime soap opera '' Peyton Pla ...
. Originally intended as a three-hour epic, it was heavily edited by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
without Edwards' knowledge, including a reversal of the ending from a negative one to a positive. Edwards disowned the finished film and later satirised his battle with the studio in his comedy '' S.O.B.'', which also starred Holden.


Plot

An aging cowboy, Ross Bodine, and a younger one, Frank Post, work on cattleman Walt Buckman's ranch in
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Colu ...
. A neighboring sheepman, Hansen, is in a long-running feud with Buckman. Ross has a dream of riding off to
Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Gua ...
to retire from the hard work of the range, but he doesn't have much money saved up. Frank suggests they rob a bank and head for Mexico together. While Ross thinks this over, he and Frank brawl with Hansen's men at a saloon. Buckman intends to withhold their pay to make restitution for the saloon's damages. Desperate for money now, Ross agrees to the holdup. He takes banker Billings to town at gunpoint while Frank holds the banker's wife, Sada, hostage at home. Ross rides back with $36,000. Before making a getaway, he gives Billings $3,000 so that Buckman's other cowboys won't lose any pay they have coming. Sada tells her husband to keep the money and not inform the sheriff. A posse is formed that includes Buckman's two sons, hot-tempered John and easy-going Paul, told by their father that no cowhand of his is going to get away with breaking the law. Ross and Frank get as far as Arizona and go into town for supplies. Ross hires a prostitute while Frank plays
poker Poker is a family of Card_game#Comparing_games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some plac ...
. A card player dislikes Frank's winning of a huge pot and shoots him in the leg. Ross comes to his partner's aid and a shootout commences, leaving several people dead. Back home, Buckman and Hansen have a run-in that results in both their deaths. John and Paul hear about their father's fate from a
Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...
sheriff. Paul wants to turn back but John becomes obsessed with fulfilling the old man's last request, catching the bank robbers. Frank refuses to see a doctor, and his leg injury grows much worse. Ross has to pull him behind a horse on a stretcher. Frank dies from the wound just before John and Paul turn up on the trail, where Ross is gunned down. Disgusted with the entire affair and sorry he had to shoot Ross, Paul rides off, leaving John alone struggling to return Ross' dead body to the scene of his crime. The movie ends with a flashback of Ross riding a bucking bronc while Frank cheers him on.


Cast


Production

The film was made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer through Blake Edwards' own company. William Holden and Ryan O'Neal agreed to play the leads and filming began in late 1970. It was O'Neal's first movie since '' Love Story''. Parts of the film were shot at
Monument Valley Monument Valley ( nv, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, , meaning ''valley of the rocks'') is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona s ...
, Professor Valley, and
Arches An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vault ...
in
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
as well as Old Tucson and Sedona in
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fo ...
. During post production, MGM management – in particular James T. Aubrey and Douglas Netter – cut 40 minutes from the film, without Edwards' knowledge or consent. "There was no discussion; an integral part was simply removed", said Edwards. "If I take a chair and removed one leg, you still have a chair but it won't stand up, will it?" "He cut the heart right out of it", Edwards said of Aubrey. "I wrote and conceived it as a Greek tragedy. Aubrey and Netter just said 'the audience wants to see Ryan O'Neal.'" Douglas Netter said the changes were made after disappointing previews. Shortly after filming finished it was announced O'Neal and Holden would reunite on ''Top of the Mountain'' based on a script by
Peter Viertel Peter Viertel (16 November 1920 – 4 November 2007) was an author and screenwriter. Biography Viertel was born to Jewish parents in Dresden, Germany, the writer and actress Salka Viertel and the writer Berthold Viertel. In 1928, his parents m ...
about hunting in
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. The film was never made.


Reception

The film performed disappointingly at the box office on its initial release. The ad campaign was blamed with some saying the poster of O'Neal hugging Holden from behind was unintentionally hilarious. ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film) ...
'' magazine published an article mocking the campaign causing a dispute between MGM management and ''Variety''. The ad campaign was later changed. On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film has an approval rating of 57% based on 14 reviews, with an average score of 6.00/10.


Home media

Most of the deleted footage discussed above was restored for the film's 1986 MGM home video release. An official DVD-R release was issued on February 22, 2011, through the
Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the int ...
.''Wild Rovers''
at WBshop.com. Accessed: August 21, 2013.


See also

*
List of American films of 1971 A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* Hale Ranch


References


External links

* * * * * *
Review of film
at Criterioncast
Review of film
at
the New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

Review of film
at DVD Talk
Review of film
at New York Times {{Blake Edwards 1971 films 1971 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) epic films 1970s English-language films Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith Films about bank robbery Films directed by Blake Edwards Films set in Montana Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films shot in Utah Films shot in Arizona Films with screenplays by Blake Edwards 1970s American films