Left Field Cinema

"Your style seems a bit slow to me"

Marlon Brando is an epic presence within Cinema. His performances in such actorly masterworks as On the Waterfront and The Godfather make him one of the most beloved actors of any generation. Yet despite this grand status he only directed one film, and that is a film that he did not even set out to direct. One Eyed Jacks history is as troubled as its eventual production. Both Sam Peckinpah and Stanley Kubrick worked on the film before Brando eventually took over and ran the film over budget, behind schedule and out of control.

There is no doubting the quality of the opening of the film, which runs for about 25 minutes and culminates on the hillside with a choice to be made. It really sets up the characters well with their interactions and how they act. In particular it is easy to love Brando's early scene with the girl and the stolen ring, and how that scene ends when he takes the ring back.

The end of the opening act with Brando and Malden on the hillside with one rifle, one gun & one horse is a great piece of acting between the two leads; the first significant choice of who rides away free is nicely handled and sets up the first interesting character motivation. Why does Brando do what he does? Is it simply friendship like Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid or is it something more existential. This opening sequence, wonderful as it is, also should be studied because it shows how egotistical Brando's direction is. How many profile shots does Brando do of himself? Has another director ever shot Brando with more sympathetic eye, did Brando ever look more in control or better than he did in this film.

However, it is not possible to continue any further without mentioning the first problem that the film has at the minute on DVD release. The Ellstree Entertainment version that is available within region 2 is in a terrible shape, the colours are bleached and film looks like it may be slightly cropped. This poor copy really hurts the wide open cinematography that Brando strived for. Despite this you can still see how complete the photography is, the wide sandy plains, the sea and especially the dust storm which blows up at the end of the first act. Has there ever been a Western which has more shots of the open sea! The amount of water in this Western is bizarre, more in line with the melodrama aspect of the film than John Ford.

Even by the end of the first act, the viewer can really tell how slowly paced this film is going to be, it is leisurely throughout. This is not a criticism however as it allows the film the necessary time to explore the themes. Themes that are really reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah's best work, it is not surprising that he worked on it at one point. The Wild Bunch, Ride the High Country & Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid all had similar central pairings of one man of law with a bad past, and the man who remained a crook, and that the pair used to be friends. The film also shares a similarity with Peckinpah that the man who turned his life around, the one who was redeemed for a better word, is actually the morally bankrupt of the pair, and the criminal who stayed on his original path has some amount of moral righteousness.

Another aspect of the opening act that sets this 1960s Western apart is the fact that the film sets out its stall and shows exactly the reason why Rio wants revenge. It does not parcel out revelations like in Spaghetti Westerns later in the decade, films like For A Few Dollars More, but rather it shows exactly the reasons for the ensuing action with no tricksy time devices. Arguably this harks back to an earlier form of narrative construction, without being overly simplistic.

As the film progresses into the narrative crux there are a number of intensely evocative scenes. One of the many great scenes in the film is when Brando and Malden meet for the first time in the second act ''A man can't stay angry for five years, can he?'', there is a real electric feel to this scene. Brando and Malden have a cinematic history to them that is obliquely exploited in this sequence, and for the rest of the film. It is a joy for an audience to watch them spar on film.

First of the supporting cast that has to be mentioned is Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson was a Western stalwart from the John Wayne days, whose acting and performances simply kept getting better all the way through the 1960s and 1970s. His subtle turn in The Last Picture Show being his most well know. In One Eyed Jacks his delivery of lines, as in almost every other film he was in, is just so damn cool; lines like ''you could lose a handful brains trying to find out'' is said with an insouciance that was all his own.

Pina Pellicer, who played Louisa the lead female is unfortunately very poor in her role, she is understated but this seems to be because she lacked the skill necessary to pull off what Brando required of her. But back to the good, Timothy Carey's one major scene is just superb, the man is well known for being very strange real life as well as in films and his really small cameo in this does not hurt that reputation as he tries to shove a prostitute's face into a plate of chili exclaiming ''that's how you gotta treat 'em'', it is a great couple of minutes from one of cinema's true originals. Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado also provide brilliant support, and often steal the scenes that they are in.

However, this film really belongs to Brando and Malden. Malden is wildly overacting, it is such a theatrical and hammy performance, but it works incredibly well. The fiesta scenes in particular are a highlight. But you just have to admire Brando in this movie, every line is a lie and every movement is photographed in a perfect fetishistic manner. The scene where he tells Louisa he works for the government cannot fail to have the audience laughing out loud, then it is rendered completely pointless two minutes later. There is something indulgent about this film and these performances that makes One Eyed Jacks something rather special.

However, the film has some other problems that must be mentioned, the score in particular is quite painful to listen to at times. The score is very much in keeping in with the melodramatic nature of the film, the film is certainly a melodrama as much as a Western, but it does grate in certain key scenes. The direction from Brando is solid, lots of wide open vistas and then really close in dialogue scenes which adds to the films tension, but it is the cinematography and the ability to extract performances from great actors which make this an impressive debut, rather than any stylistic tics.

The film, considering it is a Western, is rather light on set-pieces. However, the few which it has are brilliantly realised. The whipping scene and the gunfights and the barfight are well handled, come in at the correct time for pacing issues and certainly help the flow of the film. The dialogue during these set-pieces is perfect, the line ''you better kill me'' is one of the best lines in the film and resonates wonderfully. As does the evocative poetry which explains away the title of the film One Eyed Jacks.

For a film that is universally decried as a self-indulgent and over long embarrassment it is surprising how good One Eyed Jacks really is. And if watching the film is not enough entertainment for you, then just try reading the background to the making of!

Wilson McLachlan