The Shooting is a 1966 western film directed by Monte Hellman, with a screenplay by Carole Eastman (using the pseudonym “Adrien Joyce”). It stars Warren Oates, Millie Perkins, Will Hutchins, and Jack Nicholson, and was produced by Nicholson and Hellman. The story is about two men who are hired by a mysterious woman to accompany her to a town located many miles across the desert. During their journey, they are closely tracked by a black-clad gunslinger who seems intent on killing all of them.
The film was shot in 1965 in the Utah desert, back-to-back with Hellman’s similar western, Ride in the Whirlwind, which also starred Nicholson. Both films were shown at several international film festivals but it was not until 1968 that the U.S. distribution rights were purchased by the Walter Reade Organization. No other domestic distributor had expressed any interest in the films. Walter Reade decided to bypass a theatrical release, and the two titles were sold directly to television.
Response
As The Shooting was never released theatrically, and had sparse television showings, it initially had a very limited core of fans. Those critics who did manage to view the film were extremely enthusiastic, and generally found it superior to Hellman’s companion western, Ride in the Whirlwind. Danny Peary in Cult Movies (1981), after admitting that he had difficulties with the “puzzling” climax, noted “But while the end may ask more questions than it answers, the exciting journey that brings us to this point is one of the most rewarding sequences in the history of westerns.” Leonard Maltin said it was an “…ultimately powerful film with an offbeat performance by Nicholson as a hired gun…and an incredible, unexpected finale.”[13] David Pirie in Time Out wrote, “Probably the first Western which really deserves to be called existential….Hellman builds remorselessly on the atmosphere and implications of the ‘quest’ until it assumes a terrifying importance in itself…What Hellman has done is to take the basic tools of the Western, and use them, without in anyway diluting or destroying their power, as the basis for a Kafkaesque drama.” Phil Hardy’s The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: The Western notes that “Hellman’s calculated style, replete with disorientating close-ups and strange moments…confirm the detached fatalism of his story. This is a marvelous film.” James Monaco’s The Movie Guide described the film as “[H]ighly effective, playing with various levels of character and ideas….it is a fine western stylization that should not be missed.” Jonathan Rosenbaum has referred to the film as the first acid western, and cited it as an inspiration for Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man. The Shooting has a 100% favorable rating on the “Critical Tomatometer” at the Rotten Tomatoes website.
In 2000, The Shooting was released on DVD by VCI Entertainment, and included an audio commentary by director Hellman and actress Perkins. The DVD helped bring this once obscure title to the attention of a much wider audience.
Cast
- Warren Oates as Willett Gashade. By the time Warren Oates starred in The Shooting, he had become a veteran western character actor, having appeared in dozens of film and television series in the genre since 1957. When director Hellman first suggested Oates as the star of the film, co-star and co-producer Nicholson immediately agreed with the choice. But during the filming, Nicholson and Oates repeatedly clashed, with the two frequently ending up in screaming matches. According to Hellman, production had to shut down for half a day when Oates refused to speak a lengthy amount of dialogue in the way Hellman wanted, preferring instead to whisper the lines almost unintelligibly. Oates stormed away from the film crew in anger when the director insisted. After Oates finally returned late in the afternoon, Hellman allowed the actor to read the lines the way he wanted, as long as he also read them in Hellman’s preferred manner. In the editing room, Hellman rejected Oates’s version.
- Will Hutchins as Coley. As Gashade’s dimwitted friend, Hutchins was cast in the same burst of inspiration that Hellman had when he also thought of Warren Oates and Millie Perkins for the other lead roles in the film. Like Oates, when The Shooting began production Hutchins was already fully identified with the western genre, having starred for several years in the ABC-TV television series Sugarfoot, which ran from 1957 – 1961. Both Perkins and Hellman later recalled the actor as being a funny and charming man who never complained about the often adverse filming conditions.
- Millie Perkins as The Woman. Former teen model Perkins was Hellman’s next-door neighbor when she was cast as the enigmatic, unnamed woman who leads the search party to their doom. The Shooting was her sixth film, immediately followed by another starring role in Hellman’s companion western, Ride in the Whirlwind. Although Perkins enjoyed working on both of Hellman’s westerns, and became good friends with Warren Oates, she was dismayed that Hellman insisted on such realism that he allowed only the most minimal of makeup to be applied to the actors. She felt she was constantly filmed in an unflattering manner.
- Jack Nicholson as Billy Spear. This was the young actor’s 13th film appearance, and his fourth with director Hellman. In addition to playing the odious villain, Nicholson had been asked by Hellman to co-produce the film. The director called that decision “the biggest mistake of my life.” Nicholson was constantly worried about the budget and repeatedly argued with Hellman over minuscule budgetary concerns.
- Other cast: B. J. Merholz as Leland Drum, Charles Eastman as Bearded Man, Guy El Tsosie as Indian at Cross Tree, Brandon Carroll as Sheriff, Wally Moon as Deputy, William Mackleprang as Cross Tree Townsman, James Campbell as Cross Tree Townsman.
