Review: Bite the Bullet

Set in the early 1900s, the film concerns a cross-Colorado endurance horse race with an array of cowboys and one cowgirl (Candice Bergen) competing for a cash prize. The late, great Gene Hackman is an equine lover charged with delivering a champion horse to one of the riders, but ends up signing up for the race alongside fellow former Rough Rider James Coburn. Ben Johnson, Irish actor Ian Bannen, Jan-Michael Vincent, and Candice Bergen essentially play ‘The Old Timer’, ‘The Englishman’, ‘The Kid’, and ‘The Woman’, also competitors in the race.

 

A seemingly engaging premise is given surprisingly slow and uninvolving treatment from writer-director Richard Brooks (“Elmer Gantry”, “In Cold Blood”, “The Professionals”, all classics in my book). This cross-country horse-riding western from 1975 features strong work by a perfectly cast Gene Hackman, a rousing music score by Alex North (“Spartacus”, my favourite film “The Misfits”), and nice scenery. However, it’s just a lot of horse riding at the end of the day and that doesn’t amount to much of interest for me. There’s not enough character interplay in between the riding to hold my interest let alone give the good supporting cast much to work with. Compare that to a film like “Maverick” (also a western that runs a similar length), which centres on a big poker game but doesn’t spend too much time with the game, there’s plenty else going on plot-wise, and most of the cast gets time to shine. I also don’t find Candice Bergen a terribly compelling actress outside of “Murphy Brown” where she was iconic. Here she’s boring and so is the film. Hackman is terrific as the horse lover who is basically only in the race because of the money, whilst Ben Johnson and James Coburn bring their usual personas to roles that are far less interesting than the actors playing them (Coburn is what drew me to the film in the first place).

 

Intermittently involving but slow and massively disappointing western by a usually very reliable director. Can’t say I’m with the critical consensus on this one.

 

Rating: C

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