The Shooting

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The Shooting

G

1967

1h 22m

Western

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

100%

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21 Reviews

64%

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1,000+ Ratings

In the American West, Willet Gashade (Warren Oates), a former bounty hunter, and Coley Boyard (Will Hutchins), his dimwitted partner, are approached by a secretive young woman (Millie Perkins) who offers them money to guide her through the desert but refuses to discuss why she is traveling. The group embarks on the journey and is eventually joined by Billy Spear (Jack Nicholson), a volatile gunslinger the woman has also hired. The only question is why.

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Margaret Hinxman

Daily Telegraph (UK)

The sound is poor. The colour erratic. It looks as if it has been shot on the backlot of Republic Pictures instead of on location. Yet better than any Western I have sees in, well, years, it conveys the original suspense of the genre.

Jun 1, 2020

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Philip Strick

Sight & Sound

Heilman a master in the art of putting his camera, quite unpredictably, in the right place at the right time. He matches the absorbing imprecision of his subject with a spectacular precision of technique

Feb 12, 2020

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

Hellman's tight telephoto shots press the characters entomologically against the barren landscape; he revels in the technical charms of the medium and the scruffiness of his B-movie budget as audaciously as a French New Wave director.

Jul 5, 2016

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

... haunting and elemental and savage, an almost abstract odyssey through a harsh, desolate desert landscape that wears its enigma proudly.

Sep 14, 2024

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Nathanael Hood

Unseen Films

It's easy to dismiss the deliberately obfuscated characters and inexplicable plot as arthouse pretentiousness. One's mileage depends on one's patience for postmodernism.

Rated: 7/10

May 27, 2020

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Dick Lochte

Los Angeles Free Press

[Monte] Heilman was a director who deserved attention, even six years ago.

Jan 8, 2020

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Audience Member

If you like winding, complex, suspenseful, spaghetti westerns, this movie is for you. The shots are beautiful even when desolate. The conversations and expressions are nuanced and require study. I'm glad I found this uncommon piece.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/15/24

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g j

Tight, steely and elegant... Nicholson really knocks it out of the park as a menacing, grinning and dapper gunslinger.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/03/24

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Bryan M

Good film. intense at times as they fight the elements more than anything. Always fun to see a young Jack Nicholson. Not sure I understand the ending.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/18/24

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uranderson

Really good. Bleak but riveting. As for people calling it incomprehensible, it's not, the threads of the plot don't come together until the final frames. I had to pause and rewind the last bit a couple times to fully understand what happened. I would have been more in the dark if I'd seen this in theaters. Without going into spoilers, I think the motivations and actions (or importantly, inaction) of the former bounty hunter Willet are what gives the movie depth. The other characters stick to code, but he is radical and fascinating. You won't fully understand any of that until the very end when you've seen the final seconds and had some time to sit with it after. It's a movie that stays with you and one I recommend highly.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/28/23

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TheFilmReviewer 1

Eerie and compelling, Monte Hellman's avant-garde western is dastardly thought-provoking, with a terrific cast and a brilliantly noir-ish overtone.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/02/23

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Audience Member

This movie was slow moving but somewhat intriguing... until the end which was very disappointing. Maybe when this film was contemporary, it had more meaning. I read it was an allegory to the killing of JKF and LHO. I didn't see it. I just saw a wasted two hours. My advice? Don't waste your time.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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Monte Hellman

Director

Millie Perkins

Woman

Jack Nicholson

Billy Spear

Will Hutchins

Coley Boyard

Warren Oates

Willett Gashade

B.J. Merholz

Leland Drum

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Synopsis

In the American West, Willet Gashade (Warren Oates), a former bounty hunter, and Coley Boyard (Will Hutchins), his dimwitted partner, are approached by a secretive young woman (Millie Perkins) who offers them money to guide her through the desert but refuses to discuss why she is traveling. The group embarks on the journey and is eventually joined by Billy Spear (Jack Nicholson), a volatile gunslinger the woman has also hired. The only question is why.

Director: Monte Hellman
Producer: Monte Hellman, Jack Nicholson
Screenwriter: Carole Eastman
Production Co: Proteus Films
Rating: G
Genre: Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 15, 2016
Runtime: 1h 22m

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