Pocket Money

PG

1972

1h 42m

Western

Comedy

List

50%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

31%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

In the American Southwest, Jim Kane (Paul Newman) scrapes a living as a cowboy. The trouble is, something always seems to go wrong. His latest job concerns transporting a herd of cattle from Mexico into the United States for shifty businessman Bill Garrett (Strother Martin). But Kane knows it won't be easy -- he only just lost money when the horses he tried to bring over were quarantined by customs. Desperate for pay, he goes ahead anyway, teaming up with his old partner, Leonard (Lee Marvin).

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Chip N

It's hilarious. I read the book it's based on, and the movie captures the spirit, look and ambience of the people and the Arizona/ Mexico borderlands

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/25/24

Full Review

Steve D

Passable only for Newman.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/19/23

Full Review

delysid d

some mild mannered folks might like this movie but i was bored by it, who cares about 2 dudes buying a bunch of cows

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/22/19

Full Review

Audience Member

Pocket Money is a remarkable, wonderful film. I cable-TV ran across it several years ago and watched it two or three times - and loved it -- before it seemed to vanish into the mists of time. Recently doing a web search trying to find a copy, I ran across the RT mention. Much to my surprise RT listed the script as being written by Terrence Malick, who has made several of my most favorite pictures. The dialogue - the chemistry - between Newman and Marvin is deliciously clever, and the overall TexMex texture of the movie is thick and rich, and rings entirely authentic. This is not a movie for clods; rather, one for appreciators of nuanced, genuine art.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Forget the uncomprehending raters and take the time to gather in and appreciate one of the best of those special films that made the 70s such a classic era for American cinema: cynical, real world with real men, outstandingly written and acted with a slice-of-life narrative unlike any other you have seen. It takes you on a ground level journey through the lives of the tread-upon, dispossessed, deluded and proudly unbowed. It is hopeful and life affirming, and features a superb script from Terence Malick. This is the sort of movie you have to provide the interstitial scaffolding for out of your own empathy, patience and imagination. For those who haven't got those inner resources, it's bewildering. For the rest of us, its as fun as a great book or a unexpectedly charming bar companion spinning endless yarns into the night. This is a film that separates the men from the boys. If you don't get it, then you aren't one of us.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Pocket Money (1972) -- [5.0] -- Paul Newman teams up with Lee Marvin to deliver cattle from Mexico to a shady dealer played by Strother Martin. Newman and Martin are re-teamed here with "Cool Hand Luke" director Stuart Rosenberg, with a script adapted by Terrence Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line). Despite the ingredients, "Pocket Money" doesn't amount to much. For a buddy picture, Newman and Marvin don't leave much of an impression. Marvin almost works as the boozing happy-go-lucky sort, but Newman is less convincing as a kind-hearted dim wit. Even Martin is oddly restrained here, at a time when you really just want to see him embrace a role of villainy. Maybe the problem is in the source novel or Malick's adaptation, but "Pocket Money" is slow to rev up and ends up going nowhere.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

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Stuart Rosenberg

Director

Paul Newman

Jim Kane

Lee Marvin

Leonard

Strother Martin

Bill Garrett

Christine Belford

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Kelly Jean Peters

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Time Out

The lazily incongruous character studies of naive Newman, hard-drinking, slow-witted Marvin, and a strong support cast, come from a script by Terrence Malick.

Nov 11, 2006

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Pocket Money is a real curiosity, all style and no movie.

Rated: 2/4

Nov 11, 2006

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...relentlessly off-kilter...

Rated: 1/4

Nov 17, 2021

Full Review

Alberto Abuín

Espinof

A nondescript movie that never takes flight despite the initial interest that the plot of twilight tints seems to have, due to the tone of its photography, the music or the endearing song of Carole King. [Full Review in Spanish]

Apr 29, 2020

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: B-

Feb 3, 2013

Full Review

TV Guide

Rosenberg's direction is pedestrian.

Rated: 2/4

Jun 17, 2008

Full Review

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Synopsis

In the American Southwest, Jim Kane (Paul Newman) scrapes a living as a cowboy. The trouble is, something always seems to go wrong. His latest job concerns transporting a herd of cattle from Mexico into the United States for shifty businessman Bill Garrett (Strother Martin). But Kane knows it won't be easy -- he only just lost money when the horses he tried to bring over were quarantined by customs. Desperate for pay, he goes ahead anyway, teaming up with his old partner, Leonard (Lee Marvin).

Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Rating: PG
Genre: Western, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Nov 14, 2006
Runtime: 1h 42m