Will Penny

1968

1h 48m

Western

List

87%

15 Reviews

Tomatometer

75%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

When aging loner Will Penny (Charlton Heston) is hired to ride the lines around a vast ranch, he stumbles upon Catherine Allen (Joan Hackett) and her son, who are secretly living in an abandoned cabin. Penny gives Catherine and her son a week to move out, but an encounter with some ghosts from his past leaves him wounded and reliant on her. Penny soon finds himself falling for Catherine and becoming a father to her son, but his past continues to haunt him, hurtling him toward a confrontation.

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Deke P

1968! CHARLTON HESTON! & a GREAT CAST!! By todays Ho'wood standards, wouild be considered slow and schmaltzy in parts, but that is ROMANCE & modesty and character development. And interesting. And some action. Giving it 3.5 good RT starsh. Saw most of it for the first time, 1.11.2024,

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Really a good movie. James Welch Henderson Ar 11/19/2023

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/21/23

Full Review

Jared Z

Charlton Heston gives perhaps the finest performance of his career in this thrilling, heart-breaking Western classic.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

When I was a kid, in the late 1960s early 1970s this was one of my favorite films. Chuck Heston, needed much reflection time working in an extremely at many time rough tough environment to help society. The main theme of him, a cow poke, yes, but a gentleman help a lady & son, a family with a missing dad in developing dire extremely difficult winter cold & other weather circumstances, such as the pretense of a so-call preacher role played by Donald Pleaeanse using his thespian craft hired to play a marauder. The wife of a missing husband, played by Joan Hackett with a gentlemanly son played by, Jon Gries, the director Tom Gries' son, on their way west needed to stay at an abandoned cabin as presented. Bruce Dern, an excellent thespian playing anther antagonist as a marauder, helped the presentation of the magnitude of danger in that time of history in these United States Of America. Lee Major, also a thespian applying his craft in "Will Penny,' from "The Big Valley," fame, also. While I will not give away the ending, we each in the image and likeness of God, do enjoy harmfulness vanquished by goodness, also the official trailer presents this. The discerning watching of the film does present questions, such as follows. _____ >|What is Creator's Sent Impartial Light Of Justice & Peace Embraced Divine >|Providence Of Truth Constantly Eternal in Creation for Creation of individuals, >|making up families, groups, even Church with State, in referring to The >|Declaration Of Independence? ______ Some of the actors here employed in their craft, such as, lead thespian in this film, did play other roles, even formed from the most printed book by so many accounts, The One True Holy Bible. Thank you for your precious time, have a wonderful day.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I remember seeing this movie as a kid and thinking it was as boring as all get out. I'm 61 now and my opinion hasnt changed one iota. It's slow and goes nowhere. And, to add insult to injury, at the very end they do their best imitation of Shane. I can not recommend this movie despite a strong cast.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

steve d

Only Donald Pleasence makes it memorable.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

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Tom Gries

Director

Charlton Heston

Will Penny

Joan Hackett

Catherine Allen

Donald Pleasence

Preacher Quint

Lee Majors

Blue

Bruce Dern

Rafe Quint

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Renata Adler

New York Times

But for one scene too cruel for the story to support, and one scene in which the hero is taught Christmas carols too maudlin to believe, "Will Penny" might have been the best cowboy movie in some time.

May 9, 2005

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Perhaps we should make a distinction between Westerns and cowboy movies, one we can use when a film like Will Penny comes along. This isn't a Western; it's slung too close to the ground for that. But it is the best cowboy movie since Hud.

Rated: 3.5/4

Oct 23, 2004

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

It’s not a lament for a passing way of life as much as it’s a look at the limits enforced by such a lifestyle.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 11, 2023

Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

'Will Penny' has a lovely, elegiac flow, with supple cinematography by the Lucien Ballard ('The Wild Bunch'), and a focus on character and place.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 1, 2023

Full Review

Tracy Moore

Common Sense Media

Cowboy character study mixes violence and depth; some peril.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 30, 2014

Full Review

Chuck O'Leary

Fantastica Daily

Rated: 3/5

Aug 4, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

When aging loner Will Penny (Charlton Heston) is hired to ride the lines around a vast ranch, he stumbles upon Catherine Allen (Joan Hackett) and her son, who are secretly living in an abandoned cabin. Penny gives Catherine and her son a week to move out, but an encounter with some ghosts from his past leaves him wounded and reliant on her. Penny soon finds himself falling for Catherine and becoming a father to her son, but his past continues to haunt him, hurtling him toward a confrontation.

Director: Tom Gries
Screenwriter: Tom Gries
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 15, 2011
Runtime: 1h 48m

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