Arthur Penn’s fascinating vivisection of America’s power structure is based upon Horton Foote’s play, who scripted the aforementioned TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD: this drama reflects the tainted prosperity of the white elitist class, who abuse themselves with vice and greed, and play (sometimes grudgingly) their pitiful parts in a corrupt social structure. The racism is torturously exposed like an open wound, raw with infection, the townsfolk degenerate into awful god-fearing caricatures representative of a disintegrating society. The escape of Bubber Reeves (Robert Redford) is one of the great MacGuffins (as Hitchcock would say): this is not an action film involving any kind of chase; Bubber’s escape is only a plot device that sparks the conflagration and is meant to be ironic.
The story is concerned with Sheriff Caldur’s conflict against the powers structure, his stance of one against the many, his honesty and incorruptibility. And Marlon Brando’s noble performance captures the heart of the character; though Calder is a part of the town, its DNA defines his very nature; he brings a tangible “otherness” to the role that sets him apart from the raving lunatics who howl at the moon. While the townsfolk’s perceptions are an alcohol induced haze (your true personality emerges while intoxicated), the Sheriff’s vision is obscured by bloodshed and trauma, victimized but not a victim, stripped of power but not quite powerless: he keeps his word. But cruel injustice is spoken by three loud rapports, a death sentence for Bubber. Defeated, Calder and his wife leave the only life they’ve ever known and drive off into the great beyond.
Final Grade: (A)
