Posse (1975)

Kirk Douglas produces, directs and stars in this off-beat revisionist Western. Posse (1975) is an uneven film, with a slew of interesting ideas that don't quite come together in the rush for an unconventional conclusion.

Howard Nightingale (Kirk Douglas) is a tough US Marshal with political ambitions. He leads a posse of crack lawmen to track down notorious outlaw Jack Strawhorn (Bruce Dern), who wriggles through his grasp. Even after Nightingale captures Strawhorn, the wily crook manages not only to escape, but to take the Marshal hostage. While his deputies try to save him, Nightingale is exposed as a hypocrite, and the film ends on an allegedly "shocking" note.

Posse came at the low-ebb of the genre's revisionist trend: after twenty-five years of critical "adult" Westerns, from Broken Arrow to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Douglas's revelation that frontier lawmen weren't knights in shining armor came as no great shock. The film is jam-packed with smarmy, post-Watergate cynicism about authority that doesn't add up to much: Nightingale is in bed with railroad interests, and a cynical reporter (James Stacy) is onhand to puncture his self-righteousness. Nightingale's ambition is "bad," but Douglas makes no cogent argument why - though, in fairness, Strawhorn is charming enough that it's easy to root against the Marshal. This might be tolerable if it weren't for the contrived, and frankly stupid ending, a morality play with a completely bankrupt "moral."

Posse has its share of good elements: Douglas proves a fine director, with an impressive opening half-hour, two great shootouts (especially the cabin siege) and some nice location shooting courtesy of Fred J. Koenekamp. But the movie drags with an interminable middle third, and as mentioned above the ending is neither satisfying nor well-executed. Maurice Jarre's jaunty score is fine, even if sounds overmuch like a Western variant on The Man Who Would Be King.

Douglas the actor is thoroughly in hero mode, making it hard to fathom why we should root against him. Bruce Dern (Family Plot) had already shot John Wayne in the back in The Cowboys, making him a natural Western bad guy, but his charming, clever Strawhorn quite handily steals the show. The supporting cast is hit-and-miss: Luke Askew (Cool Hand Luke), Alfonso Arau (The Wild Bunch) and Bo Hopkins (The Killer Elite) give dependable performances, but James Stacy and Katherine Woodville are awful.

Posse is an ambitious oater that's not the sum of its parts. A pity, as the elements of a good film are in place.