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Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is an astonishing documentary that will wring your heart while it bends your mind

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Slow, moody, harsh, honest, beautiful, brilliant. I wanted to stop at these words, but the guidelines insist on being a bit more verbose which I personally feel will take away from the original drama meant by my first lines. But to satisfy the "rules" I go on. I think our man Pete here did a bang up job directing this period piece of a time in American history when we lived close to the land and even closer to people we bond to, (wives vs. best buds). Enuf said!

The Plot:Harry Collings returns home to his farm after drifting with his friend, Arch. His wife, who had given up on him, reluctantly allows him to stay, and soon believes that all will be well again. But then Harry has to make a difficult decision regarding his loyalties and priorities.OO, so this is a VERY 60s/70s movie. It was billed as a hippie western before it was re-discovered. The version I saw was Fonda's version which is about a half hour shorter than the TV version. Interestingly, for some reason Fonda cut this film twice. First time i know of where the director wanted his movie shorter than the Man did!It's probably a good thing too because it's a very slow plodding atmospheric film that would likely be very boring with a 2 hour running time!It's a very slow movie and it doesn't really built. Further, lot's of it contains some scene that are rather laughable.I just don't think this is a classic western. It's more of a curio piece for the late 60s/early 70s. I was rather bored watching it.

A visually splendid western by Peter Fonda who uses the marvelous landscapes with great skills ;his characters move in a very precise space and the fade in fade outs are worthy of George Stevens ;the three leads (the director ,Warren Oates and Verna Bloom),sparing of gestures and words ,give impressive restrained performances ;except for the "prologue" and the "epilogue" ,violence is almost absent -Peckinpah's fans should move on- and you could almost call "the hired hand" (a very adequate title)a pastoral western ,where nature itself becomes a true character (it predates " Jeremiah Johnson" ).Verna Bloom is a very modern woman in the macho world of western (compare her to the girl who gives water to the prisoner);she acts like a man ,without overlooking her daughter's education .She is much older than her husband ,which is almost incredible in a western.And for once the gossips in town are accurate .Peter Fonda would like to settle down and live a peaceful life between his wife and his daughter,not just be a "hired hand" .But the hand on fate is on him again;it's a character who reacts to events but is not able to initiate them.In a way ,he is still a teenager who needs to be part of a pack. Restored in 2001,the pictures are a feast for the eye.

I can't give this a 10, like all the other reviewers I see have. However, this was a very strong film. The filming was breathtaking. There were just beautiful scenes of the West. I also liked the towns. The "evil" town was miserably poor and dull. That is authentic. The ranch where his wife and daughter lived was in the boring, dull prairie (which most of the "Old West" really was) with gossipy, private townies.I also liked the idea of three males, one middle aged (Oates), one in his thirties (Fonda), and a little known actor playing the youthful man named Dan . The youthful man is naive. He goes up to some local toughs and acts overly friendly. He pays the price of his life for this naiveté. Fonda's character is the wise and shy, not so young man. Warren Oates' drifter is the older warrior, who knows his position and place.Life is hard, and life is rough. There is no friendliness in this film, other than the little girl. The man's rapprochement towards his estranged life is very beautiful and complicated. She has grown cynical, and he has grown weary. He doesn't even know really why he returned home, other than weariness.The parts that are weak are the beginning. What is this little girl floating in the rapids? Is she a doll or a dead girl? Why do they let her float downstream? Does this represent no innocence in the West? Secondly, what does the shooting of the two men at the home where Dan's horse is have to do with the relevance of the plot? Is it showing how brutal these two drifters have become even if they feel they are justly in retribution for the death of Dan? Does the shooting of the man's feet represent the crucification of Christ? Am I reading too much into this? Does this shooting of these two men represent the sin of man, and therefore they have to be repaid later for all their sins in life? This movie was very good. I like that Verna Bloom is a worn woman of the prairie, who is just tired of being alone. Maybe, it is her selfishness in wanting to keep her husband at home when he has to return to rescue his friend from the kidnappers that has to be repaid with his loss of life. Warren Oates has always been one of my favorite non-leading actors (except for in Dillinger). He is very real as someone who is a drifter, who has accepted his path and fate. He is a good complement to the younger man who has become too sober and too serious about everything. The flaws in the movie I have highlighted. I wish there was a little bit more obvious cues from the filmmakers to show what direction the symbolism was going, so the viewer could be more clear about what the message of the film was. In closing, I especially liked the ending, when Fonda's character says something like "I knew there was something wrong with going back to this town". It was as if the town revisited was an omen all along, representing the very sins of the life he was trying to leave behind.