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Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A sheriff in rugged terrain relentlessly pursues the last two members of a bank-robbing gang: a bearded old bird with a Scottish brogue and a half-breed teenager. Peculiar western with eccentric flourishes, a lot of violent action, terrified horses, a stuttering female who learns to stand up for herself, and Gregory Peck looking mighty uncertain. Peck had done westerns before, but he's all wrong here--and doesn't even get to use this accent for a comedic effect. Director Ted Kotcheff seems to take this material very seriously, but all the noisy gun fighting and the sour human interaction fails to substitute for a plot. Jack Warden probably comes off best as the determined sheriff--in fact, Warden gets so much screen-time the relationship between Peck and Desi Arnaz, Jr. seems underdeveloped. Filmed in Israel, the picture has an interesting look, but no real flavor, and no heart. *1/2 from ****

Billy Two Hats is directed by Ted Kotcheff and written by Alan Sharp. It stars Gregory Peck, Desi Arnaz Junior, Jack Warden, David Huddleston and Sian Barbara. Music is by John Scott and cinematography by Brian West.Interesting. Peck plays a grizzled Scottish outlaw and Arnaz Jr. the half-breed Indian of film's title. They rob banks and have a sort of father and son relationship as they try to escape from vengeful racist Sheriff Gifford (Warden). So in essence it's a buddy Western, albeit one that's a bit off-beat and has grand ideas to be a religio parable of sorts.Unfortunately away from the unusual casting decisions which happen to entertain, it's immeasurably dull on narrative terms and blandly photographed (in Israel) into the bargain. It's not hard to see why it flopped upon release to theatres.The sporadic action passages are adequately performed, and the intentional humour hits the required mark, but by the time the boorish inter-racial relationship comes to the fore, you may find it hard to stay awake. 5/10

This film is about relationships, healthy, loving, sick, and about those who are incapable of any. Gregory Peck seems to have stepped right out of "The Gunfighter" if it would not be for the accent. When he tells Billy (Desi Arnaz Jr, excellent) what Ecclesiastes says about man not being alone he is telling the whole point of the film. Jack Warden as the Sheriff is a hard man who cannot relate to anyone. David Huddleston and John Pearce have sick relationships with their wives. Sian Barbara Allen has a great performance as the stuttering woman who lives like a slave of her husband. About halfway through the film the scenery looks like New Mexico, but then you realize the difference between the Israeli and the American desert. The Israeli scenery brings a type of beauty, not the real environment, but very appropriate for the film's mood somehow reminding of the scenery in "Garden of Evil" (1954). A film worth seeing.

This movie gets broadcast so often that I am surprised there are no other comments. All the performances are excellent, the typical plot of pursuit of the outlaws is well handled, and the racism theme that would probably not fly if the movie were made today is realistically dealt with. The surprise is Desi Arnaz Jr. in one of his few roles. No great acting is required of him, but he does a very creditable job, and the already handsome young man is smashing in his dark Indian make-up.