Monte Walsh (1970)

100% of critics liked it
(7 reviews)
55% of users liked it
(358 ratings)

Monte Walsh (Lee Marvin ) and his pal Chet Rollins (Jack Palance) are two over the hill cowboys seeking work in the town of Harmony, Arizona in the final days of the Old West. They take a job at the ranch of Cal Brennan (Jim Davis) and meet an old friend Shorty (Mitch Ryan). Monte goes off to visit… More Monte Walsh (Lee Marvin ) and his pal Chet Rollins (Jack Palance) are two over the hill cowboys seeking work in the town of Harmony, Arizona in the final days of the Old West. They take a job at the ranch of Cal Brennan (Jim Davis) and meet an old friend Shorty (Mitch Ryan). Monte goes off to visit old flame Martine (Jean Moreau), a saloon girl suffering from tuberculosis. The ranch closes and Chet marries Mary Eagle (Allyn Ann McLerie), a widow who owns a profitable hardware store. He tries to talk Monte in to giving up his cowboy life and settling down. He asks Martine to marry him, but she declines and cites her deteriorating health as the reason for her refusal. Monte goes on a drinking binge and rides a wild horse through town. He is indignant when a rodeo owner offers him a job. Monte states he would rather spit on himself that resort to such degrading work. Shorty is soon unemployed and guns down local lawman (LeRoy Johnson). Distraught after the death of his beloved Martine, Monte goes after Shorty when he guns down Chet. This film marks the directorial debut for cameraman William A. Fraker. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: William A. Fraker
Written By: David Zelag Goodman, Lukas Heller
Genres: Western, Action & Adventure, Classics

In Theaters: Oct 7, 1970 Limited
On DVD: Feb 24, 1993
Studio: National General Pictures

Critic Reviews

Christopher Lloyd, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Less a plot-driven Western oater, Monte Walsh is more a slow-moving but satisfying contemplation on the end days of the cowboy life.
Glenn Heath Jr., Slant Magazine
Like it says on the DVD cover: Monte Walsh is "a real western," but one with a depth of character and conflict that resonates beyond genre and into layered examinations of historiography.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The elegaic Western paints a bleak picture of the Old West coming to an end and of a group of cowboys desperately trying to hold onto an era.
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com
Marvin and Palance well cast in tale of has been cowboys meeting changes in Old West.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Randy T

Lee Marvin and Jack Palance are middle-aged ranch hands struggling to make a living in a rapidly changing world. Corporations are buying up huge tracts of land and fencing them in, driving open-range cowboys, like Marvin and Palance, to near extinction. There is an abundance of… More
Lee Marvin and Jack Palance are middle-aged ranch hands struggling to make a living in a rapidly changing world. Corporations are buying up huge tracts of land and fencing them in, driving open-range cowboys, like Marvin and Palance, to near extinction. There is an abundance of 'western' staples to be found here, things like saloon girls and poker games and bar room brawls and gunfights. Marvin's portrayal of Monte Walsh is solid. He's the quintessential, hard-living, hard-loving cowboy decked out with chaps and spurs and, in the end, fighting for all that is right and decent. Good film, great western.

Cast

            Lee Marvin as Monte Walsh

            Jeanne Moreau as Martine Bernard

            Jack Palance as Chet Rollins

            Mitchell Ryan as Shorty Austin

            Jim Davis as Cal Brennan

            John Bear Hudkins as Sonny Jacobs

            G.D. Spradlin as Hat Henderson

            John R. McKee as Petey Williams

            Michael Conrad as Dally Johnson

            Bo Hopkins as Jumpin' Joe Joslin

            Matt Clark as Rufus Brady

            Allyn Ann McLerie as Mary Eagle

            John McLiam as Fightin' Joe Hooker

            Roy Barcroft as Saloon Proprietor

            Billy Green Bush as Powder Kent

            Eric Christmas as Col. Wilson

            Jack Colvin as Card Cheat

            Richard Farnsworth as Cowboy

            Ted Gehring as Skimpy Eagans

            Raymond Guth as Sunfish Perkins

            Thomas Heaton as Sugar Wyman

            Leroy Johnson as Marshal

            Charles Tyner as Doctor

            Guy Wilkerson as Old Man

            Fred M. Waugh as Cowboy

            Henry Escalante
            
            John Carter as Farmer

            Mitch Ryan
            
See full cast