Will Penny (1968)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Tom Gries

Writer:

Tom Gries (writer)

Release Date:

10 April 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Western

Tagline:

The Brute in Everyman Was Also in Him - And the Love and the Violence

Plot:

Will Penny, an ageing cowpoke, takes a job on a ranch which requires him to ride the line of the property looking for trespassers or...

Plot Keywords:

Mountain | Winter | Squatter | Son | Ranch

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Will Penny
Joan Hackett	...	Catherine Allen
Donald Pleasence	...	Preacher Quint
Lee Majors	...	Blue
Bruce Dern	...	Rafe Quint
Ben Johnson	...	Alex (Flat Iron Ranch foreman)
Slim Pickens	...	Ike Walterstein
Clifton James	...	Catron
Anthony Zerbe	...	Dutchy
Roy Jenson	...	Boetius Sullivan
G.D. Spradlin	...	Anse Howard
Quentin Dean	...	Jennie
William Schallert	...	Dr. Fraker
Lydia Clarke	...	Mrs. Fraker
Robert Luster	...	Shem Bodine
Dal Jenkins	...	Sambo
Matt Clark	...	Romulus Quint
Luke Askew	...	Foxy
Anthony Costello	...	Bigfoot
Gene Rutherford	...	Rufus Quint
Chanin Hale	...	Girl
Jon Gries	...	Horace (button) (as Jon Francis)
Stephen Edwards	...	Town boy

Directed by
Tom Gries

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Tom Gries		writer

Produced by
Fred Engel	....	producer
Walter Seltzer	....	producer

Original Music by
David Raksin

Cinematography by
Lucien Ballard

Film Editing by
Warren Low

Art Direction by
Roland Anderson
Hal Pereira

Set Decoration by
Robert R. Benton		(as Robert Benton)
Ray Moyer

Makeup Department
Charles Blackman	....	makeup artist
Nellie Manley	....	hair styles supervisor
Hedy Mjorud	....	hair stylist (as Hedvig Mjorud)
Wally Westmore	....	makeup supervisor

Production Management
C. Kenneth Deland	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Daniel McCauley	....	assistant director (as Daniel J. McCauley)

Art Department
Gene Lauritzen	....	construction coordinator (uncredited)

Sound Department
John R. Carter	....	sound recordist (as John Carter)
John Wilkinson	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Paul K. Lerpae	....	special photographic effects

Stunts
Calvin Brown	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Canutt	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Ross Dollarhyde	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jerry Gatlin	....	stunts (uncredited)
Rock A. Walker	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Yrigoyen	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
John A. Anderson	....	wardrobe: men
Ruth Stella	....	wardrobe: women

Editorial Department
Jack Wheeler	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Ruby Raksin	....	orchestrator
Van Cleave	....	orchestrator (as Nathan Van Cleave)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1968) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1971) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Paramount Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Bureau of Land Management  special thanks
• Inyo County, California  special thanks
• Inyo National Forest  special thanks
• U.S. Department of Agriculture  special thanks
• U.S. Department of Interior  special thanks
• U.S. Forest Service  special thanks

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) (1968) | UK:12 (2003) | UK:A (1967) (cut) | USA:Approved (Certificate #21512) | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bishop, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Both Eva Marie Saint and Lee Remick turned down the female lead.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the fight between Will Penny and the Quint family, one of the brothers throws a knife into Penny's chest. A wire attached to the knife a very obvious.

Quotes:

Catherine Allen: How often do you bathe?
Will Penny: Well, eight or nine times. It depends.
Catherine Allen: On what?
Will Penny: The weather.
Catherine Allen: Eight or nine times a month?
Will Penny: Eight or nine times a month? A year!
Catherine Allen: A year?
Will Penny: Well sure. You have a real good one when you finish the shove up north, like at the hotel in Alfred. Then one or two in the winter, if you don't catch your death. Then a couple in the spring and one more good one before you start the shove up again. The rest depends on what kind of water you hit on the drive. Well, what's wrong with that? That's as much as anybody!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ben Johnson: Third Cowboy on the Right (1996)

Soundtrack:

Lonely Rider, The

One of the best westerns I've ever seen. 'Will Penny' is a movie crying out to be rediscovered!

Peckinpah's flamboyant 'The Wild Bunch' and Leone's innovative spaghetti westerns of the 1960s are among my all time favourites, but the stir they created overshadowed some gems that are now unfairly overlooked - Brando's 'One-Eyed Jacks', and Monte Hellman's 'Ride In The Whirlwind' and 'The Shooting' immediately spring to mind. Those three movies all have strong cult followings (just ask Quentin Tarantino!), but for some reason the same can't be said for 'Will Penny'. I don't know why, as it's one of the best westerns I've ever seen. Charlton Heston is of course, a MOVIE STAR and also a controversial figure because of his politics, but sometimes people seem to forget that he could be a damn fine actor when he tried. I think 'Will Penny' is his best performance. Heston plays a low key character, an aging cowboy who is tired of his life but believes it is all he can do. Maybe this is the main reason why 'Will Penny' has been forgotten. He's basically a decent guy, not a larger than life John Wayne hero, or a Clint Eastwood anti-hero. Heston regards Tom Gries' script as one of the finest he's ever read, and I must agree with him. Gries was a TV veteran but this was his big break as a motion picture director. Despite the talent he showed he never became a name director, though he worked steadily until his death in the mid-70s, and was responsible for a few well known films including the Manson movie 'Helter Skelter'. Heston is surrounded by an impeccable supporting cast. His two buddies are played by a young Lee Majors and Anthony Zerbe ('Cool Hand Luke', 'The Omega Man'). Joan Hackett is very good as the woman squatter Penny befriends (her on screen son is played by Tom Gries real life son, who is also excellent). Donald Pleasence is fantastic fun as a crazed preacher, and he and his eldest son (played by Bruce Dern, one of my all time favourite actors) make terrific villains (Dern is always a terrific villain!). Western legends Ben Johnson and Slim Pickens play a ranch foreman and a cook respectively, and then there's character actors galore - G.D. Spradlin, Clifton James, William Schallert, Luke Askew, Matt Clark, Roy Jenson. Off the top of my head, it's difficult to think of a 1960s western with a more impressive cast. 'Will Penny' is a movie crying out to be rediscovered! I highly recommend it to western fans.