The Big Bounce (1969)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Alex March

Writers:

Elmore Leonard (novel)
Robert Dozier (screenplay)

Release Date:

July 1969 (Austria)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A Vietnam veteran and ex-con is persuaded by a shady woman to rob a $50,000 payroll account on a California produce farm. But who is playing who?

Plot Keywords:

Veteran | Farm | Mistress | Justice Of The Peace | Migrant

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ryan O'Neal	...	Jack Ryan
Leigh Taylor-Young	...	Nancy Barker
Van Heflin	...	Sam Mirakian
Lee Grant	...	Joanne
James Daly	...	Ray Ritchie
Robert Webber	...	Bob Rodgers
Cindy Eilbacher	...	Cheryl
Noam Pitlik	...	Sam Turner
Victor Paul	...	Comacho
Kevin O'Neal	...	Boy in dune buggy
Charles Cooper	...	Senator
Paul Sorensen	...	Senator's associate
Phyllis Davis	...	Girl in bikini

Directed by
Alex March

Writing credits
Elmore Leonard		(novel)
Robert Dozier		(screenplay)

Produced by
William Dozier	....	producer

Original Music by
Mike Curb

Cinematography by
Howard Schwartz

Film Editing by
William H. Ziegler		(as William Ziegler)

Production Design by
Serge Krizman

Set Decoration by
Audrey A. Blasdel		(as Audrey Blasdel)

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup supervisor
Jean Burt Reilly	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Sam Strangis	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Steven Bernhardt	....	assistant director
Robert Birnbaum	....	assistant director (as Bob Birnbaum)
Alan Rudolph	....	assistant director

Stunts
Hubie Kerns	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Hubie Kerns Jr.	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer

Other crew
Charles B. Fitzsimons	....	assistant to executive producer

Production Companies

• Greenway Productions
• Warner Brothers/Seven Arts

Distributors

• Warner Brothers/Seven Arts (1969) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1974) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Carmel, California, USA

Company:

Greenway Productions

Movie Connections:

References "The Lone Ranger" (1949)

Accurate portrait of a sexually abused young woman going mad

I'm giving this seven although the terrible music almost makes the picture unwatchable. What is interesting is Leigh Taylor-Young's portrayal of an under-age woman driven mad by being debauched, perverted and corrupted by a string of rich old men to whom she is pimped by her ageing moneybags employer. Dutch Leonard, author of the original novel, got his facts right here, and it gives the movie an underlying force that can't be denied. It's a surprise to find that the principal character is not Ryan O'Neal, who is wooden and sulky as the out-of-place "anglo" farm-worker in rural Monterey, but instead his then-wife and co-star Taylor-Young. Her character has gone over the edge as a result of being seduced by the local Senator at the instigation of her employer and bed-mate, the local landlord. Taylor-Young gets right into it, yipping and chortling as she turns over other cars and pumps bullets into mistaken interlopers. Her plan to rip off her employer for the fortune in his house-safe never comes off (at least not during the picture's action), and she escapes a murder charge, but as Van Heflin's character grimly points out: "Give it a month or ten years: she'll get hers". Worth watching just for Taylor-Young's performance, about one-third of which is in the nude. This film is a rare insight into female psychology, almost in spite of itself.