The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

John Crawford (writer)
Edmund Penney (writer)

Release Date:

22 May 1970 (Finland)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Western

Tagline:

Cable Hogue says..."Do unto others... as you would have others do unto you."

Plot:

A hobo accidentally stumbles onto a water spring, and creates a profitable way station in the middle of the desert.

Plot Keywords:

Water Rights | Male Female Relationship | Automobile | Adultery | Changing Times

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Jason Robards	...	Cable Hogue
Stella Stevens	...	Hildy
David Warner	...	Joshua
Strother Martin	...	Bowen
Slim Pickens	...	Ben Fairchild
L.Q. Jones	...	Taggart
Peter Whitney	...	Cushing
R.G. Armstrong	...	Quittner
Gene Evans	...	Clete
William Mims	...	Jensen
Kathleen Freeman	...	Mrs. Jensen
Susan O'Connell	...	Claudia
Vaughn Taylor	...	Powell
Max Evans	...	Webb Seely
James Anderson	...	Preacher

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | West Germany:16 | UK:PG | Australia:M | West Germany:12 (re-rated) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1970) | USA:R | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Apache Junction, Arizona, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

This was the favorite film of the director. Often, when asked to speak about his work, he brought a print of this film to show, instead of one of his more famous works.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The American flag Hogue flies at Cable Springs has 48 stars. The film is supposed to take place in 1908. There were not 48 states in the U.S. (nor subsequent 48 stars on the flag) until 1912.

Quotes:

Reverend Joshua Sloan: He charged too much. He was as stingy as they come. Yes, he might have cheated, but he was square about it. Rich or poor, he gouged them all the same.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

A death in the family

Sam Peckinpah's Best Film

When people mention Sam Peckinpah, the film most mentioned is The Wild Bunch. While I'm a big fan of that very violent film, I find out that most people don't even know about The Ballad Of Cable Houge, which I feel is his finest film.

The film is about a would be prospector named Cable Houge (Jason Robards in his best performance and that's saying a lot), who is left to die out in the desert with no water by his too partners (Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones). After almost dying out in the desert Cable actually finds water. He then buys the land and makes it a stop in the desert for stagecoaches to stop and refresh the horses. He becomes friends to a traveling and lecherous preacher (well played by David Warner) and a sweet prostitute, Hilly (played by the sweet faced Stella Stevens). But what Cable is mainly doing is lying in wait for the time that he runs into his former partners again.

It's a simple fable told with very little violence, and it's well told. It's definitely not the film that you would expect from the man who made the Wild Bunch. Warner Bros. who released it didn't know what to do with it and just threw out at the public with very little publicity, and the film never go the attention that it should have. Hopefully future film scholars with rediscover this gem and lift it from obscurity.