Joe Kidd (1972)

Joe Kidd is a 1972 American Western film starring Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall, written by Elmore Leonard and directed by John Sturges.

The film is about an ex-bounty hunter hired by a wealthy landowner named Frank Harlan to track down Mexican revolutionary leader Luis Chama, who is fighting for land reform. It forms part of the Revisionist Western genre.

Plot - In the town of Sinola in New Mexico in the early 1900s, Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood), a disaffected former bounty hunter, is in jail for hunting on Indian land and disturbing the peace. Mexican bandito/revolutionary Luis Chama (John Saxon) has organized a peasant revolt against the local landowners who are throwing the poor off their ancestral lands and raids the courthouse. A posse is formed by wealthy landowner Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall) to capture Chama. Kidd is invited to join but declines. Harlan persists and Kidd relents when he learns that Chama's band has raided his ranch and attacked one of the workers there. The posse is made up of numerous ruthless men, some of them armed with new-style rifles that have a much greater range than previous types.

The posse rides into a village near Chama's hideout and forces the villagers into the church at gunpoint. They threaten to kill five Mexican hostages unless Chama surrenders. Harlan no longer trusts Kidd and throws him into the church too, to prevent him from helping Helen, a female captive who unbeknownst to Harlan is also Chama's lady love and the other Mexican hostages. Kidd manages a daring escape. He saves the hostages by finding Chama and his associates and forcing them to comply with his wishes. He lets Harlan and the posse know he will deliver Chama to Sheriff Mitchell (Gregory Walcott) in town. The posse moves ahead to intercept a train back to Sinola, while a lone shooter engages Kidd and his party; these are pinned down as Mingo, the best shot of Harlen's group, has a high-powered rifle and is firing from the rocks above. However, as Kidd has managed to obtain one of them, during his escape, assembles the gun and manages to kill Mingo.

When Kidd and the captured Chama arrive in town they discover Harlan is already there with the rest of the posse survivors, planning to kill them all. Kidd intends to go through with his plan. To get to the jail, Kidd drives a steam train through the town saloon. A gunfight ensues between Kidd and Harlan's men. Kidd triumphs over the other men and manages to kill Harlan in the courthouse by hiding in the judge's chair. Chama then surrenders to Mitchell. Kidd punches the sheriff (because the sheriff had punched him during the poaching arrest), collects his things and leaves town with Helen.

Cast

• Clint Eastwood as Joe Kidd
• Robert Duvall as Frank Harlan
• John Saxon as Luis Chama
• Don Stroud as Lamarr Simms
• Stella Garcia as Helen Sanchez
• James Wainwright as Olin Mingo
• Paul Koslo as Roy Gannon
• Gregory Walcott as Sinola County Sheriff Bob Mitchell
• Dick Van Patten as Hotel Manager
• Lynne Marta as Elma
• John Carter as Judge
• Pepe Hern as Priest
• Joaquín Martínez as Manolo
• Ron Soble as Ramon
• Pepe Callahan as "Naco"
• Clint Ritchie as Deputy Calvin