The Chase

The lives of the residents of a small Texas town are disrupted after a local man escapes from prison and returns home. Most of the action in this smoldering drama takes place over the course of a few hours on Saturday night, as hard drinking leads to mob mentality among the townspeople. It boasts a fabulous cast headed by Brando as the earnest sheriff. Dickinson is fine as his wife. Fonda and Redford are OK in their first appearance together, but Rule steals the film as the town lush. Despite rolling around in dirt and jumping in a river, Redford's hair looks freshly shampooed and groomed throughout. This is arguably Penn's best film.

The Chase did get pretty awful reviews when it was released but this is a movie to seek out, if for nothing else the performances. A young Richard Bradford is extremely believable as the town bully and womanizer. Robert Duvall as a henpecked husband. Jane Fonda and Robert Redford in early roles. The real reason to catch this one, however, is Brando's performance, which (as noted by another reviewer) is one of his better ones. I saw this movie when it was released and left the theater feeling exhaustion as well as an inner turmoil because the movie made me so mad! The fight scene at the sheriff's office was pretty violent for it's time and was quite upsetting. Great acting all around. Check it out.

I think that "The Chase" has been sort of loss in the shuffle of time. To see it now it's not only chilling but profound. I don't think it should be much of a surprise considering the people involved. Horton Foote (Trip To Bountiful) wrote the play, Lillian Hellman (The Little Foxes) wrote the screenplay and Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde) directed and I haven't even started with the cast yet. Marlon Brando giving one of his best, adult, performances. His walking the thin line between duty and loyalty is powerful and profoundly moving. Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Robert Duvall, James Fox, Angie Dickinson, Janice Rule, E G Marshall even Miriam Hopkins. Gene Milford's editing, and Joseph LaShelle's spectacular cinematography all wrapped up in a phenomenal score by John Barry. A must.

The lukewarm reviews and comments led me to expect less than what I found in this decent movie of small-town corruption. Most of it is probably due to a pretty good cast - Brando is excellent, and Duvall, Dickinson, and E.G.Marshall put in good work. Redford's part is too small to do much with. I too was astounded at James Fox's pretty darn good Southern accent; it was so good that at first I couldn't place him, and then all those British roles came back to me in surprise. The script is ok too, and one would like to know more about the backstage fighting that went on over it between Hellman & company. The Panavision color is excellent; far better than what we have today. The portrayal of small-town bigotry, duplicity, jealousy, betrayal, and infidelity is well-done, and the spectacular junkyard Gotterdamerung is a chilling finale. The flick is definitely worth seeing.

"The Chase" is a powerful and underrated drama. It has most of the ingredients that are required for a solid dramatic picture: exceptional acting (particularly by Brando), careful directing, well-drawn characters and good production values. The first half meanders a little, but in the second half the tension mounts and the film becomes constantly more and more involving and moving. So why does it have such a low reputation? Maybe because of all those reported production problems. But who cares? They're certainly not evident in the film! Recommended for mature viewers.