Title: The Shooting
Director: Monte Hellman
Starring: Will Hutchins, Jack Nicholson, Warren Oates, Millie Perkins
Duration: 80 minutes
Certificate: PG
Released: 16th August 2010
Format: DVD
In The Shooting, a mysterious woman persuades two cowboys to help her in a revenge scheme.
Warren Oates stars as tough-as-nails ex-bounty hunter Willett Gashade who is now working as a miner. He is riding homeward after searching for his lost brother who is on the run. He meets Coley Boyard (played by Will Hutchins) a cowboy who is suffering from the loss of his best friend who has recently been murdered. The two cowboys team up for the journey. Millie Perkins is the beautiful but mysterious woman who turns up on along the way that Gashade and Boyard agree to protect and escort in return for a rather large sum of money. Jack Nicholson also stars as Billy Spear, another bounty hunter whose motives are unknown. Is he looking for Perkins, is he looking to settle an old score with Gashade or Boyard, or is it something else entirely?
The Shooting is a story wrapped up in the lure of gaining revenge at any cost. Hutchins, Oates and Perkins all produce good performances but it is Nicholson, always so good at popping up and being the mysterious villain that steals the movie. These days he wouldn’t be related with westerns but back in the earlier years of his career he appeared in a few classic westerns including Ride In The Whirlwind which has also recently been released on DVD.
Monte Hellman is the maverick director that was at the helm for this film after getting his first big break into the big time under director Roger Corman who he co-directed Corman's film The Terror with – which also starred Jack Nicholson (and is also newly released onto DVD).
The Shooting is an uncompromising western, with great performances and solid direction that rightly deserves its release onto DVD.
