Heston as an aging cowhand.
"Will Penny" surprised me slightly when the script turned out to be better than average. I refer to a quote from Charlton Heston, who claimed the dialogue was amongst the best he had read.Cast in the title role, Heston rises to the challenge of playing a more in-depth character than usual. In the Western genre, that doesn't happen too often. He is strongly supported by a stellar cast: Donald Pleasence, Bruce Dern, Lee Majors, Anthony Zerbe amongst others. You know you are in good company when watching seasoned character actors.
I understand it's been said that "Will Penny" could have been a box office success if the ending had been more upbeat and conventional. Well, in my opinion the ending doesn't affect the movie at all.
Heston is a slightly tragic character in this one. Penny has spent his entire life being alone, working odd jobs, living like a nomad and having no roots of any kind. Then one day, he experiences something resembling a domesticated life when he befriends a single mother and her young son.
Charlton Heston wasn't always given a well developed character to play and was merely cruising along in low gear in most of his films. The above one is different. Donald Pleasence is his usual sinister self and does well as the main villain. Bruce Dern scores as some psychopathic hillbilly son to Pleasence and Joan Hackett does ok.
There are a couple of quite graphic moments when it comes to the violence but this doesn't intrude upon the film unnecessarily. The action scenes are very good, especially the climax.
A film that deserves to be viewed and enjoyed.
score 8/10
alexanderdavies-99382 29 May 2019
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4896910/34927
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