Movies Like This Aren't Made Anymore
Made in 1972 we sometimes forget just how gritty and brutal a movie portraying the old west can be. This is one such movie.
It wasn't just that "The Duke" was in it. It was that he was fine with the main character (his character) being killed off well before the end of the movie.
There was plenty of brutality before the last half hour. One boy is trampled to death by cattle and another is threatened with a slit throat and a near drowning. It only got more brutal once Mr. Anderson is killed off. Perhaps the most shocking was that a bunch of less than sixteen year old boys would purposely condemn a man to a painful, long and agonizing death in full view of the movie going public.
Movies like this aren't made any more. It had a plot, great dialog, excellent actors, a first rate villain, lots and lots of blood-shed, most of it well after you grow to "love" and empathize with the characters.
Hollywood could do this again if it really wanted to. Will it? That's the question.
Warning: I probably read the book first.