Unused talent -Spoiler

Even though Marvin carries the movie well there is so much wasted opportunity to have both Marvin and Hackman acting instead of just reacting.
I thought there would be a lot more back and forth between them but they only meet 3 times and the third time is a gunfight.
Some of the action was lame. "Mary Ann" may have had all the local authorities in his back pocket, but shooting up the county fair in Kansas farm country would have got the cops going. The farmboys soldiers for "Mary Ann's" operation armed with only double barrel shotguns didn't cut it with me either. One or two of them would have had at least a bolt action hunting rifle, if not an automatic weapon.
I am sure it had a good pace for 1972, but it drags here and there in 2007.

It still has a lot of great Lee Marvin steel-eyed stuff, though. The contract killer who rescues damsels and and handles weapons like only a Real Marine can do. He conveys a lot of disgust without saying a word. And his come-on and dust-off of Clara Belle is classic.
I think a lot of the flick was meant to be toungincheek funny but I just didn't quite get it.