The Shooting

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The Shooting
original movie poster
Directed by	Monte Hellman
Produced by	Jack Nicholson Monte Hellman
Written by	Carole Eastman (writing as "Adrien Joyce")
Starring	Warren Oates Millie Perkins Jack Nicholson
Music by	Richard Markowitz
Cinematography	Gregory Sandor
Distributed by	Walter Reade Organization
Release date(s)	1968 (U.S. release; direct to television)
Running time	82 min
Language	English
Budget	$100,000 (estimate)

The Shooting is a 1968 western film directed by Monte Hellman, with a screenplay by Carole Eastman (using the pseudonym "Adrien Joyce"). The film stars Warren Oates, Millie Perkins, and Jack Nicholson, and was produced by Nicholson and Hellman.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Response
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Willet Gashade (Warren Oates) returns to his small mining camp after a lengthy absence and finds his slow-witted friend Coley (Will Hutchins) in a state of fear. Coley explains to Gashade that their partner had been shot to death the previous evening by an unseen assassin. The killing was possibly committed in revenge for the accidental trampling death of “a little person” in town, which may have been caused by Gashade’s brother, who had inexplicably rushed away from their camp just before the shooting death of their partner. Gashade and Coley become increasingly paranoid, and Gashade takes his friend’s gun away from him.

The following day, a young woman (Millie Perkins) shoots her exhausted horse to death immediately outside of the camp. The sound of the gunshot temporarily sends the frightened Coley into hiding. The young woman approaches Gashade and offers him a thousand dollars to lead her to a place called Kingsley. Gashade, who is openly distrustful of her, grudgingly accepts the offer. Coley, apparently smitten by the woman, volunteers to accompany them.

As they travel slowly through the hot desert, Gashade observes that they are being followed by a stranger dressed in black, Billy Spear (Jack Nicholson), who continues to keep his distance from them. Coley makes attempts to talk to The Woman but she continually taunts and insults him. She also repeatedly refuses to answer any of Gashade’s questions regarding the purpose of their journey.

Will Hutchins and Warren Oates

Spear joins the trio and proves to be a most dangerous traveling companion. Hired by The Woman as a gunslinger for reasons unknown, Spear is suspicious and hostile toward Gashade and contemptuous of Coley. He repeatedly threatens both of their lives. Gashade’s original instincts about The Woman are proven correct when she is revealed to be just as evil as he had suspected from the first. The journey comes to an end in the foothills of a giant slab of rock, where, after multiple deaths, Gashade finds all of the answers to the mystery…

[edit] Production

The film was shot in the Utah desert in 1965 by director Hellman and a small film crew for well under $100,000. It was filmed back-to-back with Hellman’s other western, Ride in the Whirlwind. Hellman reportedly spent over a year editing both films, then had them played at various film festivals throughout the world. In 1968, both movies were sold to the Walter Reade Organization for distribution (the same distributor who handled the initial release of Night of the Living Dead), but they decided to pass on a theatrical release and instead sold them both directly to television.

[edit] Response

As The Shooting was never released theatrically, and had sparse television showings, it initially had a very limited core of fans. Those critics who did manage to view the film were extremely enthusiastic, and generally found it superior to Hellman’s companion western, Ride in the Whirlwind. Danny Peary in Cult Movies (1981), after admitting that he had difficulties with the “puzzling” climax, noted “But while the end may ask more questions than it answers, the exciting journey that brings us to this point is one of the most rewarding sequences in the history of westerns.” Leonard Maltin said it was an “…ultimately powerful film with an offbeat performance by Nicholson as a hired gun…and an incredible, unexpected finale.”

In 2000, The Shooting was released on DVD by VCI Entertainment, and included an audio commentary by director Hellman and actress Perkins. The DVD helped bring this once obscure title to the attention of a much wider audience.