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The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $17.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Give it a looksee
Review: I just don't know what to say about this movie besides the fact that it is peerless in quality. It is very very funny, and I have no idea how I managed to never hear of it before I snatched it off the shelf at the local rental place. Paul Newman, Stacy Keach, and Anthony Perkins are all fantastic.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Paul Newman's Best Performance!
Review: I never understood why this film did not succeed when it was released at the box office. I have always considered it to be Paul Newman's finest work. It must be seen to be appreciated, and there are so many detailed reviews on the web that I will not reproduce them here. Suffice it to say that everyone probably has a Lilly Langtry in their life, a longing for a place like The Eagle's Nest, and a cloaked desire to re-invent their life as Paul Newman did as Judge Roy Bean. This film is one of my 5 lifelong favorites, along with 2001, A Space Odyssey!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An absolute MUST HAVE!
Review: I saw this movie when I was a kid and it has always been one of my all-time favorites. Newman, Beatty, Keach, Gardner...Funny, dramatic, historic, and CLASSIC! If you love movies, you will probably love this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An absolute MUST HAVE!
Review: I saw this movie when I was a kid and it has always been one of my all-time favorites. Newman, Beatty, Keach, Gardner...Funny, dramatic, historic, and CLASSIC! If you love movies, you will probably love this one.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Slightly Disappointed
Review: It was good to see Victoria Principal in her movie debut, and Newmann is certainly at his best as Judge Roy Bean. But I was disappointed that there was some content edited out for "political correctness" such as the Judge's famous death sentence speech. It was a letdown to those who remember the original masterpiece.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Slightly Disappointed
Review: It was good to see Victoria Principal in her movie debut, and Newmann is certainly at his best as Judge Roy Bean. But I was disappointed that there was some content edited out for "political correctness" such as the Judge's famous death sentence speech. It was a letdown to those who remember the original masterpiece.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The most surrealist film of John Huston!
Review: Once upon a time in Texas a roguish Judge :Roy Bean magnificent acted by Paul Newman . And also a weird preacher : Anthony Perkins and an albino gunman named Stacy Keach .
Blend this cocktail and you will obtain a clever, ironic and unencumbered film winking to Luis Buñuel.
Watch this hidden and treasured movie .


Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A timeless treasure by one of Hollywood's greatest directors
Review: The 60's and early 70's produced several great comedic westerns i.e. Cheyenne Social Club, Dirty Dingus Magee, McClintock, Great Scout, The Rounders, Evil Roy Slade, Support Your Local, etc. The list goes on and on. Those movies were all great, but pretty much one dimensional and set the tone for some collective disappointment over the content of Judge Roy Bean.

There are some great hilarious moments in this film but I never really got it until recently. It's actually a love story above all else, and a comedy, as well as John Huston's own statement about the retreating old west. If you view it in that context you'll be very impressed. If you're looking for pure comedy you may find that it drags in moments. However, this is the last time you'll get to see Paul Newman with that devilish Eddie Felson/Ben Quick light in his eyes, he was made for the part as a self-appointed and self-styled Judge/philosopher that dispenses justice to just about everyone that wanders through his town whether they deserve it or not. This film also showcases IMO the best villian of all time in Bad Bob, a murderous long haired psychotic albino come to lay ole' Beano to rest. Victoria Principal is so cute you just want to, well you'll see. Anyway, it's very funny but it is a love story. I found that rather distraction 30 years ago but I didn't get it. Well worth a watch.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Texan Reviews John Huston's Judge Roy Bean
Review: This ace of a flick really catches the spirit of the old judge who made his own law west of the Pecos. They don't make small colorful eccentric little films like this much these days. Everybody in the movie is right on the money too. A beautiful Jaqueline Bisset stars as the judge's tough assertive daughter. This must have been one of her earliest roles, and she turns in a fine endearing performance. And of course there are too many great names in this movie, Ned Beatty, Roddy McDowell, Stacey Keach, Tony Perkins, and of course Paul Newman as the judge himself. Do yourself a treat and pick this one up! You'll be glad you did.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Law is the handmaiden of Justice."
Review: This is not only my favorite western, but it is also one of my favorite films. I don't buy a lot of videos to own, but I had to have this one in my permanent library. When the DVD comes out I'll be sure to get it, too.
When I first saw this in the theaters in '72 I was attracted by the action, the humor, and the sentimentality ( I still can't keep a dry eye when I watch the final scene with the watch bear....) As I got older I realised that there is a lot more to this movie. There is a consistent theme about Law and Justice, and the distinction between them.
When we first see Roy Bean he is a petty outlaw, less than a man. He has total contempt for law and justice, which he doesn't distinguish between. Then, when he first becomes a "Judge", it is in dubious title only- to fill his own pockets. As time goes on he intuitively dispenses true Justice in the name of the Law. By the final climactic scene, when asked who he is , he replies simply, "Justice." He has gone full cycle, from a scoff-law and less than a man, to the embodyment of Justice itself, to more than a man.
You'll notice that his chief adversary is a Lawyer Gass, a man that knows everything about the Law and nothing about Justice. A "man" that steals more with legal trickery than the old outlaws ever dreamed of stealing. It was this movie that made me see that Law is the creation of men, while Justice is an ideal that emanates directly from God.
I don't know if this is the theme that John Huston had in mind, but it is what I get out of it.


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