WILL PENNY

US, 1967, 108 minutes, Colour.
Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett, Donald Pleasence, Lee Majors, Bruce Dern, Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, Clifton James, Anthony Zerbe, G.D. Spradlin, William Schallert.
Directed by Tom Gries.

Will Penny has the reputation now of being a great western. However, it had very limited release and audiences in the late 60s. (It was the first film shown in colour when that was introduced on Australian television in the 1970s.) The film is a quiet, somewhat melancholic western, with Charlton Heston as an ageing cowpoke who is employed to ride the boundaries of the property. He encounters a widow whose guide has been killed on the way to Oregon. She is sheltering in the house with her young son. Will Penny grudgingly allows her to stay – and a warmth and respect develop between the two during the winter.

There is some action with Donald Pleasence as an aggressive preacher who is angry when his son is killed and confronts Will Penny. However, there is a good supporting cast with Lee Majors and Bruce Dern as well as Ben Johnson and Anthony Zerbe.

The film looks beautiful – a glimpse, somewhat nostalgic, of a past west. The film was directed by Tom Gries who had built up a strong career in television. With Will Penny he moved into feature films for cinema and for the next ten years (until his untimely death) he made a number of genre films including The Hawaiians, Lady Ice, two Charles Bronson vehicles, Breakout and Breakheart Pass. He also directed the telemovie of the Manson murders, Helter Skelter.

1. The quality of this Western, entertainment interest? Its reputation and status as a classic? Why?

2. The contribution of the colour, the mountain locations, the Western atmosphere of the open spaces, the town, the seasons? The importance of the musical score? The strength of the cast and Charlton Heston?

3. How was Will Penny a symbol of the West? His age, corresponding to the autumn and winter seasons, an ignorant man of the West, tough yet gentle, able in his work, yet limited for example in his writing, coping with his work, seeking it out, encounters with women, seeking jobs? Changing?

4. What kind of West was presented in the film: the good aspects of the West in terms of work, fellowship, hard pioneering, good nature? The harsh aspects of the West in terms of hard work, environment, the difficulties of getting jobs? The bad aspects with the rawhiders and their cruelty and torture, harshness. greed with guides who
abandon people after they have got their money etc.? The callousness of people and the ease with which they accept death?

5. The effectiveness of the introduction to Will Penny during the credits, the strength of Charlton Heston's performance, seeing Will Penny in action with his job, amongst his follow-workers?

6. The contribution of the sequences with the work with the cattle the men, fights fellowship, meals etc.? The end of the track and their being paid off, the prospects of winter, decisions about further jobs?
A real presentation of a real West?

7. The film's sketching of the characters of Blue Dutchy? Their bonds with Will Penny? Their backgrounds, capacity for work? Moving to gether and the sequence with the shooting of the elk? The humour, changing to the savagery with the confrontation with the Quints? The dramatic aspects, the shooting of one of the Quints, Preacher Quint and his raving about revenge? How did this action help for the rest of the plot?

8. Dutchy and his accidental shooting of himself? His philosophical attitude towards dying? Stopping at the wayside house? The callousness of the proprietor in his comments about death, providing drinks, information about the doctor? Typical of the attitudes of the West? Blue and Will drinking, betting? The introduction to Catherine and Catherine and her encounter with Dutchy and his story about the Indian attack? The flavour of characters in the West and the way they spoke. issues of life and death?

9. Hoy well were Catherine and H.G. introduced as characters. and providing information for the rest of the plot?

10. Will Penny and his devotion in getting Dutchy in to the doctor? The doctor being able to cure Dutchy? Will spending the night with the prostitute? Searching for work? The encounter with Alex ? a genial character in the way that he employed people, arranged his work? The rules of the ranch? The danger of rawhiders and squatters?

11. How savage was Preacher Quint? How mad? The role of the rawhiders in the West? Quint's sons? The strange blend of religion and madness? Cruelty, revenge? The encounter with Will and their torturing him? Leaving him for dead? The irony of their final raid? Wanting to make Will their servant? The two cons and their lust? The preacher and his control? The savagery of their deaths? Evil in the west?

12. The character of Catherine and her going to meet her husband? Her love for her son? Their being abandoned in the hut? Her hostility towards Will? The irony of her helping him back to life? The bonds between the two, H.G. and his growing love for Will as he learnt so much?

13. The lyrical sequences in the winter in the mountains? Getting the wood, H.G. learning about forest lore? Catherine and her care? The bath sequence, the reading lessons, the Christmas songs?

14. How important was the decision Catherine was to make about staying with Will and leaving her husband? Was she wise in doing this? The change that it would effect in Will? The suddenness of the eruption of the Quints and the breaking through of the decision?

15. The eruption of violence? Will and his quick thinking to escape for help? Catherine and her trick for setting the two brothers at each other? The irony of Blue and Dutchy arriving? Alex and his men? The violent deaths of the Quints?

16. How important was the sorting out of priorities sequence? Alex putting the point of view of the ranch? Dutchy and Blue and their dreams of going on? Catherine and her son and the human bonds of love and stability? Will faced with all these decisions? Why did he decide to leave?

17. The effect of these experiences on the various characters? Their future?

18. How well did this film capture the West and its ethos? people in the environment, the human elements, American pioneering?