The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

Beanisms! The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean is directed by John Huston and written by John Milius. It stars Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Perkins, Ned Beatty, Roddy McDowall, Tab Hunter, Victoria Principal and Ava Gardner. Music is by Maurice Jarre and cinematography by Richard Moore. In Vinegaroon, Texas, former outlaw Roy Bean becomes the self appointed judge for the region and dispenses his brand of justice as he sees fit. There were a handful of Quirky Revisionist Westerns that surfaced in the 1970s, usually directed by a big name and starring another, one such film is this…

It was always going to be difficult for anyone to beat Walter Brennan’s feisty effort as this character from 1940, but Paul Newman and John Huston come close with this slightly contradictory portrayal of the 19th lawman. We start as he, himself, only narrowly escapes a vigilante squad who didn’t much like the cut of his gib and then returns to exact his own vengeance. A chance encounter with “LaSalle” (a barely recognisable Anthony Perkins) sets in train his ruthless reign over a territory that saw him use the rule of law to coax, cajole, threaten and downright extort from anyone who had the…