The Hired Hand
Starring:Verna Bloom, Severn Darden, Megan Denver, Ann Doran, Larry Hagman, Al Hopson, Gray Johnson, Ted Markland, Len Marsal, Michael McClure, Warren Oates, Owen Orr, Robert Pratt, Rita Rogers
Studio: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
Product Type: DVD
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
A true rediscovery of the most valuable kind, The Hired Hand has been superbly restored after 30 years of obscurity--which followed a pitifully half-hearted release in 1971. The Western storyline is simplicity itself: after many years, a wanderer (Peter Fonda) returns to his farm and wife (Verna Bloom), with his saddlemate (the incomparable Warren Oates) in tow; violence intrudes. But the subtle sexual politics in Alan Sharp's script, the guitar sound of Bruce Langhorne's music, and the rapturous landscapes in Vilmos Zgismond's cinematography create a fresh take on the old form. This was Fonda's directing debut (two years after Easy Rider), and while it has an unmistakably seventies vibe to it, the film also feels like an "eastern" Western, its minimalist style approaching zen. Give yourself over to its deliberate mood, and by the time the final shot rolls into view you'll know you've seen something special. --Robert Horton
Average customer rating:
- It's the supporting characters that make it work
- A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable
- A patient, delicate and redemptive Western.
- Good Work
- you gotta be kiddin
|
The Hired Hand (Collector's Edition)
Starring: Verna Bloom , Severn Darden , Megan Denver , Ann Doran , and Larry Hagman
Manufacturer: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
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Similar Items:
- Peter Fonda's The Hired Hand Score
- The Missouri Breaks
- Nevada Smith
- Yellow Sky
- Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
ASIN: B00080ZGR4
Release Date: 2005-04-01 |
Amazon.com
A true rediscovery of the most valuable kind, The Hired Hand has been superbly restored after 30 years of obscurity--which followed a pitifully half-hearted release in 1971. The Western storyline is simplicity itself: after many years, a wanderer (Peter Fonda) returns to his farm and wife (Verna Bloom), with his saddlemate (the incomparable Warren Oates) in tow; violence intrudes. But the subtle sexual politics in Alan Sharp's script, the guitar sound of Bruce Langhorne's music, and the rapturous landscapes in Vilmos Zgismond's cinematography create a fresh take on the old form. This was Fonda's directing debut (two years after Easy Rider), and while it has an unmistakably seventies vibe to it, the film also feels like an "eastern" Western, its minimalist style approaching zen. Give yourself over to its deliberate mood, and by the time the final shot rolls into view you'll know you've seen something special. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
It's the supporting characters that make it work.......2006-11-11
Warren Oates may not be the star of The Hired Hand, but both he and Verna Bloom outshine director Peter Fonda's quiet performance. A lot of that's down to the writing, with screenwriter Alan Sharp giving both supporting players excellent parts - indeed, Bloom's is one of the best women's roles ever written for a Western - and part of it seems to be down to the gentle generosity of spirit that Fonda imbues his cut of the film with. While never quite as affecting as it could be, and at times over-egging the artistry with not always successful montages or camera techniques in Vilmos Zsigmond's otherwise marvellous cinematography, it's still a satisfying and rewarding character piece that just happens to be set out West
The collector's edition DVD comes with a plethora of extras, including ample deleted scenes that were restored for the NBC television version that eventually supplanted the theatrical version. They're interesting, and highlight Larry Hagman's nice performance as a very diplomatic sheriff, but their deletion does make the film much stronger, placing the emphasis on the interplay of the three central characters and, most crucially, allowing Oates' character to make his own decision towards the film's resolution. It's a shame that screenwriter Alan Sharp isn't among the interviewees on the one-hour documentary on the disc, but perhaps that's because, ever the realist, he always regarded his fine Western scripts as pastiches where everyone else is arguing in favor of the film's realism and revisionism. But most bizarre among the extras are Universal's original trailers and radio spots, marketing it as an all-action revenge Western for the Easy Rider crowd - `Peter Fonda is riding again - back to the woman he loves and the revenge he craves!'
A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable.......2006-06-28
"The Hired Hand" was Peter Fonda's first stab at directing (he only directed two more films). The story involves Fonda going back to his wife and homestead after several years absence; he brings his buddy Warren Oates along with him. His wife, Verna Bloom, isn't so interested anymore with being his wife (and who can blame her?) so she hires him and Oates on as ranch hands, hence "The Hired Hand."
Speaking of Verna Bloom, she's not made out to be very attractive in the film; she just comes across rather bland and plain. One could argue, of course, that this adds to the realism of the picture; after all, would you likely catch a bodacious goddess living alone in the Western wilderness for very long? I only bring this up because Verna appears one year later in Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter," wherein it is revealed that she is actually quite a fair-looking woman. Who knows, perhaps it's simply because she has her hair down in the latter film.
In any event, "The Hired Hand" is a quiet, highly believable picture that boldly sneers at Western film conventions. Yes, you'll see a couple of gun fights, but they're realistic in tone and unconventional to the Western genre.
This may make the film boring to some, but not to me. Truth be known, I like a variety of Westerns, everything from "Shane" to "The Missing" and everything in between. The only Westerns I don't like are ones that have that goofy, unrealistic vibe, like "Hondo" (I'm not talking about Western comedies here; I love "Support Your Local Sheriff").
"The Hired Hand" probably won't blow you away or anything; it's a quiet, adult-oriented film. I saw it last December for the first time and, somehow, various sequences have just stayed with me; like they're burnt into my psyche. It's hauntingly memorable. If this sounds like your cup of tea, don't miss out.
A patient, delicate and redemptive Western........2006-02-09
Martin Scorsese in the two minutes he contributed to disk number two, described the film industry during which "The Hired Hand" was born, adventurous and willing to take chances after the success of "Easy Rider." Not a description one would typically assign to a picture that is as gentle and patient as "The Hired Hand." The film begins like a baptismal dream, with a slightly out of focus lens capturing the shimmering beauty of a man joyously splashing in the water and another fishing at the rivers edge. Behind the tranquil images a banjo and a fiddle, lazily easing their way through the morning. When the two men become three we learn that they're California bound . . . to see the "Ocean like a great blue prairie." When the body of a drowned seven or eight year old little girl gets snagged on the leader's fishing line, the tenor of the serenity changes, resonating more deeply and with purpose. Harry will not make the journey to the sea but instead will make the journey back home to the wife and child he left for his wanderlust. When he arrives home to find an embittered, lonely, but determined woman along with a carefree 7 year old girl, he offers his services as a "hired hand" to work the place to "see how it runs." With this arrangement having been made, the slow process of healing and reconciliation begins but caution must be heeded because loneliness is like a cancer: it eats away at one's resistance and is a poor surrogate for commitment. This balancing act is played out with delicacy, tenderness and a devotion to the characters. "The Hired Hand" is a film laced with religious symbolism with the action coming only after long spells of traveling, trading horses and reflection. From the moment that we see the drowned girl till the moment our protagonist tells his wife "I'll be back" there is this sense of inevitability, and it is the tension between the desire to rest and the need to act that keeps the film moving forward. Extremely well done.
Good Work.......2005-03-11
Like the recent "Sargasso Sea", this flick is a prime example of how the industry can every now and then, with no rational explanation, fumble the ball completely. "Hired Hand" was tossed on the market in '71 with no backing whatsoever and sank like a stone. A year or so later, it was shown on national TV. I clearly recall that for several days it was all that people were talking about. Not the critics, who were still sucking their thumbs, but ordinary viewers, wondering where this great picture had come from, what it was doing on the tube, and why they didn't make more just like it. In the age of the Net and the DVD, "Hired Hand" would have had a fine long run. As it is, it's good to see it back after thirty-odd years.
"Hired Hand" is a near-perfect combination of acting, cinematography, storyline, and music. Fonda, seriously skidding since "Easy Rider", gave a performance that should have revived his career then and there. It's also one of the finer moments of Warren Oates' long record of providing support for better-known actors. Verna Bloom was a veteran of small roles in many well-known films. Here she embodies the frontier wife, plain, strong, and unbending. Decades were to pass before it became common for actresses to face the camera in this kind of role with next to no makeup. Nobody has ever made it work better than Bloom.
The music, a lone guitar playing long, sad melodic lines, will stay with you for years. The story is as simple as they come, and as unforgettable.
"Hired Hand" is an adult Western in the pure sense, a film dealing with adult problems in a clear-eyed manner: the consequences of necessary and terrible decisions, the regret that remains long afterward. One thing often neglected in film Westerns is the simple human cost of the Westward Migration, not only in lives but in crippled emotions, overwhelming loneliness, and unending grief. "Hired Hand" brings this across more clearly than any other film I've seen. The final shot of the frontier wife on the porch clutches the soul; for a single moment we're one with all those forgotten figures whose suffering exceeds anything we know, and could never have been matched by what they hoped to gain. And that, children, is what we call art.
you gotta be kiddin.......2004-12-11
I thought this was one of the most boring westerns i have ever seen.On top of that,the story was non existant.I wasted money and my time on this one.One star is too much!
Average customer rating:
- It's the supporting characters that make it work
- A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable
- A patient, delicate and redemptive Western.
- Good Work
- you gotta be kiddin
|
The Hired Hand
Starring: Verna Bloom , Severn Darden , Megan Denver , Ann Doran , and Larry Hagman
Manufacturer: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Romance
| By Genre
| Art House & International
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Westerns
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Action & Adventure
| Westerns
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Bloom, Verna
| ( B )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Darden, Severn
| ( D )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
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Doran, Ann
| ( D )
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Hagman, Larry
| ( H )
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Hopson, Al
| ( H )
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Markland, Ted
| ( M )
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| ( O )
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Similar Items:
- Peter Fonda's The Hired Hand Score
- The Missouri Breaks
- Nevada Smith
- Yellow Sky
- Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
ASIN: B00080ZGQU
Release Date: 2005-04-01 |
Amazon.com
A true rediscovery of the most valuable kind, The Hired Hand has been superbly restored after 30 years of obscurity--which followed a pitifully half-hearted release in 1971. The Western storyline is simplicity itself: after many years, a wanderer (Peter Fonda) returns to his farm and wife (Verna Bloom), with his saddlemate (the incomparable Warren Oates) in tow; violence intrudes. But the subtle sexual politics in Alan Sharp's script, the guitar sound of Bruce Langhorne's music, and the rapturous landscapes in Vilmos Zgismond's cinematography create a fresh take on the old form. This was Fonda's directing debut (two years after Easy Rider), and while it has an unmistakably seventies vibe to it, the film also feels like an "eastern" Western, its minimalist style approaching zen. Give yourself over to its deliberate mood, and by the time the final shot rolls into view you'll know you've seen something special. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
It's the supporting characters that make it work.......2006-11-11
Warren Oates may not be the star of The Hired Hand, but both he and Verna Bloom outshine director Peter Fonda's quiet performance. A lot of that's down to the writing, with screenwriter Alan Sharp giving both supporting players excellent parts - indeed, Bloom's is one of the best women's roles ever written for a Western - and part of it seems to be down to the gentle generosity of spirit that Fonda imbues his cut of the film with. While never quite as affecting as it could be, and at times over-egging the artistry with not always successful montages or camera techniques in Vilmos Zsigmond's otherwise marvellous cinematography, it's still a satisfying and rewarding character piece that just happens to be set out West
The collector's edition DVD comes with a plethora of extras, including ample deleted scenes that were restored for the NBC television version that eventually supplanted the theatrical version. They're interesting, and highlight Larry Hagman's nice performance as a very diplomatic sheriff, but their deletion does make the film much stronger, placing the emphasis on the interplay of the three central characters and, most crucially, allowing Oates' character to make his own decision towards the film's resolution. It's a shame that screenwriter Alan Sharp isn't among the interviewees on the one-hour documentary on the disc, but perhaps that's because, ever the realist, he always regarded his fine Western scripts as pastiches where everyone else is arguing in favor of the film's realism and revisionism. But most bizarre among the extras are Universal's original trailers and radio spots, marketing it as an all-action revenge Western for the Easy Rider crowd - `Peter Fonda is riding again - back to the woman he loves and the revenge he craves!'
A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable.......2006-06-28
"The Hired Hand" was Peter Fonda's first stab at directing (he only directed two more films). The story involves Fonda going back to his wife and homestead after several years absence; he brings his buddy Warren Oates along with him. His wife, Verna Bloom, isn't so interested anymore with being his wife (and who can blame her?) so she hires him and Oates on as ranch hands, hence "The Hired Hand."
Speaking of Verna Bloom, she's not made out to be very attractive in the film; she just comes across rather bland and plain. One could argue, of course, that this adds to the realism of the picture; after all, would you likely catch a bodacious goddess living alone in the Western wilderness for very long? I only bring this up because Verna appears one year later in Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter," wherein it is revealed that she is actually quite a fair-looking woman. Who knows, perhaps it's simply because she has her hair down in the latter film.
In any event, "The Hired Hand" is a quiet, highly believable picture that boldly sneers at Western film conventions. Yes, you'll see a couple of gun fights, but they're realistic in tone and unconventional to the Western genre.
This may make the film boring to some, but not to me. Truth be known, I like a variety of Westerns, everything from "Shane" to "The Missing" and everything in between. The only Westerns I don't like are ones that have that goofy, unrealistic vibe, like "Hondo" (I'm not talking about Western comedies here; I love "Support Your Local Sheriff").
"The Hired Hand" probably won't blow you away or anything; it's a quiet, adult-oriented film. I saw it last December for the first time and, somehow, various sequences have just stayed with me; like they're burnt into my psyche. It's hauntingly memorable. If this sounds like your cup of tea, don't miss out.
A patient, delicate and redemptive Western........2006-02-09
Martin Scorsese in the two minutes he contributed to disk number two, described the film industry during which "The Hired Hand" was born, adventurous and willing to take chances after the success of "Easy Rider." Not a description one would typically assign to a picture that is as gentle and patient as "The Hired Hand." The film begins like a baptismal dream, with a slightly out of focus lens capturing the shimmering beauty of a man joyously splashing in the water and another fishing at the rivers edge. Behind the tranquil images a banjo and a fiddle, lazily easing their way through the morning. When the two men become three we learn that they're California bound . . . to see the "Ocean like a great blue prairie." When the body of a drowned seven or eight year old little girl gets snagged on the leader's fishing line, the tenor of the serenity changes, resonating more deeply and with purpose. Harry will not make the journey to the sea but instead will make the journey back home to the wife and child he left for his wanderlust. When he arrives home to find an embittered, lonely, but determined woman along with a carefree 7 year old girl, he offers his services as a "hired hand" to work the place to "see how it runs." With this arrangement having been made, the slow process of healing and reconciliation begins but caution must be heeded because loneliness is like a cancer: it eats away at one's resistance and is a poor surrogate for commitment. This balancing act is played out with delicacy, tenderness and a devotion to the characters. "The Hired Hand" is a film laced with religious symbolism with the action coming only after long spells of traveling, trading horses and reflection. From the moment that we see the drowned girl till the moment our protagonist tells his wife "I'll be back" there is this sense of inevitability, and it is the tension between the desire to rest and the need to act that keeps the film moving forward. Extremely well done.
Good Work.......2005-03-11
Like the recent "Sargasso Sea", this flick is a prime example of how the industry can every now and then, with no rational explanation, fumble the ball completely. "Hired Hand" was tossed on the market in '71 with no backing whatsoever and sank like a stone. A year or so later, it was shown on national TV. I clearly recall that for several days it was all that people were talking about. Not the critics, who were still sucking their thumbs, but ordinary viewers, wondering where this great picture had come from, what it was doing on the tube, and why they didn't make more just like it. In the age of the Net and the DVD, "Hired Hand" would have had a fine long run. As it is, it's good to see it back after thirty-odd years.
"Hired Hand" is a near-perfect combination of acting, cinematography, storyline, and music. Fonda, seriously skidding since "Easy Rider", gave a performance that should have revived his career then and there. It's also one of the finer moments of Warren Oates' long record of providing support for better-known actors. Verna Bloom was a veteran of small roles in many well-known films. Here she embodies the frontier wife, plain, strong, and unbending. Decades were to pass before it became common for actresses to face the camera in this kind of role with next to no makeup. Nobody has ever made it work better than Bloom.
The music, a lone guitar playing long, sad melodic lines, will stay with you for years. The story is as simple as they come, and as unforgettable.
"Hired Hand" is an adult Western in the pure sense, a film dealing with adult problems in a clear-eyed manner: the consequences of necessary and terrible decisions, the regret that remains long afterward. One thing often neglected in film Westerns is the simple human cost of the Westward Migration, not only in lives but in crippled emotions, overwhelming loneliness, and unending grief. "Hired Hand" brings this across more clearly than any other film I've seen. The final shot of the frontier wife on the porch clutches the soul; for a single moment we're one with all those forgotten figures whose suffering exceeds anything we know, and could never have been matched by what they hoped to gain. And that, children, is what we call art.
you gotta be kiddin.......2004-12-11
I thought this was one of the most boring westerns i have ever seen.On top of that,the story was non existant.I wasted money and my time on this one.One star is too much!
Average customer rating:
- It's the supporting characters that make it work
- A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable
- A patient, delicate and redemptive Western.
- Good Work
- you gotta be kiddin
|
The Hired Hand (Collector's Edition)
Starring: Verna Bloom , Severn Darden , Megan Denver , Ann Doran , and Larry Hagman
Manufacturer: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Romance
| By Genre
| Art House & International
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Westerns
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Action & Adventure
| Westerns
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Bloom, Verna
| ( B )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Darden, Severn
| ( D )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Doran, Ann
| ( D )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Hagman, Larry
| ( H )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Hopson, Al
| ( H )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Markland, Ted
| ( M )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Oates, Warren
| ( O )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Used DVDs
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
| Action & Adventure
| African American Cinema
| Animation
| Anime & Manga
| Art House & International
| Classics
| Comedy
| Cult Movies
| Documentary
| Drama
| Educational
| Fitness & Yoga
| Gay & Lesbian
| Horror
| Kids & Family
| Military & War
| Music Video & Concerts
| Musicals & Performing Arts
| Mystery & Suspense
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Special Interests
| Sports
| Television
| Westerns
All Sundance Titles
| Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Drama
| Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
General
| Indie & Art House
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Romance
| By Genre
| Indie & Art House
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
( H )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- Peter Fonda's The Hired Hand Score
- The Missouri Breaks
- Nevada Smith
- Yellow Sky
- Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
ASIN: B0000AZKMV
Release Date: 2003-10-28 |
Amazon.com
A true rediscovery of the most valuable kind, The Hired Hand has been superbly restored after 30 years of obscurity--which followed a pitifully half-hearted release in 1971. The Western storyline is simplicity itself: after many years, a wanderer (Peter Fonda) returns to his farm and wife (Verna Bloom), with his saddlemate (the incomparable Warren Oates) in tow; violence intrudes. But the subtle sexual politics in Alan Sharp's script, the guitar sound of Bruce Langhorne's music, and the rapturous landscapes in Vilmos Zgismond's cinematography create a fresh take on the old form. This was Fonda's directing debut (two years after Easy Rider), and while it has an unmistakably seventies vibe to it, the film also feels like an "eastern" Western, its minimalist style approaching zen. Give yourself over to its deliberate mood, and by the time the final shot rolls into view you'll know you've seen something special. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
It's the supporting characters that make it work.......2006-11-11
Warren Oates may not be the star of The Hired Hand, but both he and Verna Bloom outshine director Peter Fonda's quiet performance. A lot of that's down to the writing, with screenwriter Alan Sharp giving both supporting players excellent parts - indeed, Bloom's is one of the best women's roles ever written for a Western - and part of it seems to be down to the gentle generosity of spirit that Fonda imbues his cut of the film with. While never quite as affecting as it could be, and at times over-egging the artistry with not always successful montages or camera techniques in Vilmos Zsigmond's otherwise marvellous cinematography, it's still a satisfying and rewarding character piece that just happens to be set out West
The collector's edition DVD comes with a plethora of extras, including ample deleted scenes that were restored for the NBC television version that eventually supplanted the theatrical version. They're interesting, and highlight Larry Hagman's nice performance as a very diplomatic sheriff, but their deletion does make the film much stronger, placing the emphasis on the interplay of the three central characters and, most crucially, allowing Oates' character to make his own decision towards the film's resolution. It's a shame that screenwriter Alan Sharp isn't among the interviewees on the one-hour documentary on the disc, but perhaps that's because, ever the realist, he always regarded his fine Western scripts as pastiches where everyone else is arguing in favor of the film's realism and revisionism. But most bizarre among the extras are Universal's original trailers and radio spots, marketing it as an all-action revenge Western for the Easy Rider crowd - `Peter Fonda is riding again - back to the woman he loves and the revenge he craves!'
A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable.......2006-06-28
"The Hired Hand" was Peter Fonda's first stab at directing (he only directed two more films). The story involves Fonda going back to his wife and homestead after several years absence; he brings his buddy Warren Oates along with him. His wife, Verna Bloom, isn't so interested anymore with being his wife (and who can blame her?) so she hires him and Oates on as ranch hands, hence "The Hired Hand."
Speaking of Verna Bloom, she's not made out to be very attractive in the film; she just comes across rather bland and plain. One could argue, of course, that this adds to the realism of the picture; after all, would you likely catch a bodacious goddess living alone in the Western wilderness for very long? I only bring this up because Verna appears one year later in Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter," wherein it is revealed that she is actually quite a fair-looking woman. Who knows, perhaps it's simply because she has her hair down in the latter film.
In any event, "The Hired Hand" is a quiet, highly believable picture that boldly sneers at Western film conventions. Yes, you'll see a couple of gun fights, but they're realistic in tone and unconventional to the Western genre.
This may make the film boring to some, but not to me. Truth be known, I like a variety of Westerns, everything from "Shane" to "The Missing" and everything in between. The only Westerns I don't like are ones that have that goofy, unrealistic vibe, like "Hondo" (I'm not talking about Western comedies here; I love "Support Your Local Sheriff").
"The Hired Hand" probably won't blow you away or anything; it's a quiet, adult-oriented film. I saw it last December for the first time and, somehow, various sequences have just stayed with me; like they're burnt into my psyche. It's hauntingly memorable. If this sounds like your cup of tea, don't miss out.
A patient, delicate and redemptive Western........2006-02-09
Martin Scorsese in the two minutes he contributed to disk number two, described the film industry during which "The Hired Hand" was born, adventurous and willing to take chances after the success of "Easy Rider." Not a description one would typically assign to a picture that is as gentle and patient as "The Hired Hand." The film begins like a baptismal dream, with a slightly out of focus lens capturing the shimmering beauty of a man joyously splashing in the water and another fishing at the rivers edge. Behind the tranquil images a banjo and a fiddle, lazily easing their way through the morning. When the two men become three we learn that they're California bound . . . to see the "Ocean like a great blue prairie." When the body of a drowned seven or eight year old little girl gets snagged on the leader's fishing line, the tenor of the serenity changes, resonating more deeply and with purpose. Harry will not make the journey to the sea but instead will make the journey back home to the wife and child he left for his wanderlust. When he arrives home to find an embittered, lonely, but determined woman along with a carefree 7 year old girl, he offers his services as a "hired hand" to work the place to "see how it runs." With this arrangement having been made, the slow process of healing and reconciliation begins but caution must be heeded because loneliness is like a cancer: it eats away at one's resistance and is a poor surrogate for commitment. This balancing act is played out with delicacy, tenderness and a devotion to the characters. "The Hired Hand" is a film laced with religious symbolism with the action coming only after long spells of traveling, trading horses and reflection. From the moment that we see the drowned girl till the moment our protagonist tells his wife "I'll be back" there is this sense of inevitability, and it is the tension between the desire to rest and the need to act that keeps the film moving forward. Extremely well done.
Good Work.......2005-03-11
Like the recent "Sargasso Sea", this flick is a prime example of how the industry can every now and then, with no rational explanation, fumble the ball completely. "Hired Hand" was tossed on the market in '71 with no backing whatsoever and sank like a stone. A year or so later, it was shown on national TV. I clearly recall that for several days it was all that people were talking about. Not the critics, who were still sucking their thumbs, but ordinary viewers, wondering where this great picture had come from, what it was doing on the tube, and why they didn't make more just like it. In the age of the Net and the DVD, "Hired Hand" would have had a fine long run. As it is, it's good to see it back after thirty-odd years.
"Hired Hand" is a near-perfect combination of acting, cinematography, storyline, and music. Fonda, seriously skidding since "Easy Rider", gave a performance that should have revived his career then and there. It's also one of the finer moments of Warren Oates' long record of providing support for better-known actors. Verna Bloom was a veteran of small roles in many well-known films. Here she embodies the frontier wife, plain, strong, and unbending. Decades were to pass before it became common for actresses to face the camera in this kind of role with next to no makeup. Nobody has ever made it work better than Bloom.
The music, a lone guitar playing long, sad melodic lines, will stay with you for years. The story is as simple as they come, and as unforgettable.
"Hired Hand" is an adult Western in the pure sense, a film dealing with adult problems in a clear-eyed manner: the consequences of necessary and terrible decisions, the regret that remains long afterward. One thing often neglected in film Westerns is the simple human cost of the Westward Migration, not only in lives but in crippled emotions, overwhelming loneliness, and unending grief. "Hired Hand" brings this across more clearly than any other film I've seen. The final shot of the frontier wife on the porch clutches the soul; for a single moment we're one with all those forgotten figures whose suffering exceeds anything we know, and could never have been matched by what they hoped to gain. And that, children, is what we call art.
you gotta be kiddin.......2004-12-11
I thought this was one of the most boring westerns i have ever seen.On top of that,the story was non existant.I wasted money and my time on this one.One star is too much!
Average customer rating:
- It's the supporting characters that make it work
- A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable
- A patient, delicate and redemptive Western.
- Good Work
- you gotta be kiddin
|
The Hired Hand (Standard Edition)
Starring: Verna Bloom , Severn Darden , Megan Denver , Ann Doran , and Larry Hagman
Manufacturer: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
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- Peter Fonda's The Hired Hand Score
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- Nevada Smith
- Yellow Sky
- Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
ASIN: B0000AINNQ
Release Date: 2003-10-28 |
Amazon.com
A true rediscovery of the most valuable kind, The Hired Hand has been superbly restored after 30 years of obscurity--which followed a pitifully half-hearted release in 1971. The Western storyline is simplicity itself: after many years, a wanderer (Peter Fonda) returns to his farm and wife (Verna Bloom), with his saddlemate (the incomparable Warren Oates) in tow; violence intrudes. But the subtle sexual politics in Alan Sharp's script, the guitar sound of Bruce Langhorne's music, and the rapturous landscapes in Vilmos Zgismond's cinematography create a fresh take on the old form. This was Fonda's directing debut (two years after Easy Rider), and while it has an unmistakably seventies vibe to it, the film also feels like an "eastern" Western, its minimalist style approaching zen. Give yourself over to its deliberate mood, and by the time the final shot rolls into view you'll know you've seen something special. --Robert Horton
Description
He deserted his family to explore the frontier, but life is about to lead him home. After roaming the Wild West, a wayward husband returns home to his wife and child, but rebuilding their family will involve an unexpected test of faith and a vital journey of forgiveness. The Hired Hand reconfigures the traditional Western in a story that emphasizes the human reality that underlines the cowboy myth. Its focus is less on adventure than on the emotional journey and fallout of adventure.
Customer Reviews:
It's the supporting characters that make it work.......2006-11-11
Warren Oates may not be the star of The Hired Hand, but both he and Verna Bloom outshine director Peter Fonda's quiet performance. A lot of that's down to the writing, with screenwriter Alan Sharp giving both supporting players excellent parts - indeed, Bloom's is one of the best women's roles ever written for a Western - and part of it seems to be down to the gentle generosity of spirit that Fonda imbues his cut of the film with. While never quite as affecting as it could be, and at times over-egging the artistry with not always successful montages or camera techniques in Vilmos Zsigmond's otherwise marvellous cinematography, it's still a satisfying and rewarding character piece that just happens to be set out West
The collector's edition DVD comes with a plethora of extras, including ample deleted scenes that were restored for the NBC television version that eventually supplanted the theatrical version. They're interesting, and highlight Larry Hagman's nice performance as a very diplomatic sheriff, but their deletion does make the film much stronger, placing the emphasis on the interplay of the three central characters and, most crucially, allowing Oates' character to make his own decision towards the film's resolution. It's a shame that screenwriter Alan Sharp isn't among the interviewees on the one-hour documentary on the disc, but perhaps that's because, ever the realist, he always regarded his fine Western scripts as pastiches where everyone else is arguing in favor of the film's realism and revisionism. But most bizarre among the extras are Universal's original trailers and radio spots, marketing it as an all-action revenge Western for the Easy Rider crowd - `Peter Fonda is riding again - back to the woman he loves and the revenge he craves!'
A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable.......2006-06-28
"The Hired Hand" was Peter Fonda's first stab at directing (he only directed two more films). The story involves Fonda going back to his wife and homestead after several years absence; he brings his buddy Warren Oates along with him. His wife, Verna Bloom, isn't so interested anymore with being his wife (and who can blame her?) so she hires him and Oates on as ranch hands, hence "The Hired Hand."
Speaking of Verna Bloom, she's not made out to be very attractive in the film; she just comes across rather bland and plain. One could argue, of course, that this adds to the realism of the picture; after all, would you likely catch a bodacious goddess living alone in the Western wilderness for very long? I only bring this up because Verna appears one year later in Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter," wherein it is revealed that she is actually quite a fair-looking woman. Who knows, perhaps it's simply because she has her hair down in the latter film.
In any event, "The Hired Hand" is a quiet, highly believable picture that boldly sneers at Western film conventions. Yes, you'll see a couple of gun fights, but they're realistic in tone and unconventional to the Western genre.
This may make the film boring to some, but not to me. Truth be known, I like a variety of Westerns, everything from "Shane" to "The Missing" and everything in between. The only Westerns I don't like are ones that have that goofy, unrealistic vibe, like "Hondo" (I'm not talking about Western comedies here; I love "Support Your Local Sheriff").
"The Hired Hand" probably won't blow you away or anything; it's a quiet, adult-oriented film. I saw it last December for the first time and, somehow, various sequences have just stayed with me; like they're burnt into my psyche. It's hauntingly memorable. If this sounds like your cup of tea, don't miss out.
A patient, delicate and redemptive Western........2006-02-09
Martin Scorsese in the two minutes he contributed to disk number two, described the film industry during which "The Hired Hand" was born, adventurous and willing to take chances after the success of "Easy Rider." Not a description one would typically assign to a picture that is as gentle and patient as "The Hired Hand." The film begins like a baptismal dream, with a slightly out of focus lens capturing the shimmering beauty of a man joyously splashing in the water and another fishing at the rivers edge. Behind the tranquil images a banjo and a fiddle, lazily easing their way through the morning. When the two men become three we learn that they're California bound . . . to see the "Ocean like a great blue prairie." When the body of a drowned seven or eight year old little girl gets snagged on the leader's fishing line, the tenor of the serenity changes, resonating more deeply and with purpose. Harry will not make the journey to the sea but instead will make the journey back home to the wife and child he left for his wanderlust. When he arrives home to find an embittered, lonely, but determined woman along with a carefree 7 year old girl, he offers his services as a "hired hand" to work the place to "see how it runs." With this arrangement having been made, the slow process of healing and reconciliation begins but caution must be heeded because loneliness is like a cancer: it eats away at one's resistance and is a poor surrogate for commitment. This balancing act is played out with delicacy, tenderness and a devotion to the characters. "The Hired Hand" is a film laced with religious symbolism with the action coming only after long spells of traveling, trading horses and reflection. From the moment that we see the drowned girl till the moment our protagonist tells his wife "I'll be back" there is this sense of inevitability, and it is the tension between the desire to rest and the need to act that keeps the film moving forward. Extremely well done.
Good Work.......2005-03-11
Like the recent "Sargasso Sea", this flick is a prime example of how the industry can every now and then, with no rational explanation, fumble the ball completely. "Hired Hand" was tossed on the market in '71 with no backing whatsoever and sank like a stone. A year or so later, it was shown on national TV. I clearly recall that for several days it was all that people were talking about. Not the critics, who were still sucking their thumbs, but ordinary viewers, wondering where this great picture had come from, what it was doing on the tube, and why they didn't make more just like it. In the age of the Net and the DVD, "Hired Hand" would have had a fine long run. As it is, it's good to see it back after thirty-odd years.
"Hired Hand" is a near-perfect combination of acting, cinematography, storyline, and music. Fonda, seriously skidding since "Easy Rider", gave a performance that should have revived his career then and there. It's also one of the finer moments of Warren Oates' long record of providing support for better-known actors. Verna Bloom was a veteran of small roles in many well-known films. Here she embodies the frontier wife, plain, strong, and unbending. Decades were to pass before it became common for actresses to face the camera in this kind of role with next to no makeup. Nobody has ever made it work better than Bloom.
The music, a lone guitar playing long, sad melodic lines, will stay with you for years. The story is as simple as they come, and as unforgettable.
"Hired Hand" is an adult Western in the pure sense, a film dealing with adult problems in a clear-eyed manner: the consequences of necessary and terrible decisions, the regret that remains long afterward. One thing often neglected in film Westerns is the simple human cost of the Westward Migration, not only in lives but in crippled emotions, overwhelming loneliness, and unending grief. "Hired Hand" brings this across more clearly than any other film I've seen. The final shot of the frontier wife on the porch clutches the soul; for a single moment we're one with all those forgotten figures whose suffering exceeds anything we know, and could never have been matched by what they hoped to gain. And that, children, is what we call art.
you gotta be kiddin.......2004-12-11
I thought this was one of the most boring westerns i have ever seen.On top of that,the story was non existant.I wasted money and my time on this one.One star is too much!
Average customer rating:
- independent comedy has its moments
|
The Dogwalker
Starring: Will Stewart , Stepfanie Kramer , Tony Todd , John Randolph , and Cress Williams
Director: Paul Duran
Manufacturer: Vanguard Cinema
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- Hunter - The Complete Third Season
- Hunter - The Complete First Season
- Hunter - The Complete Second Season
- Loving Annabelle
ASIN: B0000CABHY
Release Date: 2003-11-25 |
Description
Jerry Cooper is a Tom Sawyer of the 21st century, who, having fallen on hard times, is struggling with the reality of sleeping in his car for the first time. When he stumbles upon an old woman named Alma and her dog Lucky, he believes his luck may finally be changing, as the woman's daughter, Helene, hires him to take care of the flinty old matriarch. Jerry quickly finds out that he has bitten off more than he bargained for when Helene and her sexually charged teenage daughter each want more from thin that just walking grandma's dog. Jerry enlists three black friends to sort out the situation but things go quickly from bad to worse in this contemporary LA story mixing class, race and sex until you don't know who is the pet anymore.
Customer Reviews:
independent comedy has its moments.......2007-06-06
Independent films are one of the few places left to look for original material, studio Hollywood being slavishly devoted to (safer) sequels. That being said, this particular low-budget piece borrowed much of its premise from the mainstream "Down and Out in Beverly Hills."
From the outset, you have to suspend disbelief a little to swallow the idea that young, good looking, intelligent, and well-dressed Will Stewart can't get a job and is so down on his luck as to be reduced to panhandling. Additionally, it seems the part was written for a black character, since all of Stewart's friends are black. But if you can get past that, the movie is very well acted and compulsively watchable. It ends with a whimper rather than a bang, but that is because the filmmakers seemed to want to hang on to realism rather than embrace the fantasy trajectory of the movie.
Average customer rating:
- It's the supporting characters that make it work
- A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable
- A patient, delicate and redemptive Western.
- Good Work
- you gotta be kiddin
|
The Hired Hand
ProductGroup: DVD
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Similar Items:
- Peter Fonda's The Hired Hand Score
- The Missouri Breaks
- Nevada Smith
- Yellow Sky
- Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
ASIN: B000260O9O |
Amazon.com
A true rediscovery of the most valuable kind, The Hired Hand has been superbly restored after 30 years of obscurity--which followed a pitifully half-hearted release in 1971. The Western storyline is simplicity itself: after many years, a wanderer (Peter Fonda) returns to his farm and wife (Verna Bloom), with his saddlemate (the incomparable Warren Oates) in tow; violence intrudes. But the subtle sexual politics in Alan Sharp's script, the guitar sound of Bruce Langhorne's music, and the rapturous landscapes in Vilmos Zgismond's cinematography create a fresh take on the old form. This was Fonda's directing debut (two years after Easy Rider), and while it has an unmistakably seventies vibe to it, the film also feels like an "eastern" Western, its minimalist style approaching zen. Give yourself over to its deliberate mood, and by the time the final shot rolls into view you'll know you've seen something special. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
It's the supporting characters that make it work.......2006-11-11
Warren Oates may not be the star of The Hired Hand, but both he and Verna Bloom outshine director Peter Fonda's quiet performance. A lot of that's down to the writing, with screenwriter Alan Sharp giving both supporting players excellent parts - indeed, Bloom's is one of the best women's roles ever written for a Western - and part of it seems to be down to the gentle generosity of spirit that Fonda imbues his cut of the film with. While never quite as affecting as it could be, and at times over-egging the artistry with not always successful montages or camera techniques in Vilmos Zsigmond's otherwise marvellous cinematography, it's still a satisfying and rewarding character piece that just happens to be set out West
The collector's edition DVD comes with a plethora of extras, including ample deleted scenes that were restored for the NBC television version that eventually supplanted the theatrical version. They're interesting, and highlight Larry Hagman's nice performance as a very diplomatic sheriff, but their deletion does make the film much stronger, placing the emphasis on the interplay of the three central characters and, most crucially, allowing Oates' character to make his own decision towards the film's resolution. It's a shame that screenwriter Alan Sharp isn't among the interviewees on the one-hour documentary on the disc, but perhaps that's because, ever the realist, he always regarded his fine Western scripts as pastiches where everyone else is arguing in favor of the film's realism and revisionism. But most bizarre among the extras are Universal's original trailers and radio spots, marketing it as an all-action revenge Western for the Easy Rider crowd - `Peter Fonda is riding again - back to the woman he loves and the revenge he craves!'
A Quiet 70's Western that is hauntingly Memorable.......2006-06-28
"The Hired Hand" was Peter Fonda's first stab at directing (he only directed two more films). The story involves Fonda going back to his wife and homestead after several years absence; he brings his buddy Warren Oates along with him. His wife, Verna Bloom, isn't so interested anymore with being his wife (and who can blame her?) so she hires him and Oates on as ranch hands, hence "The Hired Hand."
Speaking of Verna Bloom, she's not made out to be very attractive in the film; she just comes across rather bland and plain. One could argue, of course, that this adds to the realism of the picture; after all, would you likely catch a bodacious goddess living alone in the Western wilderness for very long? I only bring this up because Verna appears one year later in Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter," wherein it is revealed that she is actually quite a fair-looking woman. Who knows, perhaps it's simply because she has her hair down in the latter film.
In any event, "The Hired Hand" is a quiet, highly believable picture that boldly sneers at Western film conventions. Yes, you'll see a couple of gun fights, but they're realistic in tone and unconventional to the Western genre.
This may make the film boring to some, but not to me. Truth be known, I like a variety of Westerns, everything from "Shane" to "The Missing" and everything in between. The only Westerns I don't like are ones that have that goofy, unrealistic vibe, like "Hondo" (I'm not talking about Western comedies here; I love "Support Your Local Sheriff").
"The Hired Hand" probably won't blow you away or anything; it's a quiet, adult-oriented film. I saw it last December for the first time and, somehow, various sequences have just stayed with me; like they're burnt into my psyche. It's hauntingly memorable. If this sounds like your cup of tea, don't miss out.
A patient, delicate and redemptive Western........2006-02-09
Martin Scorsese in the two minutes he contributed to disk number two, described the film industry during which "The Hired Hand" was born, adventurous and willing to take chances after the success of "Easy Rider." Not a description one would typically assign to a picture that is as gentle and patient as "The Hired Hand." The film begins like a baptismal dream, with a slightly out of focus lens capturing the shimmering beauty of a man joyously splashing in the water and another fishing at the rivers edge. Behind the tranquil images a banjo and a fiddle, lazily easing their way through the morning. When the two men become three we learn that they're California bound . . . to see the "Ocean like a great blue prairie." When the body of a drowned seven or eight year old little girl gets snagged on the leader's fishing line, the tenor of the serenity changes, resonating more deeply and with purpose. Harry will not make the journey to the sea but instead will make the journey back home to the wife and child he left for his wanderlust. When he arrives home to find an embittered, lonely, but determined woman along with a carefree 7 year old girl, he offers his services as a "hired hand" to work the place to "see how it runs." With this arrangement having been made, the slow process of healing and reconciliation begins but caution must be heeded because loneliness is like a cancer: it eats away at one's resistance and is a poor surrogate for commitment. This balancing act is played out with delicacy, tenderness and a devotion to the characters. "The Hired Hand" is a film laced with religious symbolism with the action coming only after long spells of traveling, trading horses and reflection. From the moment that we see the drowned girl till the moment our protagonist tells his wife "I'll be back" there is this sense of inevitability, and it is the tension between the desire to rest and the need to act that keeps the film moving forward. Extremely well done.
Good Work.......2005-03-11
Like the recent "Sargasso Sea", this flick is a prime example of how the industry can every now and then, with no rational explanation, fumble the ball completely. "Hired Hand" was tossed on the market in '71 with no backing whatsoever and sank like a stone. A year or so later, it was shown on national TV. I clearly recall that for several days it was all that people were talking about. Not the critics, who were still sucking their thumbs, but ordinary viewers, wondering where this great picture had come from, what it was doing on the tube, and why they didn't make more just like it. In the age of the Net and the DVD, "Hired Hand" would have had a fine long run. As it is, it's good to see it back after thirty-odd years.
"Hired Hand" is a near-perfect combination of acting, cinematography, storyline, and music. Fonda, seriously skidding since "Easy Rider", gave a performance that should have revived his career then and there. It's also one of the finer moments of Warren Oates' long record of providing support for better-known actors. Verna Bloom was a veteran of small roles in many well-known films. Here she embodies the frontier wife, plain, strong, and unbending. Decades were to pass before it became common for actresses to face the camera in this kind of role with next to no makeup. Nobody has ever made it work better than Bloom.
The music, a lone guitar playing long, sad melodic lines, will stay with you for years. The story is as simple as they come, and as unforgettable.
"Hired Hand" is an adult Western in the pure sense, a film dealing with adult problems in a clear-eyed manner: the consequences of necessary and terrible decisions, the regret that remains long afterward. One thing often neglected in film Westerns is the simple human cost of the Westward Migration, not only in lives but in crippled emotions, overwhelming loneliness, and unending grief. "Hired Hand" brings this across more clearly than any other film I've seen. The final shot of the frontier wife on the porch clutches the soul; for a single moment we're one with all those forgotten figures whose suffering exceeds anything we know, and could never have been matched by what they hoped to gain. And that, children, is what we call art.
you gotta be kiddin.......2004-12-11
I thought this was one of the most boring westerns i have ever seen.On top of that,the story was non existant.I wasted money and my time on this one.One star is too much!
DVD:
- The Hired Hand (Collector's Edition)
- The Local Bad Man (1932) DVD [Remastered Edition]
- The Silver Trail (1937) DVD [Remastered Edition]
- John Wayne: Man From Utah/Sagebrush Trail
- Annie Oakley
- Shadows of Death (1945) DVD [Remastered Edition]
- Dawn of the Great Divide (1942) DVD [Remastered Edition]
- The Hard Hombre (1931) DVD [Remastered Edition]
- Rainbow Valley
- Vengeance Valley
DVD
DVD
DVD
Megazone 23:Vol 3
Lurid Tales: The Castle Queen
Imperio de la Fortuna (REGION 1) (NTSC)
DVD: Halloween (Divimax 25th Anniversary Edition)
Tokyo Raiders