CRUD Challenge: Joe Kidd
Mar. 2nd, 2026 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skjamJoe Kidd (1972) dir. John Sturges
New Mexico Territory, 1902. The county and town of Sinola. Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood) is in jail. The former bounty hunter poached on reservation land, got drunk and disorderly, and resisted arrest. His cellmate, Naco (Pepe Callahan), taunts Joe by refusing to help him reach breakfast. When Sheriff Mitchell (Gregory Walcott) comes to pick Joe up for trial, Mr. Kidd retaliates by dumping the breakfast over Naco's head.
At the courthouse, the judge (John Carter) considers the charges to be barely worth his time, but sentences Joe to either a $10.00 fine (which Joe doesn't have right now) or ten days in jail. The trial is interrupted by the invasion of several Mexican rebels, led by Luis Chama (John Saxon). It seems that the land grants and titles held by Mexican nationals in the territory vanished in a mysterious courtroom fire, and without those documents, the deeds brought forth by white settlers are being favored by the courts. Luis burns several of those deeds held in this courtroom, and generally causes some havoc. His men also free Naco from jail.
On the way out of town, Naco foolishly decides to kill Joe Kidd before leaving. Joe shoots faster. It's ruled self-defense, but Joe still has to serve his sentence.
While Joe is cleaning the street, someone else comes into town. Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall), a very wealthy landowner. He pays Joe's fine and tries to recruit him for a hunt. A hunt with human prey, as he feels that Chama will slow the process of him consolidating his land holdings.
Mr. Kidd is initially reluctant, but then discovers that his small ranch was raided by Chama's men, who stole his horses and one, Ramon (Ron Soble), seriously injured his foreman. So he agrees to join the hunt.
Along the way, the hunt collects Helen Sanchez (Stella Garcia), a Mexican woman, to prevent her from going off to warn Chama. Only Joe knows she's actually Chama's sweetheart. Other important members of Harlan's team include overly competitive Lamarr (Don Stroud), sniper Mingo (James Wainwright) and Roy (Paul Koslo) who is a fluent Spanish speaker.
It soon becomes apparent that Frank Harlan is a very unpleasant person, with no qualms about killing innocent hostages to try to draw Chama out of the hills. He also fires Joe Kidd, who is not directly loyal to him. It's no surprise then that Joe kind of switches sides, though he isn't exactly fond of Chama.
Good: The script was written by Elmore Leonard so it has good bones, and the guns are period-authentic. There's a great sequence where a locomotive crashes through a building that was achieved by having a locomotive crash through a building. The acting is generally high quality.
Less good: John Sturges was struggling with alcoholism so often showed up to set too drunk to properly direct, and he did not get along with Clint Eastwood (at least partially due to the drunk thing.) Thus the direction is somewhat inconsistent and not his best work.
While this wasn't very non-Hispanic John Saxon's first go-round as a Mexican character, it still kind of grates on modern sensibilities. The original script had Chama be a more heroic character, but as the star Eastwood asked for changes to make Joe more the hero of the story and Chama more stereotypically flawed. (Mr. Saxon later apologized to Mexican groups for the portrayal.)
Content note: Loads of gun violence, often lethal, and some other violence as well. Horses killed. Implications of extramarital sex. Ethnic prejudice. Alcohol abuse.
Overall: Not the best movie for anyone involved, but decently watchable. Recommended to Eastwood completists.
New Mexico Territory, 1902. The county and town of Sinola. Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood) is in jail. The former bounty hunter poached on reservation land, got drunk and disorderly, and resisted arrest. His cellmate, Naco (Pepe Callahan), taunts Joe by refusing to help him reach breakfast. When Sheriff Mitchell (Gregory Walcott) comes to pick Joe up for trial, Mr. Kidd retaliates by dumping the breakfast over Naco's head.
At the courthouse, the judge (John Carter) considers the charges to be barely worth his time, but sentences Joe to either a $10.00 fine (which Joe doesn't have right now) or ten days in jail. The trial is interrupted by the invasion of several Mexican rebels, led by Luis Chama (John Saxon). It seems that the land grants and titles held by Mexican nationals in the territory vanished in a mysterious courtroom fire, and without those documents, the deeds brought forth by white settlers are being favored by the courts. Luis burns several of those deeds held in this courtroom, and generally causes some havoc. His men also free Naco from jail.
On the way out of town, Naco foolishly decides to kill Joe Kidd before leaving. Joe shoots faster. It's ruled self-defense, but Joe still has to serve his sentence.
While Joe is cleaning the street, someone else comes into town. Frank Harlan (Robert Duvall), a very wealthy landowner. He pays Joe's fine and tries to recruit him for a hunt. A hunt with human prey, as he feels that Chama will slow the process of him consolidating his land holdings.
Mr. Kidd is initially reluctant, but then discovers that his small ranch was raided by Chama's men, who stole his horses and one, Ramon (Ron Soble), seriously injured his foreman. So he agrees to join the hunt.
Along the way, the hunt collects Helen Sanchez (Stella Garcia), a Mexican woman, to prevent her from going off to warn Chama. Only Joe knows she's actually Chama's sweetheart. Other important members of Harlan's team include overly competitive Lamarr (Don Stroud), sniper Mingo (James Wainwright) and Roy (Paul Koslo) who is a fluent Spanish speaker.
It soon becomes apparent that Frank Harlan is a very unpleasant person, with no qualms about killing innocent hostages to try to draw Chama out of the hills. He also fires Joe Kidd, who is not directly loyal to him. It's no surprise then that Joe kind of switches sides, though he isn't exactly fond of Chama.
Good: The script was written by Elmore Leonard so it has good bones, and the guns are period-authentic. There's a great sequence where a locomotive crashes through a building that was achieved by having a locomotive crash through a building. The acting is generally high quality.
Less good: John Sturges was struggling with alcoholism so often showed up to set too drunk to properly direct, and he did not get along with Clint Eastwood (at least partially due to the drunk thing.) Thus the direction is somewhat inconsistent and not his best work.
While this wasn't very non-Hispanic John Saxon's first go-round as a Mexican character, it still kind of grates on modern sensibilities. The original script had Chama be a more heroic character, but as the star Eastwood asked for changes to make Joe more the hero of the story and Chama more stereotypically flawed. (Mr. Saxon later apologized to Mexican groups for the portrayal.)
Content note: Loads of gun violence, often lethal, and some other violence as well. Horses killed. Implications of extramarital sex. Ethnic prejudice. Alcohol abuse.
Overall: Not the best movie for anyone involved, but decently watchable. Recommended to Eastwood completists.
