Bite the Bullet (1975) User Reviews

"Horse don't give a damn who wins the race. Me either."

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 8/10 · 4 July 2007]

If "Bite the Bullet" sentimentalizes the independence and force of ordinary men without glamor who have to struggle for a prize in a hard, bitter, and lonely environment, it also examines the cruel or inhumane treatment often inflicted on animals…

"Bite the Bullet" is an all-star Western about a 700-mile horse race that takes place in the middle of 'Nowhere, USA' at the turn of the last century, for a chance to win the grand prize of $2000…

At the head of the line is Gene Hackman, an ex-Rough Rider who believes in caring for lame animals, and despises cruelty to horses, ladies in distress, lost kids and lost causes…Hackman has got the heart, and at the film's climax, he is the sleeper—the one to beat…

His old-timer friend from fighting days at San Juan Hill is James Coburn, a natural-born gambler who certainly can't afford to lose… He just bet everything on this race, and got seven-to-one… Coburn and Hackman have a great chemistry together, and their friendly rivalry imposes the name of the game…

Also riding: Candice Bergen, who has 'two thousand reasons' to compete in the race; Ben Johnson who desperately wants to win the prize to be a man to remember; Ian Bannen, the tough Englishman who comes 5,000 miles to beat the best; Mario Arteaga, the cool Mexican who needs the money for his loving family in spite of suffering from unbearable toothache; and Jan Michael-Vincent who brings the lower calibrations of judgment, antagonism, and rage to his interactions... This punk kid certainly has a knack of provoking a man to violence… He soon will be in his own best way to learn some life lessons from 'real' cowboys...

Brooks' movie has the courage to show how beauty can flourish in our treatments for animals… He accomplished a film that is beautifully photographed and expertly put together… Brooks leaves a whole host of abiding impressions through his nine riders' true character

Ben Johnson tribute

[danielj_old999 · 8/10 · 18 October 2005]

His death scene in this movie is perhaps the greatest and most poignant ever filmed, and I include all "world masterpieces" in this statement. It is what I shall always remember about this film, which otherwise is a good old rousing Western chase movie with a great cast, one of Richard Brooks' bullseyes. (Others were "In Cold Blood" and "Deadline USA" with Bogart, which for some inexplicable reason has never appeared on home media.) True, Johnson had received a BSA Oscar four years previously...and maybe that's why he didn't receive one for this movie: but one simply has to see this scene to believe it. Johnson is living the part; there is no other way to describe his performance here. Somehow a former champion bull roper achieved something of which the very greatest actors would be envious.There are several movies that make me weep for joy, but few that produce vicarious compassion for the tragedy of mankind. Thanks, Ben.

Endurance And Character

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 24 September 2008]

Bite The Bullet, a most unusual western from the pen and the direction of Richard Brooks. It concerns a rather strange camaraderie that develops between the seven participants in a horse race out west.

This is not a race for speed, this is a test of endurance for seven miles through the desert in the American southwest. The seven participants are Gene Hackman, James Coburn, Ben Johnson, Candice Bergen, Jan-Michael Vincent, Ian Bannen, and Mario Artaega.

All these people have their own reasons for wanting the $2000.00 prize offered by the newspaper sponsoring the event. Hackman and Coburn are old friends already and Coburn's hoping Hackman will throw the race his way because he's up over his head in bets he can't pay off should he lose. Ben Johnson's an old timer just wanting to be remembered for doing something important in his life. Ian Bannen is an English Lord who thinks it's all jolly good sport. Candice Bergen is both striking a blow for women and sending money to her jailed husband. She works for madam Jean Willes when not racing. Jan-Michael Vincent is a punk kid with something to prove and Mario Artaega is just a poor guy looking for a stake to feed his family.

It's about the animals as well, this is not the Kentucky Derby for a mile and a quarter. The horses have to be looked after if they make it through a rough 700 miles. They kind of bind the characters together in a strange way.

Bite The Bullet is not long on plot, but very deep in characterization and it works here just like it works in the Sam Peckinpah classic, Junior Bonner. Even those that don't endure develop wellsprings of character they never thought they had. It's a good film and the ending shows something about character and friendship.

One of the Great '70s Westerns - Re: SlowMo and Animal Cruelty

[tonstant viewer · 23 March 2002]

"Bite the Bullet" has a lot to chew on, and boasts a fine cast held firmly under control. Hackman gives his usual unobtrusive acting lesson, Coburn twinkles but not too much, and Bergen gives the first decent acting performance of her career (after Hackman chewed her out for her lack of professional skills and she requested his help).

Questions of greed, competition, teamwork, loyalty, betrayal and humanity are all given a good and non-medicinal airing. There's enough action here for the inert, and enough philosophy for the grownups.

There's been discussion in these reviews of the director's use of slow-motion. Slow motion is not used here to make intellectual points, it is an instrument of emotional expression. When one character in real time passes another in slow motion, it conveys to us how they both feel at that moment, and doesn't need to carry any other freight. As an expressive device, it works.

The question of animal abuse has also come up in these pages. In "Bite the Bullet" the horses are always photographed as heroes, often visually overwhelming their riders. Gene Hackman is shown from the beginning as a fighter of cruelty against animals, and every abuse he witnesses he then tries to remedy. The education of the Jan Michael Vincent character is a case in point.

Furthermore, this picture makes you care about the animals, unlike the traditional offhand Hollywood cruelty. Dozens of horses were killed to make the last reel of the Errol Flynn "Charge of the Light Brigade" and the film itself couldn't care less. You can see trip wires being used wholesale as late as in "Khartoum", and when those horses went down, they broke legs and were immediately shot, not pretend, for real.

Hollywood's excuse has always been that horses are expensive and they don't kill them thoughtlessly. Stunts are performed by circus horses, which presumably don't come to harm. We're told the only horses that get killed are old and already destined for the glue factory. Whether this justifies trip wires or not is up to you, but that's what they say.

"Bite the Bullet" comes off as sensitive and responsible by comparison. This is no snuff film. The Oscar-winning sound design makes you really care when the horses are supposed to be in distress.

A lot worse things happen to the human characters in just about every action-adventure film of the last twenty years. Is the "yuck" factor we're now trying to get used to more or less disgusting?

All in all, "Bite the Bullet" is a worthwhile film with content, humor and beauty. There's thousands of worse ways to spend your time than watching this movie.

Overwhelming and spectacular horse race marvelously shot on gorgeous locations

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 28 May 2012]

Sensational Western excellently acted , marvelously photographed and well screen-written with fine eye by Richard Brooks . It deals with some aging riders as Hackman , Coburn and Ben Johnson who get chance redeem themselves along with a young gunslinger , a Brit lord , a Mexican and an ex-whore . The film was based on a real , endurance race at the turn of the century ; it was inspired by the 1908 , 700-mile cross-country horse race from Evanston , Wyoming to Denver , Colorado. It was sponsored by the Denver Post , which offered $2,500 prize money to the winner . At the beginning of the 20th century, a newspaper organizes a grueling horse race : 700 miles to run in a few days . A bunch of ex-rough riders and a gunfighter enter a horse race in the desert . The motley group of disparate adventurers are competing , among them a woman , ex-prostitute (Candice Bergen) , Miss Jones, a Mexican , an Englishman (Ian Bannen) , a young gunslinger (Jan-Michael Vincent) , an old one (Ben Johnson) and two friends , Sam Clayton (Gene Hackman , though Charles Bronson turned down the leading role) and Luke Matthews (James Coburn) . All those individualists learn to respect for each other and develop a grudging and growing friendship .

An overlong and dangerous horse race is the subject of this stunning and grand adventure , an epic in every sense of word . Impressive and breathtaking ending with the finalists terminating the grueling race . Exciting , funny and well acted , especially by Gene Hackman and James Coburn as two tough , two-fisted riders . Special mention to Ben Johnson as a veteran rider in his last feat . Colorfully photographed in Technicolor and Panavison by Harry Stradling Jr in Valley of Fire State Park and its Coyote Pass and Deah Valley (Nevada), Chama, New Mexico , Lake Mead, Taos , Nevada, White Sands National Monument, Alamogordo, New Mexico . Exceptional and thrilling soundtrack by Alex North (Cleopatra, Spartacus) , now a classic score .

Directed and screen-played with magnificent style by Richard Brooks . He was a fine writer/director so consistently mixed the good and average which it became impossible to know that to expect from him next . Firstly he worked regularly as a Hollywood screenwriter . After that , his initial experience of directing was one of his own screenplays called ¨Crisis¨. The Richard Brooks films that have the greatest impact are realized during the 50s and 60s as ¨Cat on a hot tin roof¨, ¨Something of value¨ , ¨Elmer Gantry¨, ¨Sweet bird of youth¨, ¨In cold blood¨ , ¨Lord Jim¨. Brooks was a writer and director of Chekhovian depth , who mastered the use of understatement, anticlimax and implied emotion . His films enjoyed lasting appeal and tended to be more serious than the usual mainstream productions . Richards formerly directed another good Western titled ¨The professionals ¨ also with various tough stars as Burt Lancaster , Lee Marvin , Jack Palance and Robert Ryan , including the same musician , Alex North , and similar outdoors . The ¨Bite the bullet¨ is an authentic must see , not to be missed for buffs of the genre . A magnificent movie , hardly noticed for its theatrical release ; however , being nowadays very well considered . Rating : Above average because of its awesome acting , dialog , score are world class.

Great cast and dialog highlight this fun, but not frivolous, Western

[MBunge · 7/10 · 8 September 2010]

This is a fun Western with some great dialog that manages to be realistic about the Wild West without wallowing in severity and hardship.

Bite The Bullet is about a 700 mile horse race across the harsh terrain of the West. A newspaper publisher has put up 2 thousand dollars to the winner to drum up readers for his publication, attracting a colorful field of competitors. There's Sam Clayton (Gene Hackman), a cowboy who cares as much about horses as he does people; Luke Matthews (James Coburn) is Sam's old friend and a gambling, whoring scoundrel looking to parlay winning the race into even more money; Miss Jones (Candace Bergen) is a former prostitute with her own reasons for entering the race; Carbo (Jan-Michael Vincent) is a kid who thinks he's a man until he learns what real manhood is during the cruelest days of the race; There's also a Brit just looking for a challenge, a Mexican with a bad tooth hoping to win for his family, an old cowhand who wants to be famous before he dies as well as a few more, including the newspaper publisher's picked man on an Arabian stallion.

Each day the riders are given a new map that shows the safest, but not necessarily the quickest, route to the next checkpoint. While there's an awful lot of riding, this story isn't about race strategy. It is about the problems the riders encounter on the trail and the ones they bring with them, including secret plots, foolish decisions, accidents, bad luck and bad men.

The best thing about Bite The Bullet is a lot of very fine dialog, both serious and humorous. Just about every character gets at least a couple of lines you'll remember after the film is over. And though memorable, the dialog almost never seems contrived or forced. These seem like real people who just managed to say the things you always wished you had said after the moment had passed.

This movie also straddles the line between the artificial "everything is clean and wonderful" world of the Westerns of the 1950s and the overwrought "everything is crap" world of the modern Western like Unforgiven. The Wild West was a very rough place where life could be very hard, unpleasant and short. As Westerns have tried to more accurately represent that reality, a new cliché has been created. Instead of the West being the land of the singing cowboy, it's become a dystopic hellhole where no one in their right mind would ever want to live. Bite The Bullet threads the needle between those two extremes. It doesn't shy away from the difficulties and obstacles of living in a land where civilization is little more than a rumor, but it also doesn't ignore the fact that the West was a frontier where a man (and sometimes even a woman) could live his own life on his own terms in his own way. The Wild West was a bit like warfare. It was terrible and glorious and sometimes both at the same time.

This is something of a sprawling story and it's not as tightly assembled as a lot of contemporary filmmaking. And after a pretty anticlimactic showdown, the movie turns maudlin right before it abruptly fades to black. It tries really hard to make a point about male-female relationships but never quite makes sense. This movie also contains a lot of bad stuff being done to horses. Some of it is just movie fakery, but some of it you wouldn't be allowed to do to a horse in a film today.

Aside from a few uncomfortable moments when you wonder if something bad really did just happen to a horse, when you've got a good script along with Gene Hackman and James Coburn…it's hard for any movie to go wrong.

Big-budget Western about a 700-mile endurance race with a top-notch cast

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 28 August 2019]

In 1906, a 700-mile horse race in the Western wilderness is sponsored by a newspaper. The racers include two former Rough Riders (Gene Hackman & James Coburn), a part-time prostitute (Candice Bergen), a punk "Kid" (Jan-Michael Vincent), an aged cowboy (Ben Johnson), a Mexican with a toothache (Mario Arteaga) and an English gent (Ian Bannen).

"Bite the Bullet" (1975) was written & directed by Richard Brooks, who said the movie is based on several historical cross-country races subsidized by newspapers and cities from 1880-1910. The most well-known was a 1908 race from Evanston, Wyoming, to Denver backed by the Denver Post with a $2500 prize, which was his main inspiration.

While this was a big budget production with a kick-axx cast it's not often cited on Best Westerns lists, probably because the long race makes it a one-of-a-kind Western that's not about a suspense-building story, but rather an episodic adventure with character-defining vignettes. Speaking of which, it helps if you utilize the subtitles to keep up with the sometimes mumbled dialogues.

Unfortunately, the escaped convict subplot seems shoehorned into the last act. It's like Brooks tried too hard to concoct an "exciting" ending, but ended up almost ruining the movie.

The film runs 2 hours, 12 minutes, and was shot in Nevada (Carson National Forest & Lake Mead), New Mexico (White Sands) and Colorado.

GRADE: C+/B-

guns and sand

[nxgn_not_not · 7/10 · 13 September 2004]

Coburn is good, but Hackman is really one of the best. It's movies like this that really let you know what people can do. Well done from beginning to end. Makes me want to see more of the world from horse back.

Things I liked: Life was hard and they let you know it - Hookers and chemicals were everywhere - every one of the major characters was given screen time to develop into real people - beautiful animals.

Things I had difficulty with: Your horse dies in the desert, you should die in the desert, at least make the young buck walk out - the jail break scene was forced - does the Mexican live or die

A New Old-Fashioned Western

[rrebenstorf · 10/10 · 9 July 2003]

For whatever reason, critics in the 70s were quick to pronounce dead the western genre whenever a new western opened, but that didn't stop the decade from producing some of my favorites in the category. _Bite the Bullet_ is a fine example. Where other westerns of the decade seemed to pursue the avenue of re-invention, Richard Brooks' gritty movie about a turn-of-the-century horse race/endurance test opts for sweet revival. The cast of characters are the usual suspects: company men vs. real cowboys, kid-looking-for-a-reputation, ballsy hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold, tough-and-noble-oppressed Mexican, and old-hand-on-his-last-hurrah. They all combine to tell a supremely entertaining and satisfying story. As a bonus, we get the chance to consider seriously what impact America's win-win mentality has on the moral character of its people.

At the heart of the picture are the splendid performances by Gene Hackman and James Coburn as old buddies from Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders days. The friendship between their characters is the movie's moral glue, and it is portrayed without smearing or stickiness. In these two characters we not only get all of the integrity of upright and rugged individualism inherent in the Western Code, but we get a nice dash of Butch and Sundance to boot.

And I think Candice Bergen makes for a great tomboy. It actually makes her sexier.

Unusual Western with a Good Adventure

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 11 July 2011]

When a newspaper sponsors 700-mile endurance horse race, a group of adventurers is attracted by the grand prize of US$ 2,000.00 for the winner.

Among the participants are the former Rough Rider Sam Clayton (Gene Hackman), who fought in the Spanish-American War, and protects the animals from cruelty; his friend Luke Matthews (James Coburn), who has also fought in the war, and now is a gambler; the ex-prostitute Miss Jones (Candice Bergen) that has a hidden agenda to run the race; a Mexican (Mario Arteaga), who has toothache, and needs the money to help his poor family; the young bully Carboa (Jan-Michael Vincent) that does not respect anybody; the anonymous Mister (Ben Johnson) that wants to be famous; the Englishman Sir Harry Norfolk (Ian Bannen) that has traveled a long distance expecting to win the race.

Along the days of competition, greed and betrayal affect the contestants' performances. But in the end, the survivors learn lessons of friendship and teamwork.

"Bite the Bullet" is an unusual western with a good adventure and interesting characters. Candice Bergen is in the top of her beauty but her character disappoints in the end, double-crossing and causing the death of the participants. Unfortunately the lame conclusion is too dramatic and unreasonable, since in accordance with the competition's rules, each horse plus horseman and gear should not weight more than a certain wight. When Sam and Luke unsaddle their horses and lead them to the finish line, it is not clear whether they have broken any of the foregoing rules and did not win the race. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Risco de uma Decisão" ("The Risk of a Decision")

'Don't you know Sam Clayton? Defender of dumb animals, damsels in distress. Champion of lost causes.'

[scorfield-51711 · 4/10 · 31 August 2016]

Potentially, this project held out the promise for writer/director, Richard Brooks, to add to the list of critical successes from earlier in his career. This was especially the case as his last venture into the western, the 'Professionals', nine years earlier, was acclaimed as having revitalised the genre, earning him Academy Award nominations as both director and writer.

Yet, the main flaw of this feature is in the weak structure of the overall narrative - an area in which Brooks would normally excel. This is surprising, given the rich vein of material he was exploring. Based on the real-life 700 mile endurance race organised by the 'Denver Post' newspaper in 1908, the storyline held great potential to grip an audience, but suffers in various respects. The first of these concerns a common pitfall of ensemble casts in that by attempting to flesh out each character in turn, the risk is run that none is fleshed out sufficiently.

This is even true of Gene Hackman's central protagonist, a former member of Teddy Roosevelt's 'Rough Riders' who famously charged San Juan Hill in 1898. A committed animal lover, Sam Clayton - whose first name ironically was that of the actual winning horse of the 1908 race - has been hired by the newspaper baron organising the race to turn up at the appointed meeting-point with the tycoon's champion Arabian thoroughbred. As the film opens we witness his coming to the rescue of an abandoned young foal whose mother has been left for dead. Thus, his care for defenceless animals, provides the reason for his dismissal for having missed his employer's deadline.

The role of the newspaper tycoon is played in the opening scenes by Paul Stewart, whose stroke while filming, suddenly led to the casting of Dabney Coleman as the tycoon's son, to complete the picture. This downturn in Clayton's fortunes sparks his sudden entry into the endurance race, and highlights the second allied weakness of this feature. This comprises the lack of logical character arcs where some protagonists undergo completely inexplicable emotional or psychological changes. An illustration of this is how the young, headstrong wannabe, played capably by Jan-Michael Vincent in one of his rare better performances, suddenly becomes a willing gofer for Clayton and his friends.

Yet, this is nothing compared to the incomprehensible transformation undertaken by Hackman's lead character. The opening scenes clearly establish how Clayton abhors unnecessary animal suffering, and his initial reactions to the other competitors clearly challenges the integrity of a race where a winning horse endures far more physical hardship but the rider takes all the glory. Therefore, his decision to not just take part but to drive his own horse to the point of being dead on its feet - an act for which he had earlier handed out a brutal thrashing to Vincent's character - defies any logic.

A third flaw with the plot is the clumsy incorporation of the sub-plot centred on Candice Bergen's character, Miss Jones, and her hidden motive for participating in the race. Not only does this sub-plot detract from the real adventure of the race, but it also leads to an incongruous, almost comical, motorbike versus equine chase. Moreover, the soundtrack accompanying the chase scene, including an up-tempo rendition of the 'Camptown Races' adds to the feel that this interlude appears completely disjointed with the increasing drama of the toll the race has taken on both men and horses. It is also astonishing that given former prostitute Miss Jones' deceit, which places her fellow competitors' lives at unnecessary risk, she is for all intents and purposes, all too easily forgiven.

These amateurish plot devices offer little, and all that they achieve is to leave the finale of the race appear tacked on without any real build-up of tension. Rumours abounded that the script for the feature was unfinished when production started, which would help account for these deficiencies. Even the title of the feature appears disjointed, referring to a piece of amateur dentistry performed on the token Mexican character, rather than having relevance to the gruelling challenge lying at the heart of the plot.

In terms of the acting, Hackman, in a role turned down by Charles Bronson, gives a creditable performance with what little he is given in a genre which would not serve him well till his collaboration with Eastwood in the early nineties. In addition, both James Coburn, as Clayton's gambling former Rough Rider companion, Luke Matthews, and Ian Bannon, as the competing English aristocrat, ably support, though their characters remain one-dimensional. As for Bergen, she provides one of her better performances, made easier by her having grown up around horses. However, stealing the show in a supporting role, which should have earned an Academy Award nomination, is Ben Johnson as the anonymous 'Mister', a veteran 'Jack-of-all-trades' seeking to make a name for himself before succumbing to the terminal heart disease he has been diagnosed with.

If the poor continuity of the film reflects badly on the writer-director, Brooks does show glimpses of his talent with some well-crafted dialogue. Firstly, there are marvellous asides, such as Matthews' quip to Clayton: 'You start trouble and I start bleedin', and Johnson's old timer's pithy observation: 'I've never saw a man who could hold his liquor like a bottle.' Perhaps, best crafted scene is the one containing Clayton's honest account of serving in the Rough Riders in Cuba alongside Teddy Roosevelt. In an exchange with Candice Bergen his character spouts the jingoistic patriotic retelling of the courageous storming of San Juan Hill, before drawing his horse back up alongside to confess: 'We didn't charge up there...We crawled up there on our scared bellies.' He proceeds to movingly recount the loss of his Cuban wife in the same military encounter. Hackman himself in an interview years later revealed that this was one of his favourite scenes in all his movies.

Another saving grace for the feature is the splendid cinematography of Harry Stradling Jr, which so brilliantly captures the majestic landscapes the race encompasses, especially that of the stark desert of the White Sands Monument in New Mexico. In addition, the film experiments with slow-motion to great effect, highlighting the sound of the horses' exertions as one rider overtakes another. If only the sheer endurance required for man and animal had received much more such treatment, the film would have been majestic. By contrast, the upbeat soundtrack by Alex North is out of harmony with the general tenor of the film, and is way too standard fare within this genre to be singled out for an Oscar nomination as it was.

The fluctuations in quality which plague the feature are not helped by the film's declarative tag line describing it as a classic western in the tradition of 'Shane' and 'High Noon'. Unfortunately, for the aforementioned weaknesses, it doesn't share the obvious merits of those classics. Of the many gaffes apparent, this reviewer just has to single out the hilarious long-shot in which the audience witness Coburn's character and horse plunge from a cliff to evade what is almost clearly a man dressed in a bear suit. Overall, a muddled project, which lacks any cohesive rationale or plot.

One of the best westerns of the '70s.

[barnabyrudge · 8/10 · 23 November 2005]

By the 1970s, the western genre was virtually exhausted and many of the westerns made around that time were either cheaply-made, badly-dubbed European offerings, or depressingly violent revenge westerns (e.g The Hunting Party, The Revengers, The Deadly Trackers, The Last Hard Men, etc.) Bite The Bullet, however, is a happy exception. Not only does it resist the '70s urge to show gore and brutality, it also manages to come up with a plot that is actually quite novel. It also marks an example of the "third-time-lucky" adage for Gene Hackman.... for this was his third western of the '70s, and the first of real quality (his previous two - The Hunting Party and Zandy's Bride - being pretty terrible if truth be known).

At the turn-of-the-century, various riders gather in a Wild West town to compete in an endurance horse race of some 700 miles or so. Among those seeking the glory and the romance are English gentleman Norfolk (Ian Bannen); young show-offy hot-head Carbo (Jan-Michael Vincent); a rugged old man in search of a final moment of honour (Ben Johnson); a poor Mexican with serious dental problems (Mario Ateaga); feisty female entrant Jones (Candice Bergen); former Rough Rider Luke Matthews (James Coburn); and introspective horse-lover Sam Clayton (Gene Hackman). As they ride through forests, deserts and mountains toward the finishing line, the riders get involved in various adventures and tragedies. Some lose their horses along the trail; others are even less fortunate and lose their lives.

Bite The Bullet is a very good western, with convincing performances from its all-star cast and luscious cinematography from the great Harry Stradling Jr. The opening quarter of the film is fairly slow, with time given over to the character introductions and a little probing into the motivations of each rider. However, this proves worthwhile later as the fate of each rider gains significant power because the audience has come to understand - to know, if you like - the various characters. On the whole, the period detail and the dialogue seem impeccable. Alex North's score is good, and adds an extra dimension to the proceedings. The only flaw worth mentioning is that the film's structure - perhaps inevitably - is rather episodic.... every few minutes, the narrative jumps to another rider and follows their adventures for a scene or two before jumping again to another character. There was probably no way to avoid this, but it is occasionally tedious and frustrating for the viewer (because just as they are "getting into" the plight of one rider the action cuts away to the plight of another). Aside from this minor flaw, Bite The Bullet is a highly impressive film and easily earns a spot on the top-ten-westerns-of-the-'70s list.

disappointing

[winner55 · 6/10 · 13 December 2008]

I saw this when it first came out and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Viewed again recently on disc, I can now see the flaws that kept this film off lists of "classic Westerns." The most obvious moment of misjudgment comes in the big chase scene at the end. It's totally misplaced, and probably was intended for the middle of the picture, then delayed to provide more screen time for the female lead. It does not lead well into the finale, and now stands as one of the worst continuity lapses of all time. Worse, there seems to be some sequence that got lost in order for this scene to be placed where it is. At any rate, the ending is mystifying in small details, but enough to leave one feeling oddly unsatisfied.

Others have noted the second-rate editing throughout the film; but continuity errors of this sort are the director's responsibility. One feels that the director realized that he had bit off more than he could chew, and rather than put it back on the plate to chop it up into smaller, more manageable pieces, let it sort of drool out between his lips hoping no one would notice.

And this story would have worked on a lower budget, with a shorter run time, made in the late 1950s. Admittedly the photography is grand, and there are marvelous set-pieces throughout - but they don't add up to the great Western this story could have been.

A Plot That is Far-Fetched Even for the Three Stooges

[Bob_Zerunkel · 1/10 · 12 January 2012]

You don't have to see more than a few minutes of this movie to start picking out the plot holes. What a disaster.

Bergen's character, for instance, enters the race, not to win, but because she knows that the race goes right near where her husband is in prison. She wants to break him out, and she wants to use the race to help her. Her plan is to do the race day after day until she runs across the chain gang that has her husband. Then she will overpower the guard and vamoose with the hubby.

Stupid, stupid, stupid plan. But it works. She rides hundreds of miles at break-neck speed and wondrously comes upon the chain gang with her husband at the exact time she passes. She never has to deviate from the race course!! The chain gang is right in the path of the race!! There is only one guard!! She gets her husband out. Wow.

Neither horses nor riders are outfitted for a marathon race. Horses are used like automobiles. As long as the rider can sit, the horse can keep galloping through the desert. However, get a horse near the finish line, and all of a sudden, it's about dead. Too bad the race didn't end 300 yards earlier when the horses were frisky.

I absolutely love cowboy movies, and I like every actor in this movie, but this is a load of garbage.

Perhaps it makes sense if you have never seen a horse or a desert or a race, but this is a stinker.

Horses can't be run hour after hour. Deserts are both deadly hot and freezing cold. Marathon races are not done at full speed.

Geeze, there was even bad acting by the snake. What the heck is that snake doing trying to snuggle up to a sleeping Vincent in the middle of a hot desert day? It was probably an amateur snake that had never been a snake before. A more professional snake would have argued with the director. Real snakes seek heat when it is cold and hide from it when it is hot. If they are out in the hot sun, they are hunting, and they don't hunt things larger than what they can shove down their throats whole.

And finally, if you are ever in the desert and you and your horse are dying of thirst, you aren't a horseman if you drink before you take care of your horse.

This is not a "fact-based" story as some gullibly believe. There was a race once that went the same distance, but that is the only connection.

Hackman, Colburn, Bergen, Johnson, Vincent: fine actors. Anything they have done is more watchable than this turkey.

This movie gets one cow plop out of ten. Great actors. No plot. Bad camera work. Badly edited.

Perhaps the best Western made in the 1970s.

[jtchance1 · 6 February 2002]

In my mind this is almost a perfect movie. Writer-Director Richard Brooks delivered in my mind his best work since his 1960 blockbusters ELMER GANTRY and THE PROFESSIONALS. We have Brook's trademark crisp dialogue driving the epic about an endurance race set in the waning days of the american west. In place of Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin professionals we have James Coburn and Gene Hackman as the soldiers of fortune thrown into the circumstance of this race. They both give superior performances. Ably supporting them in what should have gotten him a second supporting actor Oscar is Ben Johnson. If there is any quibble at all with the film it is the casting of of Candice Bergen as the prostitute turned contestant. She simply looks too well preserved to have lived the life her character has placed before the audience. One interesting note about the film had the exchange of actors functioning in basically the same part over the course of the film. Paul Stewart who is uncredited starts the film out as the wealthy rancher Parker until about a quarter of the way through the film when with an ingenious use of a looped line Dabney Coleman appears as Parker's son taking over the character's function from that point on.I remember seeing this film in it's initial engagement at Radio City Music Hall and it is still a fresh and rewarding experience. It is a shame that the upcoming DVD release will have no special features. I know Mr Coburn recorded a commentary for THE MAGNIFICENT 7, Ms. Bergen did THE SAND PEBBLES, and Mr. Hackman did the FRENCH CONNECTION discs. It would have been great to hear stories from these fine actors about this shoot. At the very least it would be nice the have Alex North's Oscar nominated score isolated on the disc.

Good competition/road movie, Great twist but too lightly treated

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 4 August 2013]

It's early 20th century. Various riders answer the call to compete in a 700 mile race. It stars Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, James Coburn, Ben Johnson, Jan-Machael Vincent among others.

This is a good functional road movie. There are various archetype characters. Their competition and comradery are treated with realism. The camera work in the desert is good with the exception of one slow-motion scene which obviously doesn't work. The twist near the end is great and fitting. There's just enough foreshadowing to create a good sense of satisfaction. However, the consequences of the twist was treated much too lightly. The music, and the way the chase was conducted was too silly and ill fitting.

Early Hackman & Coburn West-Fest with Candy Bergen!

[shepardjessica-1 · 6/10 · 14 December 2004]

Richard Brooks' Western horse race movie (ORIGINAL SURVIVOR PLOT) in the old west with Ben Johnson competing. Old John Ford Style new-America (after or before D. Bowie song) about ....well.you know. WINNING!

A 6 out of 10. Best performance = J. Coburn. Wild and wandering Western horse race competition AND Jan-Michael Vincent before he pretended he was important. Anyway, it's intriguing, racing, cheating, and Candy Bergen (Babe) is "not selling her female charms" because she wants to win the race for like...5 Grand in 1890 or something. But she's cool..Some of these characters respect horses.......which are the main characters. Check it!

Perilous Journey.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 25 April 2013]

It's not a bad Western, as far as that goes, but it's hard to imagine why some people feel it's the best Western ever made.

Half a dozen or so diverse character enter into a brutal week-long horse race across the Southwestern desert, encountering numerous tribulations and conflicts along the way. Is that original? Well, in a way I suppose it is. Here we have six horses. In "Sahara", Humphrey Bogart and his companions only had one tank between them.

The musical score borrows from Aaron Copeland and Maurice Jarre's "Lawrence of Arabia," and indeed the scenery is exquisite, even if not as dramatically handled as in "Lawrence." (It was partly shot in White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.) Except for one or two effective slow-motion scenes of horses being ridden half to death -- or all the way -- Richard Brooks' direction is competent without being notable.

The plot. It's as if a committee had sat around a table drinking café lattes mit Schlag and made a lot of notes about what can happen to people who are riding horses through a colorful but forbidding Western landscape.

Let's see. A man can be bitten by a rattlesnake, or almost. In this instance they killed the rattlesnake on screen, for real, which is terrible treatment for a handsome reptile who wants only to be left alone. (I'll bet the wranglers kissed the horses' rumps.) A man can get shot in the back by an escaping prison gang. A woman can be almost raped by a duo of greasy no-goodniks who just happen to be hanging around in the middle of nowhere as she rides past. Of course, if the woman is Candice Bergen, it's understandable that they should notice her presence, but is it really necessary for them to try to do more than simply squeeze and bite her, as any normal man would do? Then there is Jan Michael Vincent as the hot-dog fanfaron strutting around and challenging strangers to draw on him, "trying to earn a reputation," a convention of only the earliest TV Westerns.

An old man can die of a heart attack from all the stress, and Ben Johnson gets to give a great speech about how important it is to be SOMEBODY and have people shake your hand. Johnson at least is given his due in one long take in which he directly addresses the camera. The guy is an icon.

Another extended monologue is given to Gene Hackman, a former Rough Rider, describing the way good old Teddy Roosevelt led the charge up San Juan Hill. (Kids: This is the Spanish-American war we're discussing here, 1898.) But he gets the destination wrong. It was Kettle Hill, not San Juan Hill.

Let me think of some other things that can go wrong during the race. A man can be poisoned by villains or by mistake, and, man, is this a mistake. After Gene Hackman imbibes some whiskey he takes a couple of gulps of laudanum, an opium compound, clutches his belly in agony and ululates his pain like a wounded animal. In reality, such a cocktail would put you into a soft, furry, tangerine-colored sleep in two minutes.

Oh. And can an upper-class British twit have his beloved horse break a leg and can he be force to commit a merciful equicide, even while drowning in his own tears? You bet.

Fair-spirited 70s Western a little in over its head

[whitec-3 · 7/10 · 31 January 2012]

Much to admire in Bite the Bullet, but the plot, setting, and editing are so ungainly as to undermine the overall cinematic experience.

What's right about the film shouldn't be underestimated. Like a lot of 70s films, Bite the Bullet has a conscience. The representations of that conscience may make you wince, but the story treats its characters justly and insightfully. The Hackman character's recurrent decency to animals and humans creates a counter-narrative to all their suffering that bears good fruit as the story develops. The actors are all-star and well-cast--Hackman is in his prime, Coburn is best as a supporting actor, Ian Bannen was among 20c England's most likable talents, Candice Bergen looks like she looks, J-M Vincent shows good movement and range, and Ben Johnson gracefully reprises the old-timer from The Last Picture Show. The dialog and cinematography are often fine enough that individual scenes feel ravishing.

Despite all these good vibes, the scenario's too big even for cinema. So many characters, stunt doubles, changes of landscape, and minutes strain attention. In the final plot-turn the soundtrack painfully echoes comedies like The Great Race while the actors go hammy. Suddenly one sees the undisciplined, indulgent, undiscriminating side of the decade. The finish-line scene appropriately comments on the race's inevitable exhaustion, but I had to fight to keep my finger off the fast-forward. Anyone not so devoted might wonder why they spent quite so much time watching or how a director might expect anyone to care about so many many people for so long.

In Many Respects, An Underrated Western

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 28 April 2006]

A good cast, some nice photography and an interesting story about a 700-mile horse race make "Bite The Bullet" kind of underrated western. You don't hear it mentioned much in "Favorite Westerns" lists.

The only drawbacks for me were a little too much language and that grundgy-70s feel to it that movies in that decade had to them, even in westerns. Having grown up with "Shane," and a bunch of westerns on TV, I still wasn't quite used to what I heard here when this came out 30 years ago. Nowadays, this is mild stuff.

This is a fairly long film at 131 minutes but it moves fast. Gene Hackman plays the tough-but-humane hero. The rest of the contestants in this race are all interesting, too. Each is given a little profile of themselves and include Candice Bergen, James Coburn, Jan-Michael Vincent, Ben Johnson and Ian Bannen.

In addition, there are some memorable scenes such as a horse literally dropping dead; a man poisoned, a woman with a "different agenda" an old man hanging on and a bad-turned-good kid. It's a nice mixture.

"New" Type of Philosophical and Sensitive Seventies Western

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 18 August 2015]

Ambitious Revisionist Western with Great Dialog delivered by some Seasoned Pros and a few Newcomers. Backdropping it all are some very Picturesque Vistas of the Changing West circa 1906 where a 700 Mile Horse Race is Big News.

Writer-Director Richard Brooks has Crafted an Interesting and Thought Provoking "New" Type of 'Sensitive" Western with attention to more Empathy about Horses and Man's Plight in a Harsh and Insensitive World.

One could say that Brooks' Answer is to "Bite the Bullet" and Soldier On because there's Not Much One Can Do. Gene Hackman, James Coburn, and Ben Johnson are the Wisdom Wielders and Jan Michael Vincent and Candice Bergen are of the New Breed. Mario Arteaga is along for some Ethnic Flavor. All are Effective in Their Western Attire and Ride Horses like They do it Every Day.

There is a Lot of Horse Riding, Obviously, and the Race takes up most of the Long Running Time and it all Looks Sharp and Believable as They Ride Toward Victory, or not, Taking time out now and then to Philosophize.

Overall, it is a very Good Exercise in Seventies New Found Freedom of Expression and the Professional Cast and Crew make it a Cerebral Counterpoint to Most Westerns.

The Ending seems Rushed and there are Jarring Jump Cuts that are Jagged and the Film Loses Something because of Rickedy Montage. But, the Movie Manages for the Most Part to be a Different Diversion from the Usual Genre Fare.

Modern day western

[jfarms1956 · 5/10 · 26 April 2013]

This movie is geared for those 12and older. This movie is a modern day western, cowboys, hats, horses, and guns. Bite the Bullet is action packed. It even has a flavor of humor in the film (it is not just all serious). I was surprised to find that Gene Hackman was playing a cowboy (and doing it well). I am used to his modern day soldier or city slicker roles. James Coburn can play just about everything well. Candice Bergen is just eye candy for your guys. The musical scores are perfectly complementary with what is going on in the movie. It is a little long in places, but over all, the movie provides a night of good entertainment. I give it five thumbs up.

A story of heart, bravery and animal rights

[freepony777 · 10/10 · 17 June 2005]

Bite the Bullet includes poignant performances by a charismatic Gene Hackman, a totally hot Candice Brgman, a cavalier James Coburn and a young, angry Jan Michael Vincent. This is my favorite movie! The cinematography is intoxicating. A collexion of amazing horses of every color and conformation galloping, racing, leaping across the rugged California desert for hours! A portrait of human greed pitted against animal rights and compassion. The heroes in this movie are dark and the villains are sad. The backdrop for the unfolding drama is a 700 mile endurance horse race, but within this is framework is explored war, desperation, prostitution, rape, death, heroin overdose, greed, betrayal, trains, selflessness, heroism, friendship, the human/animal bond and good 'ol triumph of the spirit. But most of all pretty, pretty horses.

Good movie, but does not fully develop its potential.

[fredschaefer-406-623204 · 7/10 · 31 May 2019]

I've always been a big western fan, especially those with an epic scope, but BITE THE BULLET has been one of those of this genre that has escaped me over the years, occasionally catching bits and pieces of edited versions on TV. And I wondered why, considering the cast and the director, it was not better known, or held in a higher esteem, among cinephiles; certainly the actors involved have legions of fans. So recently, to fill in this gap in my movie knowledge, I bought the DVD and decided to find out for myself, discovering a lot to like in this film, but also gaining an understanding of why it has never quite obtained the status of a classic.

BITE THE BULLET's plot certainly grabbed me: set in 1908, it centers on a grueling 750 mile horse race across the American West, with the winner getting a prize of $2,000, no small sum in those days. The film's protagonists are a motley group of familiar types, each with their own motives for putting themselves through the hell it will take to cross the finish line and claim the prize. They are a pair of ex Rough Riders, played by Gene Hackman and James Coburn, old friends who have gone their separate ways; Candice Bergen as a prostitute who can ride with the best of men; Ben Johnson as an old cowhand on a Last Hurrah; Jan Michael Vincent as a young punk, Johnson's complete opposite; Ian Bannen as a wealthy English sportsman; and Mario Artega as an impoverished Mexican, whose toothache literally requires him to bite the bullet. There was a lot of star power and talent on display, with all these actors at the peak of their game in roles that fit them like a glove. But the behind the scenes star was writer-producer-director Richard Brooks, who had started in the business making movies for MGM, and had gone on to make CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, ELMER GANTRY, IN COLD BLOOD, and one of the greatest adventure westerns of the 60's, THE PROFESSIONALS, about a sundry group of men paid to go on a dangerous mission. Brooks' script worked in the themes of friendship and loyalty, sportsmanship and the notion of doing what it takes to win at all cost; the passing of the Old West, and those displaced by it; and animal cruelty, specifically against the horses, some of whom are literally run to death in graphic scenes in order for the their riders to stay in the race. All of this is set to an evocative score by Alex North, and cinematography by Harry Stradling, which makes some striking use of slow motion in order to show the perspective of a character. The American West has never looked better, or more beautiful, this is one 70's western that most definitely was not shot on the Universal back lot.

Gene Hackman was at the top of his 70's stardom at the time, and I think his Spanish American war veteran with a soft spot for horses is one of his better roles, one that highlighted his ability to say a lot without dialogue, he has a couple of truly memorable scenes opposite Jan Michael Vincent, one where he and Coburn literally slap some manners into his punk cowboy, and another one scene, completely wordless, where, on a hot desert floor, there is another confrontation over Vincent's treatment of his horse. That part of the movie is not for those upset by the sight of animals in distress. Ben Johnson has a monologue delivered so movingly he should have gotten another Best Supporting Actor nomination, and Bergen, who acting skills came in for a lot of grief during those years, acquits herself well here, although she just too classy to convincingly play a lady of the evening. It is sad to see the young Jan Michael Vincent now in one of his best 70's films, he really was a big deal back then, and a lot of fans thought he would go on to great things; sadly for him, not to be.

But though there is so much to like in BITE THE BULLET, it never quite seals the deal with me, never hitting that high gear that all of my favorite movies achieve. And I think this has a lot to with Brooks' script, which to me, never adequately develops, or properly exploits, the full potential of his story's premise. This is a movie about a grueling cross country race, yet for most of its running time, we never know who is ahead, thus fumbling an opportunity to create and sustain genuine tension, allowing the pace to falter. There is a third act twist with Bergen's character that comes out of nowhere, with no foreshadowing, it seems to happen only to allow a big action sequence to be inserted into the narrative. The final sequence, where the winner crosses the finish line, something the whole movie should have been building toward, feels very abrupt. Brooks fails to give his protagonists a clear and distinct motive to win the race: Hackman wants to save his ranch; Coburn has gambling debts; Vincent wants to be a big shot; Johnson wants dignity; the Mexican needs the money for his family, but they are mentioned almost as though they are afterthoughts, not goals driving them to win against all obstacles and opponents. I felt like we never become as fully invested in these characters, and their fates, as much as we should. Which is a shame, because a decade earlier, in THE PROFESSIONALS, Brooks made a western about a similar group of characters that was tight, suspenseful, and engrossing from beginning to end; clearly he was going to the same well again in BITE THE BULLET, but not with the same results.

I think BITE THE BULLET suffered from bad timing, it got a big release in the summer of 1975, the year JAWS pretty much sucked all the oxygen out of the room as far as its competition was concerned. BITE THE BULLET got decent to mixed reviews, and under performed at the box office. By the mid 70's, American movie critics were very much taken with the young Easy Riders and Raging Bulls generation of directors - Coppola, Friedkin, Bogdanovich, and Spielberg, and they had a noticeable lack of patience with older directors like Brooks, whose careers stretched back to the big studio days. It didn't matter that Brooks had a string of hits in the 60's, often with edgy material, he was now totally passé, and the fact that he had made a movie which easily could have come out 20 years earlier only proved their point. That BITE THE BULLET was something of a throwback was undeniable, I think with a few revisions, Brooks' script would have worked well for Howard Hawks in 1954, with John Wayne in the Hackman role.

Still, this movie has many fans, and despite my criticism, I think it earns them fairly, and it certainly deserves to be seen by more people, as there is much to like here, as many of its themes are timeless and universal. I would also add, that I think BITE THE BULLET would be an excellent candidate for a remake, especially for a younger film maker desiring to make a western; the genre hasn't died, it just doesn't work as hard as it used to.

One of the worst ever.

[Ghenghy · 3/10 · 14 December 2002]

Ohhh the brutality, ohhhhh the dying breed, ohhhh the sense of loss, ohhhh the prejudice! Jeez, when are all you whiney revisionists going to stop analyzing Westerns for crying out loud? S**t happens. If it offends your socially engineered sensibilities then go back to the comfort of your Meryl Steep collection.

Boring, tedious, and very tiresome waste of celluloid-particularly in light of Coburn/Hackman/Bergen's presence. Nothing interesting or intriguing here, unless you are obsessed with 19th century desert dentisty. May have been a little better without the constant diversion of the out-of-place mexican guy with the bad tooth. A monument to the stupid ultra-left creeping sensitivity of the 60/70's. Virtually impossible to sit through the entire film. I think I'd rather have my eyes stapled open for the entire Lucky Luke/Trinity series. 4 Horses/10-all deader'n hell.