That was an excellent one.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It is unusual to see a beach and ocean scene in a western but maybe it took a first time director to incorporate these elements in a western set in Monterey, California.One-Eyed Jacks is Marlon Brando's only film as a director. He was reportedly unhappy with the production company trimming the film down in post production. In turn they were also not happy that the film went over budget.Brando plays Rio who hangs out with 'Dad' Longworth (Karl Malden) in Mexico. When they are trapped in the desert, surrounded by the Mexican police, Dad makes off with his liberty and the gold while Rio ends up in prison.Five years later Rio escapes and arrives in a Monterey town where Dad is the sheriff. He has settled down with a wife and step daughter. Rio is looking for revenge despite saying the past is the past. Rio and his gang want to rob a bank and Rio takes the opportunity to seduce the stepdaughter. After Rio shoots a bully in a bar in self defence, Dad publicly whips Rio and breaks his shooting hand.There is an Oedipal relationship between Rio and 'Dad.' However both go about at a leisurely pace in taking their revenge. Dad knows he has done wrong by not coming for Rio. He now has a lot to lose after making a respectable life for himself. Rio remains a rogue, constantly lying, always fibbing to the ladies. I could not for a moment believe in his relationship with the step daughter after his mendacity.The film benefits from nice cinematography, it was one of the last movies made in Vista Vision, it captures the desert landscape really well. Given Brando's view of American history, he does not have a misty eyed view of a golden age of the west. His vision is of liars, cynics and cheaters. Dad and Rio are rogues, it is just that Dad is hiding it underneath the veneer of respectability. When goaded by Rio, Dad shows his true face.The problem is that the film is too long even after being cut down by the production company. The story meanders too much in a leisurely way. Brando was astute enough to have those familiar western faces such as Slim Pickens, Ben Johnson and Elisha Cook jr in the picture.

Actor Marlon Brando's solely directing effort in the year 1960 "One-Eyed Jacks", shot entirely on location in the United States, brings elegant Western - Cinematography to screen, but misses out to grip the audience's tension on an over-long editorial of 141 minutes running time. Director Marlon Brando manages to push all the right buttons with his cast, mainly preliminary acting collaborator Karl Malden, who brings fine vicious beats to story as the character of Sheriff Dad Longworth, who changed the side of the law after a robbery with Marlon Brandon's character Rio in the film's opening scene in order to save his own existence.The interactions between the actors Karl Malden & Marlon Brando keeps the "One-Eyed Jacks" alive until the very end. But it becomes a stretched pathway to follow the character of Rio from one location to another, from working relationship to another failed romance, before he completes unfinished business in the duel shoot-out with Sheriff Dad Longworth. Specatators, who appreciated Marlon Brando's minimalistic, yet powerful performing skills, may enjoy the full length of the movie. The others, who are looking for suspense and thrills must wait between sequence before another hook snatches the specter's attention.There are some excellent directed scenes in the picture as the character of Rio sitting at breakfast with his Mexican companion, drinking coffee, before he gets dragged into a shoot-out with a drunkard, who is molesting a prostitute at the bar. The timing of the scene and calmness of the execution lets settle in a stroke of genius with Marlon Brando's directing, but his talent can not be maintained by him throughout the picture.It is senseable throughout the picture that the Director fell in love with his own film, which became a deadly working relationship when Marlon Brando and Editor Archie Marshek approached the editorials. Unable to cut a well-executed scene as the mentioned Interior Salon breakfast scene from the Final Cut, to achieve much more thrilling two-hour (or less) motion picture, which might have attract a wider audience in 1961, "One-Eyed Jacks" remains a gem in cinema, which can probably only be fully appreciated by the filmmaking community itself.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (for Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

I loved this film,seen it at least three times. I could kidnap western fans, starve them, then force them to watch this classic. Afterwards they would probably reward me for what they went through. The film has everything, a great script, top notch acting, and a very believable story.

Running from the law after a bank robbery in Mexico, Dad Longworth (Karl Malden) finds an opportunity to take the stolen gold and leave his partner Rio (Marlon Brando) to be captured. Years later, Rio escapes from the prison where he has been since, and hunts down Dad for revenge. Dad is now a respectable sheriff in California, and has been living in fear of Rio's return.What would this film have been like in the hands of Stanley Kubrick? Sadly, we will never know. But I would love to hear more about this, how far along it got before Kubrick backed out. Did he touch the script, cast any of the actors? Or was it mostly just talk? Marlon Brando's cut is said to be five hours. I am sure some people want that to be released. I, for one, am not sure I need to see the whole thing. However, this is definitely a film in need of some cleaning up. Good editions might exist, but the one I watched was not one of them. Where is our Criterion special edition?