Why so much hype?

just watch it!

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Extremely appealing fable from the celebrated director Sam Peckinpah, who works from an often poetic script by Edmund Penny and actor John Crawford. Here he and a very fine cast create some endearing characters worth getting to know. He also revisits the theme of the changing times in the American West (the story is set in 1908, and our characters marvel at the sight of a car). It crosses genres with ease - Western, drama, comedy - and even at 122 minutes, never feels padded out.Jason Robards is excellent as the title character, betrayed by his lowlife associates, Bowen (Strother Martin), and Taggart (L.Q. Jones), and left to wander the desert on his own. Cable crosses the desert for days, almost certain to perish due to lack of water. Then, by miracle, Cable discovers an underground well of water. He travels to the nearest town to use his very meager funds to buy two acres in the area, and crafts what turns out to be a thriving way station in this desert wilderness. He also makes the acquaintance of wistful prostitute Hildy (Stella Stevens) and lustful preacher Joshua (David Warner).Robards's compelling performance anchors this saga, as Cable courts the vague hope that someday Bowen and Taggart will stop by his place for water and he can get some revenge. The gorgeous Stevens - who does some rather tasteful nudity for the picture - flourishes in one of her best ever roles as Hildy, too, yearns for something more out of life. Warner supplies quite a bit of lecherous comedy relief, as he can't help helping himself to the ladies. This solid assemblage of actors also includes Slim Pickens, Peter Whitney, R.G. Armstrong, Gene Evans, Kathleen Freeman, and Vaughn Taylor.Lovely, sun baked photography and a lush score by Jerry Goldsmith are other positive attributes to this poignant film, considered by some to be one of Peckinpahs' finest efforts.Eight out of 10.

Peckinpah's "Ballad" isn't any kind of masterpiece, but do we go to the cinema every time hoping for something totally unforgettable? This is a nice fun film especially for those who enjoy westerns and don't mind a bit of a laugh at the genre. However, the film takes its characters fairly seriously (at least, it's title character) and it does manage to deliver a story with plenty of humanity and warmth.There are some scenes where I feel like the camera is just sort of leering at Stella Stevens, and I felt a bit uncomfortable about that. I mean she's gorgeous, but you don't have to zoom right in on her crotch to convince us. Nevertheless Stevens' performance is winning, especially in a Peckinpah movie where women are usually given a very short end of the stick. This film reminds us of what a good comedienne Stevens was, and gives a bit of a taste of what it would have been like if she had worked with Howard Hawks, as was at one point planned (for an adult comedy with Robert Redford and Steve McQueen).Jason Robards is also a lot of fun here, very similar character to the more famous "Cheyenne" in Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West." Cable Hogue is a saddle tramp, left for dead in the desert, who finds a water hole and exploits it for all it's worth. His cynicism and selfishness will take him only so far, before he decides to abandon it all and run off with sexy Stevens. David Warner also provides memorable support as a kind of con-man preacher, although I had trouble understanding his character's motivation (perhaps he truly was supposed to be insane?)

The Ballad of Cable Hogue Directed by Sam Peckinpah 1970 This movie has several things in common with "Once Upon a Time in the West": Similarities in plot i.e. guy marries a beautiful whore and tries to build his own remote desert transportation stop. Both are directed by auteurs with cult followings. Both are deliberately paced and favor atmosphere over dramatic plot development. Both star Jason Robards. Both failed at the box office, but enjoy enthusiastic cult followings today. Neither has Indians (just kidding). Peckinpah is one of the best action directors in the history of cinema, but he also excelled in character study/mood pieces. "Junior Bonner" is a modern Western he directed in a similar style to "Cable Hogue". While I liked "Junior Bonner" and his other mood piece "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", "Cable Hogue" left me completely mystified. I gave it two out of 10 stars in my IMDb rating. It got skunked in my ranking system with only three points. Only two movies so far have scored worse: "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and "Duel in the Sun". I found almost nothing to like about this movie. However, I do have a list of criticisms: While I think Jason Robards can be an effective supporting actor, I don't think he can carry a movie as the lead. "Butterfly Mornings, Wildflower Afternoons" may be the worst song ever inflicted on mankind….and I've seen all of Elvis' movies. I hadn't the slightest interest at any point in this movie whether or not Cable got the girl or didn't, was successful financially or wasn't, got revenge on his former partners or didn't, or lived or died. In addition to the excruciating "Butterfly Mornings" love montage, there were a number of other non-sequiturs, including Benny Hill style film speed accelerations, Russ Meyers style closeups of breasts and Cable's death scene. Some claim this is Fellini-esquire. Fair enough. I hate Fellini movies. (That Russ Meyers, though, he had some talent). I've read that this is the finest performance of Stella Steven's career. I agree. Much better than her work in "Girls, Girls, Girls", "The Silencers" and "Slaughter". Check that. We did get to see her nipples in "Slaughter". That remains my favorite Stella Stevens performance. I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out what religion Peckinpah belonged to. He's extremely anti-Christian, but seems to believe in some kind of deity. His confused spiritual life was most likely ruled over by a God named Jack Daniels. I found the co-themes of the "death of the West" and "societal outcasts are really superior to. hypocritical societal snobs" trite and poorly developed. The setting here stretches the limits of the genre "Western". What is it, 1920? This is less of a Western and more of an absurdist romantic comedy with sagebrush and horses for props. Oh, I did like one thing, For once, R.G. Armstrong does not play a crazy Christian. Nice to see him stretching his range a bit.

THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE is a film with a lot to like though the story itself didn't seem to deliver. It's the story about a simple guy left for dead in the desert who manages to eventually make it big and forge friendships.As far as what I liked, I thought it was nice to see a Sam Peckinpah film where there wasn't much violence and no slow-motion death scenes. This is actually surprising as the film immediately followed THE WILD BUNCH--a film notable for violence. Additionally, some of the acting was very nice. In particular, Jason Robards, Jr. had a great role and really was able to carry the character or Cable Hogue very well. Despite being a very flawed character, you really could like the guy.What I didn't like were the messages about religion. Preachers were either seen as sanctimonious jerks or sexually compulsive jerks--and nothing else. The worst of these was a preacher, of sorts, played by David Warner--the only performance in the film that just didn't ring true. Cable's lifestyle also bought into this view of the world, as his sweetie was a clichéd "prostitute with a heart of gold". Just once I want to see a film where a prostitute is bad or at least doesn't have a social worker or the Virgin Mary hidden down deep!!Additionally, the story was a tad slow at times, occasionally had "comedic" clips added that just seemed cheesy (such as playing silent movie music and speeding the film up to supposedly heighten the laughs) and just seemed a little anticlimactic at the end. No,...VERY anticlimactic. This really blunted the message and the ending alone lowered my score from a 7 to a 6.