Billy Two Hats

The Outlaw and The Breed. Billy Two Hats is directed by Ted Kotcheff and written by Alan Sharp. It stars Gregory Peck, Desi Arnaz Junior, Jack Warden, David Huddleston and Sian Barbara. Music is by John Scott and cinematography by Brian West. Interesting. Peck plays a grizzled Scottish outlaw and Arnaz Jr. the half-breed Indian of film’s title. They rob banks and have a sort of father and son relationship as they try to escape from vengeful racist Sheriff Gifford (Warden). So in essence it’s a buddy Western, albeit one that’s a bit off-beat and has grand ideas to be a religio parable of sorts. Unfortunately away from the unusual casting decisions which happen to entertain, it’s immeasurably dull on narrative terms and blandly photographed (in Israel) into the bargain. It’s not hard to see why it flopped upon release to theatres. The sporadic action passages are adequately performed, and the intentional humour hits the required mark, but by the time the boorish inter-racial relationship comes to the fore, you may find it hard to stay awake. 5/10

It's a bit bitty this western, and you do have to get past Gregory Peck's "haud yer whisht" Scots accent, but apart from those it's actually quite a solidly presented story with a good effort from all concerned. Jack Warden steals the show as the sheriff ("Gifford") pursuing "Archie" (Peck) and his half-breed sidekick "Billy" (Desi Arnaz Jr.) after they committed a robbery in which a man was - accidentally - killed. The story follows the chase - but not in a conventional sense. The balance of power frequently shifts between the pursuing and the pursued; there are some rather fancily dressed and menacing Apache on the warpath (for whisky) and when they alight on the rather venal homesteader "Spence" (John Pearce) and his nervous wreck of a pretty young wife "Esther" (Sian Barbara Allen) there is even room for a tiny bit of romance for the young man. There is quite a strong undercurrent of racism here. The young man's heritage earns him the enmity of many, especially the rather odious "Cope" (David Huddlestone) who runs a remote outpost with his squaw (Dawn Little Sky) whom he treats little better than a chattel. Indeed, even the title of the film suggests a double standard that is writ quite large into the narrative here. There's a bit of long-distance sharp shooting, quite a bit of gentle witty repartee and though not at his best, the star has a curmudgeonly charisma that helps hold the other characters firmly in place. I hadn't heard of this film before I saw it in a cinema yesterday, and I really did quite enjoy it.

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John Chard

CinemaSerf