The Hired Hand

And because of the visual artistry on display. Fonda and Szigmond make a great team; the director knows the feeling he wants to convey and the cinematographer knows exactly how to convey it. Fonda goes for the visual montage/collage a number of times in the course of the film and while this may sound dated or gimmicky, the reason it works so well is because he has a keen understanding of how the visual connects to the emotional as closely as possible. The fade ins and outs that overlap one scene to the next make the film resonate with subtle power as the director meant it to. A woman's face superimposed on a vast stretch of land; a silhouetted man against a huge open twilight sky...

The most memorable Westerns should easily connect the characters to the land they reside on, giving the viewer a strong sense of that inevitable connection. The Hired Hand does this so gracefully and naturally it's a wonder few if any other Westerns come close to it. Only Barbarosa has a feeling approaching The Hired Hand, but the latter is unique.

And a good story, Western or not, must involve the reader, the viewer, the participant, in a conflict the main character deals with. It's here, but not in any overly dramatic way. Violence arises suddenly, as is almost always the case, and is dealt with just as suddenly.

Fonda (Harry Collins) and Warren Oates (Arch Harris) have been riding buddies for a long time and while Oates wants to head west to the Pacific Ocean, Fonda realizes he needs to return to his home he abandoned long before, to once again see his wife and child. In spite of his initial desire to go west, Arch decides to accompany Harry. When they arrive, Hannah (Verna Bloom) agrees that Harry can stay on as a hired hand, compensating for his abandoning her previously. That's the story.

Fonda is the right choice to play Harry, the titular character, and even better is Warren Oates as his sidekick. Oates made a career of playing characters who were good at what they did, but nevertheless somewhat mystified or partially beaten down by circumstances, following the path they felt was the only one they could follow because of what life had dealt them. That's true here as well, and Oates is the standout here, stealing the film, characterwise, from both Fonda and Bloom.

But the real star of the show is the quiet visual artistry combined with the pared to the bone dialogue and (intentionally) minimal acting that provides an emotional resonance powerful enough to remember for a long time after shutting off the DVD player.

Highly recommended.


AN UNSEEN MASTERPIECE   August 24, 2003
Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States)
20 out of 21 found this review helpful

I remember seeing this movie twice in Hollywood when it was originally released. Without much publicity or advertising, it disappeared quickly. In two weeks, it was gone forever.

What an amazing film. Hypnotic, deliberate and visually stunning. It unfolds with the inexorable mythic pace of an Old Testament tale. This simple, emotional story captures a time and place that will remain in your mind and heart long after seeing it. Fonda's remarkable directing debut finds a style that perfectly matches the primitive landscape to the story of confused emotions, need for love, and the inability of the characters to fully articulate a non-violent solution to their dilemma. Fonda and Warren Oates are just right in their memorable roles.

I've had flashes of this movies many times in the intervening 30 years since it disappeard and even wrote to one or two lesser DVD releasing entities to locate the rights and get Peter Fonda, a very articulate and witty guy, to do a commentary. None were interested. Finally it's on DVD the way it should be preserved. Sundance/Showtime has a 2 disc gem that is a must own for any true videophile. Don't miss it. And the exquisitely haunting score (I wonder if the exceptional sound track is available?).

This film is art and it is entertainment. It's about love and longing, confused loyalties and mortality. Highest recommendation.


Good Work   March 11, 2005
JR Dunn (New Brunswick,, NJ USA)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Like the recent "Sargasso Sea", this flick is a prime example of how the industry can every now and then, with no rational explanation, fumble the ball completely. "Hired Hand" was tossed on the market in '71 with no backing whatsoever and sank like a stone. A year or so later, it was shown on national TV. I clearly recall that for several days it was all that people were talking about. Not the critics, who were still sucking their thumbs, but ordinary viewers, wondering where this great picture had come from, what it was doing on the tube, and why they didn't make more just like it. In the age of the Net and the DVD, "Hired Hand" would have had a fine long run. As it is, it's good to see it back after thirty-odd years.

"Hired Hand" is a near-perfect combination of acting, cinematography, storyline, and music. Fonda, seriously skidding since "Easy Rider", gave a performance that should have revived his career then and there. It's also one of the finer moments of Warren Oates' long record of providing support for better-known actors. Verna Bloom was a veteran of small roles in many well-known films. Here she embodies the frontier wife, plain, strong, and unbending. Decades were to pass before it became common for actresses to face the camera in this kind of role with next to no makeup. Nobody has ever made it work better than Bloom.

The music, a lone guitar playing long, sad melodic lines, will stay with you for years. The story is as simple as they come, and as unforgettable.

"Hired Hand" is an adult Western in the pure sense, a film dealing with adult problems in a clear-eyed manner: the consequences of necessary and terrible decisions, the regret that remains long afterward. One thing often neglected in film Westerns is the simple human cost of the Westward Migration, not only in lives but in crippled emotions, overwhelming loneliness, and unending grief. "Hired Hand" brings this across more clearly than any other film I've seen. The final shot of the frontier wife on the porch clutches the soul; for a single moment we're one with all those forgotten figures whose suffering exceeds anything we know, and could never have been matched by what they hoped to gain. And that, children, is what we call art.




A patient, delicate and redemptive Western.   February 8, 2006
Steven Sprague (Newport Beach, CA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Martin Scorsese in the two minutes he contributed to disk number two, described the film industry during which "The Hired Hand" was born, adventurous and willing to take chances after the success of "Easy Rider." Not a description one would typically assign to a picture that is as gentle and patient as "The Hired Hand." The film begins like a baptismal dream, with a slightly out of focus lens capturing the shimmering beauty of a man joyously splashing in the water and another fishing at the rivers edge. Behind the tranquil images a banjo and a fiddle, lazily easing their way through the morning. When the two men become three we learn that they're California bound . . . to see the "Ocean like a great blue prairie." When the body of a drowned seven or eight year old little girl gets snagged on the leader's fishing line, the tenor of the serenity changes, resonating more deeply and with purpose. Harry will not make the journey to the sea but instead will make the journey back home to the wife and child he left for his wanderlust. When he arrives home to find an embittered, lonely, but determined woman along with a carefree 7 year old girl, he offers his services as a "hired hand" to work the place to "see how it runs." With this arrangement having been made, the slow process of healing and reconciliation begins but caution must be heeded because loneliness is like a cancer: it eats away at one's resistance and is a poor surrogate for commitment. This balancing act is played out with delicacy, tenderness and a devotion to the characters. "The Hired Hand" is a film laced with religious symbolism with the action coming only after long spells of traveling, trading horses and reflection. From the moment that we see the drowned girl till the moment our protagonist tells his wife "I'll be back" there is this sense of inevitability, and it is the tension between the desire to rest and the need to act that keeps the film moving forward. Extremely well done.


Extraordinary Western with '60s Sensibility   July 17, 2000
Adam Bernstein (Northwest, USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

The Hired Hand directed by and starring Peter Fonda is a minor masterpiece. This '60s-influenced Western features uncanny poignant performances by Fonda as well as Verna Bloom (still in her Medium Cool period) and Warren Oates. Vilmos Zsigmond's camerawork beautifully captures the dreamlike atmosphere, utilizing scene-on-scene double imagery.

Fonda and Oates set out for California, but Fonda decides to return to his wife (Bloom) and daughter. A painting of many moods, emotions, and atmospheres, and a touching ending.

Definitely superior to "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", and ranks with "Once Upon a Time in the West" as one of the all time great Westerns.