THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN was a 1972 western film written by John Milius, directed by John Huston, and starring Paul Newman (at the height of his career, between Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting). It was loosely based on the real-life, self-appointed frontier judge.
TriviaThe shooting location was about a 90-minute drive outside of Tucson; himself lived on the location for the duration of the shoot. He later wrote, '. I was the only one who did, except a watchman. The others went back to the town, but I stayed there all the time in a trailer. I've been on so many locations, and I've often wondered why everyone takes fatiguing, back-breaking journeys backwards and forwards, day after day, sometimes an hour's journey over rough roads, and I've often thought, 'Why not stay there, with the comfortable trailers you can live in today?' This underrated/underseen Huston film is definitely worth a look.
Newman is wonderful as Roy Bean, and the large supporting cast is amazing, especially Anthony Perkins as a travelling padre, Stacy Keach as Bad Bob, Roddy McDowell as a wormy lawyer, Ned Beatty as the outlaw who'd rather be a bartender, and John Huston himself as Grizzly Adams. This is not a perfect picture at all. It falls apart by the last third or so, has a terrible day-for-night process shot that doesn't really work, and a unnecessary and embarrassing 'raindrops keep falling on my head'-type musical montage, but the rest of it is great fun. This is the crazy kind of script Milius used to write in the 70s, like Apocalypse Now and especially 1941. The tone is very odd, but if you like your comedy dark and your westerns satirical you'll find lots to like about this one. A very broad and dark performance by Newman, who manages to find the pathos and integrity of this western charicature. It's a nice companion/contrast to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Kind of what Rami must have been going for in The Quick and the Dead (minus the Spaghetti Western style), and the examination of the mythic hero that Roderiguez tried for in Desperado, but much better achieved by Huston (duh).