One-Eyed Jacks
One-Eyed Jacks is a 1961 American Western film directed by and starring Marlon Brando, his only directorial credit. Brando portrays the lead character Rio, and Karl Malden plays his partner, "Dad" Longworth. The supporting cast features Pina Pellicer, Katy Jurado, Ben Johnson and Slim Pickens. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.[5]
For other uses, see One-eyed jack (disambiguation).One-Eyed Jacks
- Guy Trosper
- Calder Willingham
- Uncredited:
- Rod Serling
- Sam Peckinpah
The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones
by Charles Neider
- Marlon Brando
- Karl Malden
- Katy Jurado
- Ben Johnson
- Pina Pellicer
Archie Marshek
- March 30, 1961 (New York City)[1]
141 minutes
United States
English
Spanish
$4.3 million (US/Canada rentals)[4]
Release[edit]
The film was released on March 30, 1961, in New York City.[1] The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.[11] The Cannes screening was that of a 4K restoration supervised by Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and The Film Foundation.[12]
Critical reception[edit]
One-Eyed Jacks received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 61% approval rating based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10.[13]
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, favorably influenced by Brando's efforts, noted: "Directed and played with the kind of vicious style that Mr. Brando has put into so many of his skulking, scabrous roles. Realism is redolent in them, as it is in many details of the film. But, at the same time, it is curiously surrounded by elements of creamed-cliché romance and a kind of pictorial extravagance that you usually see in South Sea island films."[1]
Variety, on the other hand, wrote: "It is an oddity of this film that both its strength and its weakness lie in the area of characterization. Brando's concept calls, above all, for depth of character, for human figures endowed with overlapping good and bad sides to their nature."[14] Dave Kehr of The Chicago Reader wrote: "There is a strong Freudian pull to the situation (the partner's name is "Dad") that is more ritualized than dramatized: the most memorable scenes have a fierce masochistic intensity, as if Brando were taking the opportunity to punish himself for some unknown crime."[15]
Home media and restoration[edit]
The film fell into the public domain and for years was only available via numerous low-quality budget reissues on VHS and DVD, along with the occasional official release by Paramount Home Video. In 2016, work was completed on a "New 4K digital restoration, undertaken by Universal Pictures in partnership with The Film Foundation and in consultation with filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg".[17] This restoration was issued on Blu-ray and DVD in November 2016 by the Criterion Collection in the US, and in June 2017 by Arrow Video in the UK.