This is the old western-hero-hooks-up-with-mother-and-child tale that’s been done more than a few times before but what makes this so special is the central character of Will Penny. It’s as much a character study as anything else with the first half of the film dealing with his quest for work after completing a cattle drive and it’s only in the second half that the film becomes a love story, when he comes across Catherine Allen and her son Horace holed up in the line rider’s shack where he should be spending the winter.
Will Penny is possibly Charlton Heston’s finest performance, with the inveterate poser giving a rare understated performance. There’s a subtlety here that you don’t usually associate with big movie stars. Will Penny isn’t a larger than life hero, he’s a down to earth cowpoke who knows his best years are behind him and Heston plays him as such, allowing Heston the actor to overshadow Heston the Movie Star for a change.
Writer/director Tom Gries script gives the film an authentic, gritty feel that shows what a cold hard place the West was for aging cowboys like Penny, while Lucien Ballard’s cinematography lets us see that while it was a harsh place it was also a beautiful one.
