After Drew Dixon, an upright young man, is sent west by his religious family to avoid being drafted into the Civil War, he drifts across the land with a loose confederation of young vagrants.
Acting
Jeff Bridges' effortless shifty charm, pre-icon status
Writing
Benton & Newman script: literate, unsentimental, brutal
Direction
Benton's debut: Western conventions dismantled quietly
Director
Robert Benton
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Benton co-wrote 'Bonnie and Clyde' and this debut shares its anti-romantic violence—studio wanted a fun youth Western, got this instead.
Released during Vietnam; draft-dodging protagonist read as political commentary despite 1860s setting. Nixon era audiences got uncomfortable.
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