CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Wordiezett So much average

Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

ma-cortes Based on the Willie Boy incident that was one of the most savage chapters in frontier history .Contemporary Western drama set in 1909 , it tells the story of one of the last and violent western manhunt. Set in Joshua Tree , California , about a killing carried by a Paiute Indian , Robert Blake , who murders his bride's father in self-defense , it triggers a non-stop pursuit . Later on, Willie Boy and and his white bride , Katharine Ross , escape and go on the run across the sunny desert . They become the objects of a manhunt by a tough posse led by the reluctant local sheriff , Robert Redford , and his followers : Barry Sullivan , Ned Romero , John Vernon , among others .Well paced film with bitter irony and stunningly directed by Abraham Polonsky , this was once-blacklisted Polonsky's first movie in 31 years . A thought-provoking and powerful picture , even though the screenplay carries its liberal conscience on its sleeve . Main cast is very good . Robert Blake is awesome as an obstinate Indian presumed guilty of a crime defined by circumstance rather than by fact, he gradually reverts to being an Indian in the archetypally savage sense . A sober Robert Redford gives fine acting , he plays as a reluctant as well as stubborn sheriff who pursues mercilessly Willie . And Katharine Ross is very attractive as the bride who follows to Boy . Support cast is frankly nice such as Susan Clark , Barry Sullivan , John Vernon , Charles McGraw, Robert Lipton and Ned Romero . Colorful and evocative cinematography by maestro cameraman Conrad L. Hall including wonderful desert outdoors and masterfully photographed . Special mention for the thrilling and suspenseful musical score with atmospheric and strange sounds by Dave Grusin , in Jerry Goldsmith style . Enjoyable production design with marvelous landscapes by two veteran designers : Alexander Golitzen and Henry Burnstead, Hitchcock's ordinary. The motion picture was compellingly directed by Abraham Polonsky, it was made with austere authority , adding a strong allegory about witch-hunting . This was Polonsky's retun to filmmaking after 21 blacklist years since Force of Evil with this excellent contemporary western . The best and most successful movie he directed was the classic film noir "Force of evil" and also wrote the prestigious Body and Soul . Subsequently , he was chased as a member of the communist party . After defying the comittee by refusing to name names , 8Polonsky was pursued , juzged and condemned by the HUAC , once blacklisted he only wrote and directed a few films as Romance of a horsethief and this Tell them willie Boy is here. And wrote some scripts such as I can get it for you wholesale , Madigan , Monsignor, Avalanche express Rating : 7/10. Better than average , well worth watching

theowinthrop This was one of the westerns made in the 1960s and 1970s, including Ford's CHEYENNE AUTUMN and LITTLE BIG MAN which presented the westward expansion as the disaster it was to the Native Americans. Ford's film concentrated to the attempt of an entire tribe to flee to Canada to avoid being cooped up on a reservation. LITTLE BIG MAN looked at the long series of insults and thefts suffered by the Native Americans leading up to the Battle of the Little Big Horn (their great victory over the politically ambitious Custer - in this film - and the point where their doom got sealed). Those films occur in 1876 - 77. TELL THEM WILLY BOY WAS HERE occurs some three decades later (1909), and shows the hopelessness of their situation.The screenplay is not quite even. It is notable that the author of the original novel, Harry Lawton - who died a few weeks ago - was writing the script with director Abraham Polonsky. This may explain the uneven handling. Polonsky, who was a victim of the Hollywood Blacklist, was notable for his radical point of view (best shown in his 1947 John Garfield film FORCE OF EVIL). But he was an expert screenplay writer, and his view of the rights of Native Americans would be similar to those of Lawton. According to Lawton's obituaries he remained committed to Native American rights and culture throughout his life.Willy Boy (Robert Blake) kills a man who was bigoted and goaded him. He is pursued by a posse led by Robert Redford, which is determined to get the young man because of his background. Redford, a bit more fair minded, wants to just catch him to bring him to trial, but one gets the impression as the film continues how hopeless this hope is. It would be sort of like Henry Fonda being in charge of the lynch mob in THE OX-BOW INCIDENT to try to control their passions (and probably as unsuccessful).To confuse matters, the killing takes place near an inn that newly elected President William Howard Taft is visiting on a political trip. Taft's presence in the locale makes the newspaper reporters wonder if they are getting the full facts from the sheriff. Why so much intense searching for this Indian? Is it (as they are told) that he killed a local man and he is quite adept at hiding in the deserts of Utah? Or, is he part of a massive conspiracy of Indians planning to kill Taft? To us, knowing the actual incident, it seems ridiculous, but keep in mind that since 1865 three U.S. Presidents were assassinated for political reasons, the last (McKinley) in 1901. Also, while thirty three years since Little Big Horn, and nineteen since Wounded Knee, the possibility of an Indian uprising was not hard to dismiss (the great chief Geronimo died in 1905, shortly after attending Theodore Roosevelt's inauguration - we were that close in time to the period when he was on the warpath).The film goes to it's tragic conclusion - a long, hard chase to the death of a representative of a defeated people. But the final victory is Blake's. In the end Willy Boy becomes the legend of the Native American who would not surrender.

kenandraf Bad movie due to below average production and editing.The message regarding the Native American plight was good but wasted on this movie effort.Too bad bacause the actors gave good performances.The last 20 minutes was the best part but nothing you can't miss.Flows like a slow TV movie.Thank God Redford is preety.Still worth a look if you are a fan of pro Native American Western action drama or a big fan of the lead actors......

armhair An excellent, small, telling film, ahead of it's time. Well acted and directed, a taste too of turn of the century Southern California, with mention of Riverside, Morongo, Victorville, San Bernadino, etc. Blake is excellent and Redford is rough and empathetic. The final scene between the two of them has several solid images and powerfully evokes the situation and the environment.