The year is 1908, and The Western Press is holding a 700-mile horse race with a $2,000 prize offered to the winner.
Jack Parker plans to win that race with his prize horse Tripoli, but plenty of others have their eye on the prize as well.
They include former Rough Riders Luke Matthews (James Coburn), who has thousands of dollars in side bets on the race, and friend Sam Clayton (Gene Hackman), who joins the race to prove he’s not “unAmerican.”
They also include a former whore (Candice Bergen as Miss Jones) with ulterior motives, a Mexican (Mario Arteaga) doing it for his family, a hot-headed young cowboy wannabe (Jan-Michael Vincent as Carbo), an old-timer determined to win for once in his life (Ben Johnson) and an Englishman who’s crossed an ocean to participate.
The race course will take them across harsh country that will test both the horses and the riders.
But there are plenty of other obstacles as well, from bandits to a sore tooth fixed by bullet casing.
There are also concerns that the race might be rigged in Parker’s favor.
Matthews is trying to do some rigging of his own. With so many bets at stake, he’s willing to turn over the prize money to Clayton if he’ll throw the race.
Gene Hackman as Sam Clayton, finding a new home for an orphaned colt in Bite the Bullet (1975)
James Coburn as Luke Matthews, the man betting big money on winning the horse race in Bite the Bullet (1975)
Review:
Gene Hackman turns in a sterling performance in a film that relies as much on characters as action to hold the viewers’ interest.
After all, this is a multi-day, long-distance horse race, with the riders often separated by great distances. You’d better care about the characters, or it’s going to get boring awfully fast.
You’ll care most about Hackman, who’s willing to put his job on the line early in the film to rescue an orphaned colt. He’s a man who clearly cares as much about animals as people.
The film’s flaws include the ulterior motive that’s driving Candice Bergen’s entry into an otherwise all-male race. It takes the film on a detour that’s surprisingly light-hearted in tone and completely unnecessary.
Likewise, filmmakers just couldn’t allow Jan-Michael Vincent’s character to remain a hot-headed young trouble maker. They had to give him a redemption arch that, again, detracts from the film’s gritty tone.
Candice Bergen as Miss Jones, realizing there’s been an unexpected change of plans in Bite the Bullet (1975)
Jan-Michael Vincent as Carbo, the young hothead sensing a chance at victory in Bite the Bullet (1975)
Directed by:
Richard Brooks
Cast:
Gene Hackman … Sam Clayton
Candice Bergen … Miss Jones
James Coburn … Luke Matthews
Ben Johnson … Mister
Ian Bannen … Sir Harry Norfolk
Jan-Michael Vincent … Carbo
Robert Donner … Reporter
Jean Willes … Rosie
Mario Arteaga … Mexican
Dabney Coleman … Jack Parker
John McLiam … Gebhart
Bob Hoy …. Lee Christie
Jerry Gatlin … The Wood Cutter
Sally Kirkland … Honey
Walter Scott … Steve
William H. Burton Jr. … Billy
Buddy Van Horn … Slim
Runtime: 132 min.
Ian Bannen as Sir Harry Norfolk reacts after Carbo shoots a whiskey bottle from his hand in Bite the Bullet (1975)
Mario Arteaga as the Mexican who enters the race in spite of a tooth ache in Bite the Bullet (1975)
Memorable lines:
Mister, presenting a medal to a traveling salesman for sale: “How much?”
Salesman: “Civil War? The South?”
Mister nods.
Salesman: “These days, medals from loser. They’re worth nothing. No offense, mister.”
Reporter: “Can your horse stand up against thoroughbreds.”
Carbo: “My bronc only has to be half as good as them hotbloods. Cause I’m twice as good as these old bloods.”
Sam Clayton: “Just like old times.”
Luke Matthews: “Yeah, you start trouble. And I start bleeding.”
Sam Clayton: “Mister, did you ever see a horse run himself to death to please the man on his back? For what? To get his picture in the paper? For glory?”
Sir Harry Norfolk: “Some men live for it.”
Clayton: “Horse don’t give a damn about who wins a race. Me neither.”
Mister, about his past as a miner: “I dug more holes than a whole regiment of gopher’s. Ain’t dug out a decent day’s wage yet.”
Sam Clayton, remembering his Cuban revolutionary wife and her heroic death: “The people some people marry. I wasn’t worth her spit.”
Carbo, after Clayton’s ordered him to bury a horse: “What he (Sam Clayton) said, is it that important?”
Reporter: “Must be. He said it twice.”
Luke Matthews: “Nothing so hard on a man as virtue.”
Ben Johnson as Mister, the old-timer who enters the race despite poor health in Bite the Bullet (1975)
Dabney Coleman as Parker, the man whose family expects its horse to win the race in Bite the Bullet (1975)
Robert Donner as the reporter covering the 700-mile horse race in Bite the Bullet (1975)
Walter Scott as Steve, hoping to escape prison with Miss Jones’ help in Bite the Bullet (1975)
Jean Willes as Rosie, the madam who follows the race with her whores and her booze in Bite the Bullet (1975)
Gene Hackman as Sam Clayton, looking to recover three stolen horses in Bite the Bullet (1975)
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Bite the Bullet
This film was a favourite of mine as kid. I have been a horse lover all my life. I got my first horse when I was 4 years old. He was a Shetland pony who ate my mother’s rose bushes. His name was Pete and I swear he was nearly ate my fingers every time I fed him apples. It was those experiences that brought this movie to life for me and secured the Gene Hackman’s character, Sam Clayton as the good guy throughout, Bite the Bullet.
For me, it was the interaction between those characters that made this picture for me. Yes, the action was compelling, but the character development and their interactions that made the action mean something aside from a bunch of people riding horses fast through a beautiful landscape.
As a fan of Candice Bergen’s, her personality made her backstory interesting. Then when that story came to a climax that was going to leave her in a bad way the two former Rough Riders came to her aid and proved to be the heroes the audience was hoping they truly were. I don’t care what anyone says, US audiences still like a happy ending for people that prove themselves worthy of that happy ending.
All in all, this film had the large budget from a major Hollywood studio to keep all of the balls in the air. With a cast like this, and that type of budget this show had everything it took to succeed.
I saw this movie at the theater at least three times and I’ve seen it both on cable and streaming many, many times. It may interest anyone who may read this, that about 13 years ago I moved with my wife to a 60 acre horse farm in Virginia. We’ve had as many as 18 horses here on our 30 acre pastures and sitting comfortably in our two barns.
We were especially proud of my wife’s horse, a Palomino named Peanut, who was like a smart arse teenager.
And my horse, a half Paint, half Draft named Utani. Utani is the Cherokee word meaning “too big” that fit him very well since he was 18 hands tall. In inches, that means he was 72″ tall at his withers, or to folks that aren’t much when it comes to horses. So, Utani was six feet tall at his shoulders. Now, me being 6’2″ tall (I used to be 6’3″ tall but with all of the jumping out of planes I used to do, to be clear, it wasn’t the jumping that made me shorter, it was the landing that did that. LOL!) Anyway, it still took quite the step up for me to get my foot in the stirrup to get aboard Utani. Unlike my adorable wife who is a very good rider, I’m a much better motorcycle rider. In the case of a motorcycle, there’s only one brain deciding where we’re going and just how fast we’re going to get there, LOL! Luckily for me Utani was a very gentle and intelligent horse to ride. We had conversations that went like this: I would give Utani a little kick and he would, in his gentle way say to me, “Well, Da (Da is one of my nicknames. It’s short for A-gi-do-da. Which means father, or patriarch, in Cherokee) Sorry, back to Utani:”Well, Da, are you sure you wanna go faster?” And I would give him a gentle nudge with my boots. Then, Utani: “Ok, Da, we’ll go faster if ya wanna.” So, we would be going faster, usually down our driveway, which is about a mile long. It comes through the woods and is dirt and gravel. The problem is that the pace is kind of a jog and fancy English Riders post while doing this. As a Western rider we don’t post. We just bounce up and down. Oh well, the point is that Utani always took care of me. He was the sweetest horse but, he did cause a serious problem on our farm, he would jump out of our property and go to neighboring farms and eat their growing crops. That’s a two fold problem. He shouldn’t be jumping over our fences and he shouldn’t be eating their crops. So, I had to sell him. We sold him to a nice family and a very nice young lady who fell in love with right away.
It worked out for everyone. But, I lost my physical connection to Bite the Bullet . Darn it! LOL!!!!?:
IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN
BITE THE BULLET
YOU SHOULD, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
ENJOY!