Hardcase (1972)

Clint Walker is Jack Rutherford, a Texan who returns from the war in the Philippines to find his ranch sold and his wife missing.

He tracks his wife Rozaline (Stefanie Powers) to Mexico, where she’s taken up with Simon Fuegus, a revolutionary leader.

When he finds them, he learns Rozaline married Simon and sold the ranch under the assumption that Jack was dead.

After all, he’d been reported missing in action; she hadn’t heard from him in years.

Give those circumstances, Jack decides he should be compensated at least for the ranch and demands $5,000 as his share.

Problem is, the revolutionaries are short on cash. And the gold they just took from the federal troops was meant to buy guns, not pay off a gringo.

So Jack decides there’s another way to get his $5,000: Kidnap Simon and take him back to Texas.

If the revolutionaries won’t cough up $5,000 in gold for their leader, perhaps the federales will.

But is it the money or the woman Jack Rutherford is really after?

Clint Walker as Jack Rutherford, a Texan who journeys to Mexico to find a missing wife and learn what happened to his ranch in Hardcase (1972)

Stefanie Powers as Rozaline, a woman torn between two men in Hardcase (1972)

Review:

Along with “The Bounty Man” and the better known “Yuma,” this is one of a trio of television Westerns that Walker made for ABC in the early 1970s.

It features lovely Stefanie Powers, who survives days of hard travel through Mexico with barely a smudge of dirt on her face and with her hair as finely coiffed as when the film began.

It also features some fairly large scale action scenes, though the characters’ motivations once bullets start flying don’t always make a lot of sense.

And the script dodges a tragic ending that would have been more in line with the tone of the film. Walker’s character is so determined to exact some sort of payment for being wronged that he wraps thorns around his neck to avoid falling asleep while he watches over his captive.

Walker gets a sidekick of sorts in mercenary Booker Llewellyn, played by Alex Karras, an NFL star, in one of his earliest acting roles. Heck, he even throws a cannon at a couple of charging federales.

He’d go on to rack up 40 screen appearances, including a key role in the miniseries “Centennial” and as Mongo, the character who punches a horse in “Blazing Saddles.”

Pedro Armendariz Jr. as Simo Fuegus, the Mexican revolutionary leader who har married the wife of Texan who shows up to find her in Hardcase (1972)

NFL star Alex Karras as Booker Llewellyn, a mercenary who agrees to help Jack Rutherford with his mission in Hardcase (1972)

Directed by:
John Llewellyn Moxey

Cast:
Clint Walker … Jack Rutherford
Stefanie Powers … Rozaline
Pedro Armendariz Jr. … Simon Fuegus
Alex Karras … Booker Llewellyn
E. Lopez Rojas … Felipe
Luis Mirando … Maj. Tovar
Martin LaSalle … Luis Camacho

Runtime: 74 min.

E. Lopez Rojas as Felipe, loyal to Simon Fuegus and trying to free him from Jack Rutherford’s grip in Hardcase (1972)

Martin LaSalle as Luis Comacho, a colleague of Simon Fuegus, insisting the gold be used for guns, not old debts in Hardcase (1972)

Memorable lines:

Booker, on meeting Jack Rutherford: “What are you Rutherford? A glory guy or just a hard case?”
Rutherford: “Maybe a little bit of both.”

Luis Comancho: “We did well, Simon. Very well.”
SImon Fuegus: “Two men dead and five wounded, Louis. Gold doesn’t come cheap.”

Rutherford, upon being reunited with his former wife: “What if you thought I wasn’t dead? What if you knew I wasn’t?”
Rozaline: “I’ve been happy here.”

Jack Rutherford, unable to sleep because he’s being followed by Simon’s men: “When a man gets tired enough, there ain’t no telling what he’ll do.”

Pedro Armendariz Jr. as Simon Fuegus and Clint Walker as Jack Rutherford, drawing nearer to the U.S. border in Hardcase (1972)

Luis Mirando as Maj. Tovar, leader of the federale troops trying to quell Simon Fuegus and his rebels in Hardcase (1972)

Stefanie Powers as Rozaline and Pedro Armendariz Jr., discussing how to deal with Jack Rutherford’s return in Hardcase (1972)

Clint Walker as Jack Rutherford, a man fighting for his life and a piece of his past in Hardcase (1972)