The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Jason Robards is Cable Hogue, a man left in the desert to die by his two partners, Bowen and Taggart.

Somehow, just when he’s about to give up, he finds water where there should be none.

His life saved, he stubbles to town, convinces a banker to help him turn the water hole into a stage station and falls for a pretty prostitute named Hildy (Stella Stevens).

But Hildy has her eyes on a comfortable life in San Francisco; and Hogue won’t leave his stage station.

It’s become a profitable venture, but that’s not why he’s hesitant to leave. He figures Bowen and Taggart might return, giving him an opportunity for revenge.

And that’s a day he’s been waiting for since the day they betrayed him.

Jason Robards as Cable Hogue, looking for a $35 loan to develop his waterhole in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Stella Stevens as Hildy, enchanting Cable at first glance in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Review:

A wonderful, wonderful film. One of the best Westerns ever, though it was made without epic intentions.

That’s because Sam Peckinpah struck movie magic when he paired Jason Robards and Stella Stevens as lovers in this film. It’s difficult to imagine anyone not being touched by their story.

A strong supporting cast includes David Warner as a lecherous preacher named Joshua ad Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones as the villains of the piece.

Jerry Goldsmith serves up another memorable Western score, and the film succeeds even though Peckinpah’s several attempts at slapstick comedy fall flat.

Ignore that. Just watch Robards and Stevens, who never looked lovelier, light up the screen.

David Warner as Joshua, the traveling reverend who stumbles upon Cable’s find in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Susan O’Connell, the grieving woman Joshua decides to comfort in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Directed by:
Sam Peckinpah

Cast:
Jason Robards … Cable Hogue
Stella Stevens … Hildy
David Warner … Joshua
Strother Martin … Bowen
Slim Pickens … Ben Fairchild
L.Q. Jones … Taggart
Peter Whitney … Cushing
R.G. Armstrong … Quittner
Gene Evans … Clete
William Mims … Jensen
Kathleen Freeman … Mrs. Jensen
Susan O’Connell … Claudia
Vaughn Taylor … Powell
Max Evans … Webb Seely
James Anderson … Preacher

Runtime: 121 min.

Strother Martin as Bowen, one of the partners who abandoned Cable in the desert in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

L.Q. Jones as Taggart, one fo the men who left Cable in the desert to die in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Memorable lines:

Cable Hogue to lizard in the desert: “Sorry, old timer, but you’re only part poison. And I’m hungry for meat.”

Taggart, as he and Bowen abandon Cable: “It’s all yours, Cable — 50,000 gallons of sand.”

Joshua: “That excavation — a wine cellar perhaps?”
Cable: “No, that’s a three-holer. Expectin’ a lot of business.”

Cable: “You wouldn’t doubt a man of the gospel, would you?”
Banker: “Of course. That’s the first man I’d doubt.”

Joshua: “Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord.”
Cable: “Well, that’s fair enough with me… just as long as he don’t take too long and I can watch.”

Hildy: “I was asked to leave by the good people of the town.”
Cable: “Dead Dog? Good people? I never met any. ‘Cept you.”

R.G. Armstrong as Quittner, the stage line manager in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Slim Pickens as Ben Fairchild, the stage driver who stops by Cable Springs in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Cable, admiring Hildy’s beauty: “Now that’s a picture.”
Hildy: “You’ve seen it before.”
Cable: “Lady, no one’s ever seen you before.”

Joshua: “Did it ever occur to you, Cable, how wise and bountiful God was to put breasts on a woman? Just the right number in just the right place. Did you ever notice that, Cable?”
Cable: “Well, where in the hell would he put ’em? On their backside?”
Joshua: “It’s a thought.”

Hildy: “You’ve been awful nice to me, Hogue. Never bothered you none what I am?”
Cable: “Hell no, it never bothered me. I enjoyed it. Now, what the hell are you? Human being. Try the best you can. We all got our own ways of living.”
Hildy: “And loving?”
Cable: “Gets mighty lonesome without it.”

Joshua: “Funny thing. Doesn’t matter how much or how little you’ve wandered around, how many women you’ve been with. Every once in a while, one of them cuts right through, right straight into you.”
Cable: “What do you do about it?”
Joshua: “I suppose when you die, maybe you get over it.”

Jason Robards as Cable Hogue, ready to defend his newly found waterhole in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Gene Evans as Clete, looking for the reverend who soiled his wife in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Peter Whitney as Cushing, the banker who gives Cable the loan to develop his waterhole in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Stella Stevens as Hildy, a lady of the night with a new customer in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Jason Robards as Cable Hogue gets a bath and an eyeful of Hildy (Stella Stevens) in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Stella Stevens as Hildy, inviting a freshly bathed Cable to ‘undo me’ in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Stella Stevens as Hildy questions the wisdom of Cable’s quest for vengeance in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Stella Stevens as Hildy, scolding Joshua for being a little too touchy in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Stella Stevens as HIldy accepts a flower from Cable Hogue in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Strother Martin as Bowen and L.Q. Jones as Taggart, trapped in a hole of their own digging in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Jason Robards as Cable Hogue and David Warner as Joshua, talking about the ache of loving someone in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Jason Robards as Cable Hogue and Stella Stevens as Hildy during a romantic interlude in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)