Max Von Sydow is Scott Swenson, a down-on-his-luck pilot who has just crashed a crop-duster he no longer owns and destroyed a water tower in the process.
If he can’t pay for the damages — and he can’t — he faces a nice, long stint in a south-of-the-border jail.
But he’s spotted an old acquaintance — Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Frank Bryant — hurrying toward the border. And a newspaper article indicating there’s a $50,000 reward on his head.
Next thing you know, Swenson is leading a rag-tag posses into the desert to track down the suspected child killer.
Gilbert Roland plays Capt. Carbajal, the exiled officer who sees the reward as his ticket back to a normal life.
He plans to split the reward with Swenson, until the three Mexicans accompanying them learn of the reward.
That causes a few complications. So does the harsh terrain they’ll have to travel through to claim their reward.
And no one much cares that Bryant insists he’s innocent, that he resented being double-crossed by a former partner, but loved the man’s son and never would have harmed him.
Max Von Sydow as Scott Swenson in The Reward (1965)
Gilbert Roland as Capt. Carbajal in The Reward (1965)
Review:
The desert and Yvette Mimieux — Bryant’s lover, but a woman who doesn’t love him — make for some fine scenery, but that’s about the extent the highlights here.
Otherwise, this is a 90-hour bore filled with predictable problems and infighting among members of the small band.
Most annoying, long stretches of conversation are in Spanish, without subtitles. And the film is decidedly downbeat, filled with desperate characters willing to take any risk for a chance to improve their lives.
Emilio Fernandez’s Sgt. Lopez is at the center of most of the trouble. Nino Castelnuovo and Henry Silva are the other Mexicans in Capt. Carbajal’s party.
As for the cast, Max Von Sydow was already a well-known Swedish actor at the time, twice nominated for Academy Awards. He played the Three-Eyed Raven on The Game of Thrones.
Mimieux is American born and got her start in acting when she was picked from a beauty contest by Elvis Presley as one of four girls to compete for a part in “Jailhouse Rock.”
She didn’t get it, but would wind up appearing in 24 films — debuting as the female lead in 1960’s “The Time Machine” — and several TV movies before retiring from acting.
Emilio Fernandez as Sgt. Lopez in The Reward (1965)
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Frank Bryant in The Reward (1965)
Directed by:
Serge Bourguignon
Cast:
Max Von Sydow … Scott Swenson
Yvette Mimieux … Sylvia
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. … Frank Bryant
Gilbert Roland … Capt. Carbajal
Emilio Fernandez … Sgt. Lopez
Nino Castelnuovo … Luis
Henry Silva … Joaquin
Rodolfo Acosta … Patron
Julian Rivero … El Viejo
Runtime: 92 min.
Yvette Mimieux as Sylvia in The Reward (1965)
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Frank Bryant and Yvette Mimieux as Sylvia when the posses catches up with them in The Reward (1965)
Memorable lines:
Capt. Carbajal: “If you are looking for the latest news, you’re out of luck. News reaches us here like light from the stars. Takes a long time.”
Scott Swenson: “There comes a time when you’re so sick of yourself, you’re ready to try anything to become someone else.”
Capt. Carbajal: “Mr. Bryant, if these men knew about the reward, they might decide that a severed head gives less trouble than a live captain.”
Henry Silva as Joaquin in The Reward (1965)
Nino Castelnuovo as Luis in The Reward (1965)
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I’m intrested to know what song Nino Castelnuovo was singing in the 1965 movie The Reward ?