The Winds of Autumn (1976)

Chuck Pierce Jr. is Joel Rigney, an 11-year-old Mormon boy who returns home from visiting a neighbor to find his entire family slain.

The trouble started when Ora Mae Hankins (Jeanette Nolan) and her nephew J. Pete Hankins (Jack Elam) rescued Ferd Hankins from a prison work detail.

Ferd’s brother Lester was badly wounded in the attack on the prison detail, and the Hankins clan winds up at Joel’s home seeking help.

Ferd lays one eye on Joel’s pretty young sister Catherine (Belinda Palmer) and decides he must have her.

So he follows her to a barn where she’s gone to fetch eggs. The attempted rape turns into murder as he pummels her with his pistol.

To cover up the slaying, Wire Hankins kills the mother and father. Upon his return, Joel finds all three bodies in the barn.

Church leaders mulling Joel’s fate are surprised when he proclaims he’s old enough to care for himself and voices thoughts of vengeance.

That should be left to the Lord, they advice.

But Joel has learned the “eye for an eye” verse from Deuteronomy and isn’t about to let the murderers go unpunished.

So after moving in with an elderly neighbor (Mr. Pepperdine), Joel sneaks off one day, riding a mule and carrying a stolen shotgun.

Pepperdine, equipped with a gunfighting past but slowed by his age, straps on his six guns and heads off in pursuit.

Review:

This is one of five Westerns helmed by Charles B. Pierce, who struck gold with his directorial debut, 1972’s “The Legend of Boogy Creek.” The best of the bunch is 1977’s “Grayeagle.”

Here, he starts with the promising premise — an 11-year-old on a quest for vengeance — but gets bogged down with too many scenes of Joel riding through the Montana wilderness and the implausible assistance he gets from a mysterious Indian who shows up from time to time.

Jeanette Nolan brings a touch of zest to the film as Ora Mae Hankins, who doesn’t mind her kin’s unlawful ways as long as they’re smart about breaking the law … which they usually aren’t.

As usual, the director takes on a key role himself, that of Ferd, the half-crazed brother who lecherous behavoir causes most of the trouble.

And he cast son Chuck Pierce Jr. in the pivotal role of Joel, a likeable enough lad who has to have his life threatened to kill his first man.

Directed by:
Charles B. Pierce

Cast:
Jack Elam … J. Pete Hankins
Jeanette Nolan … Ora Mae Hankins
Andrew Prine … Wire Hankins
Earl E. Smith … Mr. Pepperdine
Chuck Pierce Jr. … Joel Rigney
Jimmy Clem … Hog Hankins
Belinda Palmer … Catherine Rigney
Joyce Workman … Martha Rigney
Perry Harris … Lester Hankins
Robert Birchall … Kermit Rigney
Charles B. Pierce … Ferd Hankins
Cheri Minns … Maybell
Dub Taylor … Rattler S. Gravely

Runtime: 106 min.

Memorable lines:

Gra Mae Hankins to Ferd: “The worst day of my life was the day I bore you.”

Mormon woman to Joel: “Young friend, we sympathize with thee for thy sorrow, but thee must thrust out these ugly and un-Christian thoughts of vengeance. ‘For vengeance is mine,’ said the Lord.”
Joel: “Yes, ma’am. But didn’t he also say, in chapter 19 of Deuteronomy, ‘the elder shall send fr and fetch the slayer hence, and deliver him to the avenger of blood that he may die? A life for a life, an eye for an eye, a hand for a hand and a tooth for a tooth?”

Joel to Mr. Pepperdine; “I’m too young and you’re too old. No one else is willing to try. You reckon the good Lord will help me out?”
Mr. Pepperdine: “Well, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I just can’t believe he’d let this evil deed go unpunished. Believe me, the wrath of the Lord is on its way.”

J. Pete Hankins, after capturing Joel: “Somebody’s gotta be comin’ for this kid. When they do, we’ll get down to grizzle.”

Dub Taylor as Rattler S. Gravely, the traveling salesman in The Winds of Autumn (1976)

Belinda Palmer as Catherine Rigney, upset over a prank her brother plays on her in The Winds of Autumn (1976)

Cheri Minns as Maybell, the woman who runs the whorehouse in The Winds of Autumn (1976)