The obsessed

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Movie
German title The obsessed
Original title One-eyed jacks
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1961
length 141 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Marlon Brando
script Charles Neider ,
Guy Trosper
production Frank P. Rosenberg ,
Walter Seltzer ,
George Glass
music Hugo Friedhofer
camera Charles Lang
cut Archie Marshek
occupation

The obsessed (alternative title: I'm not hanging yet , original title: One-Eyed Jacks ) is a western in which Marlon Brando played the leading role. It is the only film he also directed . The feature film is loosely based on the book The One and Only True Story of the Life and Cruel End of the Famous Gunslinger Hendry Jones, called Billy the Kid (Original Title: The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones ) by Charles Neider .

action

Rio and "Dad" Longworth are desperados . You are surrounded by the police after a bank robbery. Dad promises to get another horse they'll need to escape. But he does not return to Rio, but flees alone with the stolen gold. Rio is caught and jailed for years.

After five years, he and his fellow inmate Chico manage to escape. Seeking revenge, Rio seeks Longworth across the country. From Bob, a wanted criminal, Rio learns where Longworth is. Bob and another friend, along with Rio and Chico, want to rob the bank in Monterey , where Dad now lives. Dad is now married, sheriff of the city, and ostensibly a conformist citizen. Rio pretends that he also managed to escape and that he only wants to visit Dad because he happened to be in the area. Rio lies and seduces Dad's stepdaughter Louisa in revenge. He tries in vain to fight the real love the girl feels for him. Despite everything, a love relationship has developed between the two of them. Dad learns of the relationship between her and Rio through his devious and cowardly deputy sheriff Lon, who himself has his eyes on Louisa. When Rio shoots a man in self-defense in the saloon, Dad sees a chance to get rid of Rio. He publicly whips him, smashes his right hand and chases him out of town.

It takes Rio weeks to recover from the injuries and rehearses revolver shooting with his still battered firing hand. His cronies grow impatient, but the friendship between Rio and Chico, which has existed since they were in prison, protects Rio from the other two gang members. The gang separates from Rio and shoots Chico, who just wants to attack the bank without endangering Rio. But Bob and Harvey had already thought of a trap for him in advance and removed the cartridges from his revolver. In general, neither of them wanted to take any risks with him. A trap is later set for Rio, too, by giving Dad a warning that he is seeking revenge.

During the robbery on the bank, Bob dies in a hail of bullets, Harvey flees.

The pregnant Louisa tries to dissuade Rio from his revenge on Dad, later Maria Longworth - Dad's wife - tries to prevent Dad from killing Rio. Dad arrested Rio believing he was involved in the bank robbery - mostly to get rid of him for good. He wants to hang it himself the next day. Rio can escape from prison, however, and there is a showdown .

production

After Marlon Brando fell out with the intended director Stanley Kubrick , he took over the directing himself. Countless script versions were discarded, and the finished film, which lasted over three hours, was cut by around an hour by the producers.

Brando formulated his vehement rejection of bourgeois values primarily in the figure of Karl Malden, who mutated from a desperado to a mendacious honest man. In its ambivalence and violence, The Obsessed also anticipates some of the later spaghetti westerns.

Further information

The original English title One-Eyed Jacks refers to the two cards Spades and heart jack of the Anglo-American playing cards sheet in profile - are displayed and when they are set according to each other, look at each other - that is one-eyed.

The obsessed was Brando's only directorial work.

The Mexican actress Pina Pellicer committed in 1964 at the age of 30 years suicide .

Reviews

The lexicon of international films says the film is a “large-scale, but very tough Western” and praises the “impressive directorial work”.

Phil Hardy calls it a "unique western". He has an "emotional intensity" that you normally only find in the works of King Vidor and Anthony Mann and is a forerunner of the Western Sam Peckinpahs . Hardy particularly emphasizes Lang's camera work and the “ oedipal intensity” of the father-son relationship. Another characteristic is "Brando's inability to get the narrative under control".

Joe Hembus praises the film's “lyrical and pathetic solitude”. Brando is "the savior and martyr who painfully guides himself and others on the path of love, friendship and loyalty."

Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz give the Western 3½ out of 4 possible stars (extraordinary) in their lexicon "Films on TV" and say: "Blindingly photographed, with two exciting women and a gripping final duel."

Awards

literature

  • Charles Neider : The only true story of the life and cruel end of the famous gunslinger Hendry Jones, called Billy the Kid (Original title: The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones ). German by Udo Rennert . Unabridged edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, 236 pages, ISBN 3-596-28259-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://geminispacecraft.blogspot.ch/2009/01/hollywood-suicide-2-pina-pellicer.html
  2. ↑ The possessed. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ^ Phil Hardy: The Encyclopedia of Western Movies. Woodbury Press Minneapolis 1984. ISBN 0-8300-0405-X . P. 280.
  4. ↑ Joe Hembus: Western Lexicon - 1272 films from 1894 to 1975. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich Vienna 2nd edition 1977, ISBN 3-446-12189-7 , p. 52
  5. ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in Lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 82.