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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 11172
Released: June 3, 2003 |
| Our Price: $13.75 |
| Used Price: $10.56 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Roy Bean's life for a span of 30-odd years is recorded with all the excitement of the era.
Description of The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean:
A remarkable blend of otherwise disparate philosophies about legendary men, this 1972 film was inspired in part by the epic dimensions of a John Milius (The Wind and the Lion) script, which was toned down by Paul Newman's charmingly eccentric approach to the title character, who in turn was deepened by director John Huston's sensitivity to the subject of fleeting dreams. The story concerns the famous outlaw-turned-lawmaker who rules over an empty stretch of the West that gradually grows, under his iron fist, into a thriving town. The film follows the quirky Bean's episodic adventures as the years pass and a variety of colorful characters come and go, including the muse who captivated his soul, the actress Lily Langtry (Ava Gardner). Huston's textured approach has an almost Altmanesque feel to it, though he demands more (and rewardingly so) obvious performances from the cast, particularly a hilarious cameo by Stacy Keach as the one tough-as-nails SOB who makes Bean a tad nervous. Highly entertaining. --Tom Keogh
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean Reviews:
Great Film 
2009-11-24 - A great film, but a real scandle at not being able to purchase in the U.K So I bought it through Amazon , but it was expensive, twice the price it should have been. Such is life..
Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean
2009-10-28 - I've been looking for this many years & it was better than the first time I saw it 30 years ago.
Different, And Mostly Fun 
2009-03-12 - Wow, what a quirky western. It's almost comic book-type put-on for most of the film and then it turns into a sad story at the end.
Most of the actors in this star-studded cast are in cameo roles, the best being Stacy Keach's "Bad Bob." He seems to be about everyone's favorite character in this film, and justifiably so.
The storyline: "Roy Bean" (Newman) almost gets killed visiting this one-horse town out in the middle of lawless El Paso, then gets his revenge on the people who roughed him up, and takes over the town which is really nothing but this one building! He appoints himself judge, obtains a few "marshals," and then brings an assortment of crooks and strange people in to be hanged. It's just one long parade of strange characters, either passing by or hanging around (literally).
There are sub-plots involving (1) Bean's obsession with the famous Lily Langtree, and (2) what happens when the town grows immensely and things change drastically, such as the people wanting a little bit more of a democracy that what Judge Roy Bean had been offering.
This is an intriguing movie that is hard to define. The major negative to the film was that it got kind of silly and ran out of gas in the last half hour, except for the Langtry storyline.
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
2009-03-05 - This is my second favorite Newman movie after Slapshot. It is pure Grit and Determination. Add it to your collection,you won't be sorry.
I know I'm going to be hanged for this... 
2009-01-08 - First of all, I'm a big Paul Newman fan.
But I think he is miscast in this movie. I never quite buy him as Judge Roy Bean. OK, I'm spoiled by Walter Brennan. I just never bought the character, so I couldn't buy the movie. Roy Bean was such a cantankerous and very eccentric person, and from what I can tell from research, not very attractive.. OK, I know this is a movie. But I couldn't get past that the character was Paul Newman trying to be cantankerous and eccentric--except on a superficial level.
That's all, folks...
