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Chaos1214
May 23, 2017Chaos1214 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Marlon Brando’s sole director’s credit (after Stanley Kubrick left the production due to conflicts with the temperamental star) is, for lack of a better description, a flawed masterpiece. Brando plays Rio, a rakish, womanizing outlaw on the hunt for a former cohort (a ferocious Karl Malden) who double-crossed him into a Mexican prison five years earlier. When he comes to discover that his one-time partner in crime is now the stern sheriff of a California border town, he conceives a complex strategy of revenge, and allies himself with a motley crew of bandits to put the plan into effect… From there things get complicated. Brando was at the absolute apex of his star power when this avant-garde western was made, and it has become something of a cult classic in the decades that have followed. “One-Eyed Jacks” is as compelling as it is unconventional. You may not completely understand it, but I’m fairly sure you’ll never forget it.