Following the success of Easy Rider, Universal gave Peter Fonda a million dollars to make his directorial debut, The Hired Hand, a hypnotic hippie western that bombed at the box office but has since been reevaluated as a minor classic. In this elegiac oater, a drifting cowboy (Peter Fonda) and his saddle tramp friend (Warren Oates) return to the wife (Verna Bloom) that Fonda had deserted years before. But as the cold unease of the couple’s estrangement thaws, Fonda will have to choose between his rekindled home life and saving the life of his friend. Scripted by Alan Sharp (Night Moves), beautifully shot by cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (McCabe & Mrs. Miller) and featuring a stellar score by Bruce Langhorne, The Hired Hand ranks as one of the great counterculture films of the ‘70s.
“The closest anyone will come to getting inside of Fonda’s head without going blind on ’shrooms and pharmaceuticals.” – Scott Tobias, The A.V. Club
“Fonda, touching as an actor, proves astonishing as a director, using a fluid, tactile style to conjure a life lived close to the elements and to sudden death.” – Michael Sragow, New Yorker
Kim Morgan discusses The Hired Hand on the New Beverly blog.
