Seen It (Again): The Hired Hand (1971)

Quite a bit of what little time I do spend "watching" television consists primarily of my flipping through service provider menus looking for something (anything!) to watch.  It's been a few years since I last came across it on Netflix, but was happy to see Peter Fonda's directorial debut (and follow-up to his iconic turn as "Captain America" in Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider (1969)), The Hired Hand (1917), turn up on STARZ this past week.

In many ways, this quiet, meandering movie is the perfect palette cleanser for today's loud and obvious cinema. Suggesting Fonda learned from Hopper and cinematographer Lazslo Kovacs while Easy Rider, The Hired Hand retains many of the stylistic flourishes and meditative imagistic qualities that were so uniquely presented in Easy Rider. Overlapping fade-in transitions, languid, poetic montages, and the camera's tendency to patiently follow character interactions--all which stand in sharp contrast to modern film making's sped up shaky cams and "tell me now" storytelling. The Hired Hand was also the first feature for future Academy Award winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (1977s Close Encounters of the Third Kind), whose ability to capture the spirit of the American Southwest is suggested here.

From the opening scene, a somber, reflective tone is established. Our two protagonists, Harry Collings (Fonda) and Arch Harris (actor Warren Oates, probably best remembered by my generation as Sgt. Hulka in Stripes) are resting by a river as their younger traveling companion, Dan Griffen (Robert Pratt) is seen frolicking in the water. Much is made of Harry's displeasure with Dan's silliness, though he is reminded by Arch that this is likely as the younger man is very much as Harry was in his youth. Arch and Harry two have been traveling the American Southwest together for seven years, and despite making plans to head to California, it becomes clear that Harry is tired of life as a saddle tramp. After catching something on his fishing line (the significance of which is revealed shortly thereafter), Harry decides to change course and return "home" to the wife he left behind to travel with Arch.

Along the way, as often happens in Westerns, the three stop in a dying desert town for a drink and run into some tough locals. When Dan is framed for some unseemly behavior, he stumbles into the hole-in-the-wall bar and drops dead. After exacting some painful revenge on a group of locals for the role in the death of their friend, Arch and Harry skip town. Of course, their actions will come back to haunt them later. If there is an external conflict in the movie, and one complaint about The Hired Hand has been that it lacks a clear narrative, this is it, though it only returns for resolution in the final 15 minutes of the movie.

In The Hired Hand, however, it is the internal conflicts of the two leads, which come to the forefront once the two reach Harry's old homestead and his estranged wife, Hannah Collings (Verna Bloom), is introduced. Still angered and hurt by Harry's withdrawal from her (and their daughter's) life, he convinces Hannah to allow him to stay, not as her husband, but as the hired hand of the film's title. Arch, ever the loyal partner, stays with Harry in order to help his partner repair this damaged relationship. In the end, however, it becomes clear that Harry will need to end his seven-year  relationship with Arch if he is to embrace a new domestic life with Hannah.

Of the things that make The Hired Hand recommended viewing, it is Warren Oates performance as Arch that is foremost. As played by Oates, Arch is the only character that is provided with the opportunity, by virtue of his sincere and honest humor, to develop beyond the somber, sad realities depicted here. Arch has clear affection for those he chooses to include in his life, a quality clearly expressed in his easy going manner with Hannah's daughter, who has lived her life thus far with the understanding that her father is dead.

Aided immensely by Bruce Langhonre's haunting (and critically acclaimed) score and cinematographer Zsigmond's picturesque vistas, The Hired Hand (1971) works best as a character study, albeit one with with some good ol' fashioned gun play thrown in for good measure. An unusual Western that embraces (much like fellow neo-Western Easy Rider)  the platonic, romantic relationship between Arch and Harry, it subtly, and beautifully, depicts the strong hold friendship can have on those involved. 

The Hired Hand is an odd movie that rewards carefully viewing (and re-watching). It is also very likely not for everyone, but, if you dig 1970s movies and film-making, or neo-Westerns, I recommend you give it a try.  Once available on Netflix, and now on STARZ, many finer public libraries may also have an old copy waiting on it's shelves waiting to be rediscovered.