The Hired Hand [Blu-ray]

Director: Peter Fonda Peter Fonda

Overview

In his debut behind the camera, Peter Fonda also stars with Warren Oates as a drifter who returns to the wife (Verna Bloom) Fonda deserted seven years before.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/18/2018
UPC:	0760137142287
Original Release:	1971
Rating:	R
Source:	Arrow Video
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	1:30:00
Sales rank:	21,387

Special Features

Audio Commentary by actor-Director Peter Fonda; The Return of The Hired Hand, a 2003 documentary containing interviews with Fonda, Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, Composer Bruce Langhorne, actor Verna Bloom ; Deleted Scenes; The Odd Man, Charles Gormley and Bill Forsyth's 1978 documentary portrait of Scottish Screenwriter's, including Alan Sharp; Interview with Martin Scorsese; Warren Oates and Peter Fonda at the National Film Theatre, an audio recording of the actors' appearance at the NFT London in 1971; Stills gallery; Trailers ; TV Spots; Radio spots; Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Peter Fonda	Harry Collings
Warren Oates	Arch Harris
Verna Bloom	Hannah Collings
Robert Pratt	Dan Griffen
Severn Darden	McVey
Rita Rogers	Mexican Woman
Ann Doran	Mrs. Sorenson
Ted Markland	Luke
Owen Orr	Mace
Megan Denver	Janey Collings
Gray Johnson	Will
Al Hopson	Bartender
Michael McClure	Plummer
Len Marcel	Actor
Larry Hagman	Actor
Bruce Langhorne	Composer

Technical Credits

Alan Sharp

Peter Fonda	Director
William Hayward	Producer
Stanley A. Weiss	Executive Producer
Alan Sharp	Screenwriter
Richard Portman	Sound/Sound Designer
LeRoy Robbins	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Following up on the spectacularly successful Easy Rider, Peter Fonda's languid Western is certainly a feast for the eyes. The film's opening, a lyrical five-minute montage of superimposition layered upon superimposition, a virtuosic display of optical printing prowess if there was one, is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Much of the rest of the film, while never quite reaching the artistic heights of the opening, is filled with lush landscapes and abundant cinematic tricks. Performances are uniformly nuanced and understated, particularly Warren Oates as Arch Harris, who plays the role with remarkable naturalness. Unfortunately, Fonda's film never quite gels into the revisionist masterpiece it threatens to become. In a scene newly restored to the print, Hannah brazenly -- shockingly for the time it was made -- admits to Harris that she has taken numerous lovers. Yet the film never quite forms into a feminist critique of Westerns. The montage of Western landscapes seen during Collings' and Harris' flight from Del Norte seems to push the film towards a environmental reverie, but again Hired never quite follows through. The Hired Hand is an ambitious, beautiful work and an exemplar of anti-establishment filmmaking during the early '70s that never quite lives up to its potential.