Word: jakes
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Benton and Newman spin a yarn based on the exploits of the gangs of runaway boys who roamed the western territories in order to flee from the Civil War draft. The two heroes are Drew Dixon, an Ohio boy of sound upbringing, and Jake Rumson, a Pennsylvania wildcat, not only a runaway but a deserter. Jake, contemptuous of all authority and opinion other than his own, leads the gang Drew joins up with. And Drew, for reasons unexplained, becomes his only friend...
...land, only steal from it. Tragedy strikes, and comedy. The youngest foul-mouthed wanderer gets his head blown open for trying to steal a pie off a farmhouse windowsill; a raid on a stagecoach is foiled when the planned decoy enters the carriage and rides away. Except for Jake and Drew, the group breaks apart with several ingenious brands of double-cross...
...NONE have been more twofaced than Drew, who has been hoarding $85 for himself--even while his buddies starved. When Drew accepts Jake's view of things, and the two become bona fide bandits in the film's last shot, we almost feel relieved. Drew's materialistic piety has been wearing us down: since cash is all he cares about, we've already wondered why he has scruples about getting it illegally...
...course, Benton and Newman cheat themselves. The causes of Drew's change are never limned (neither are Jake's, but he's just doing what comes naturally). If the intent is not to study two representative characters, but to recreate some adventure folklore about man-child in the promised land, the failure is just as great. Everyone besides Jake and Drew is even more of a caricature. In fact, the direction is so poor that in any scene which boasts more than a few people and requires some creativity on the part of the director, half the actors' faces...
...reportedly based). Still, there's a lot of soggy Harvey Schmidt pianoforte and vacant land-scapes and awkward tries at folksiness to go through before he meets his end. By the time he brags about being "the oldest whore on the block," it's become clear that not only Jake and Drew, but Benton and Newman, are the youngest...