Western Sunset

We queued up The Hired Hand (1971) partly because Peter Fonda passed away. But also, Verna Bloom, Ms. Spenser’s aunt, died not that long ago. So we were watching for her.

It starts with cowboys Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, and the kid, Robert Pratt, sitting around a campfire, talking about what to do next. Pratt wants to go to California, and Oates allows as how he might like to see the ocean. But Fonda says he wants to go home and see his wife again. It’s been seven years since he’s seen her. But before Oates and Pratt can head off, Pratt goes into town and gets killed offscreen.

So Fonda and Oates go into town and shoot the foot off of Severn Darden, the man who killed their friend and head out.

When Fonda gets to the old homestead, his wife, Verna Bloom, isn’t too happy to see him. She finally agrees to let him stay as a hired hand, sleeping in the barn. She’s become a hard woman and bitter towards Fonda. Also, he hears that she usually sleeps with her hired hands. When he confronts her about that, she asks why she shouldn’t?

So, little by little, he gains her trust, and Oates heads off to California. But it can’t end happily, can it?

Fonda wears a beard in this, and seems to be doing Eastwood, although it’s probably just the style at the time. He’s pretty stiff, but maybe he’s supposed to be. Oates is always good, of course. But Bloom is truly great here. She’s plain and unglamorous, bitter and unapologetic. She’s quiet, expressive, and brave.

But I have to say that cinematographer Vilmos Szigmond is the best thing about the movie. It is full of dark scenes and sunsets, and long dissolves. One that I liked a lot was a dissolve between Fonda and Oates talking and a sunset, with them silhouetted at the bottom - so it was almost like three planes, the conversation over the sunset, with the silhouettes at the bottom of the screen. Very memorable.

In conclusion, RIP, Peter Fonda. RIP, Aunt Verna.