Ein Mann wird Gejagt (1966)

Ein Mann wird Gejagt: Directed by Arthur Penn. With Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, E.G. Marshall. The escape of Bubber Reeves from prison affects the inhabitants of a small Southern town.

“Much sexual water has gone under the bridge since the 1960s, and more than a few installments of u0026quot;The Playboy Philosophy.u0026quot; So now, at the millenniumu0026#39;s turning, a tale in which the prejudices, cynicism and sexual infidelities of a small southern townu0026#39;s dissolute ruling class figure prominently seems dated, even quaint. Yet such is the terrifyingly plausible spiral into anarchy depicted in 1966u0026#39;s The Chase that Arthur Pennu0026#39;s controversial film remains a disturbing piece of cinema. A thinner (but still imposing) Marlon Brando plays Sherrif Calder, a lone, laconic voice of reason in a town rapidly going insane on a hot summeru0026#39;s night. E.G. Marshall is Val Rogers, bank president and town monarch, suitably surrounded by fawning lackeys such as Ed Stewart (Robert Duvall, uncharacteristically loathsome as a milquetoast cuckold aching for revenge). The spark for the climactic firestorm is the return of u0026quot;Bubbau0026quot; Reeves, who has escaped from prison after being sent away for joy-riding in a stolen airplane. Everyone assumes he is coming back to avenge himself on Rogersu0026#39; son, who has been keeping company with Reevesu0026#39; wife Anna (Jane Fonda). The filmu0026#39;s weakest performance is, arguably, turned in by Robert Redford, who is much too pretty and soft-spoken to be convincing as the fugitive hellion, Bubba. Overall, however, The Chase features some memorable performances, including those of Brando, Duvall and Janice Rule as Duvallu0026#39;s slutty wife, Emily. In addition to the fearsome inevitability of its violence, The Chase is notable for the horrific realism of the beating inflicted on the sherrif by a couple of corporate good u0026#39;ol boys – almost certainly the most graphic beating Hollywood had ever dared to put on film, and possibly unrivalled to this day for its sheer ferocity. Critics may have made much of the filmu0026#39;s flaws, but as a study of a dysfunctional society poised to explode, The Chase still stands up as a sobering and powerful movie experience.”