The Chase (1966)

It's hard to call The Chase a good movie because by almost every standard, it's not. The story is winding, the acting over the top and well the message is ... something about the way society turned out. But I must confess I found this film particularly appealing because of all of its flaws. You may blame Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde is his most famous movie) and The Chase for many things but shy understatement is not one of them. One reason to watch it is that I have rarely seen so many, many rowdy performances of drunken behavior. It might even be that the film portrays a constantly drunk society. A society about to explode, but maybe it'll just pass out or puke in a bush. So what the whole thing is about: a small town in Texas overflows with rumours about the escape of two criminals from prison. These rumours intermingle with power games and drunken parties. And yes it is true, they escaped and one of them is heading back to town, where his wife is waiting ... in another's arms. But still. There's a troubled sheriff (Marlon Brando as Marlon Brando perhaps?) who believes in goodness and a banker whose main desire is to manipulate his son into living the decent, industrious life. Then there's a whole lot of relations in which people treat each other like exchangeable dolls and basically it's the logic of money that rules the game. The situation soon gets out of hand and what we see is a mayhem of misbehavior, drunkenness, vigilantes and a triangulated love affair. Penn creates a glorious hodgepodge of social conflict and I don't know how the film refrains from falling on it's face on the concrete but I'm willing to sit back and let myself be overwhelmed by this deranged gallery of townspeople and outcasts. Soapy and excessive - I liked it. Or at least I experience a pressing need to listen to Gram Parson and Emmylou Harris croon about the cesspool of humanity in the song 'Sin city' and if I get that kind of association, then something must be good.