Bite the Bullet

1975 2h 12m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 139

WesternAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

At the beginning of the 20th century, a newspaper organizes an endurance horse race : 700 miles to run in a few days. 9 adventurers are competing, among them a woman, Miss Jones, a Mexican, an Englishman, a young cow-boy, an old one and two friends, Sam Clayton and Luke Matthews. All those individualists will learn to respect each other.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Gene Hackman
Sam Clayton
Candice Bergen
Miss Jones
James Coburn
Luke Matthews
Ben Johnson
Mister
Ian Bannen
Sir Harry Norfolk
Jan-Michael Vincent
Carbo
Dabney Coleman
Jack Parker
Sally Kirkland
Honey

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Richard Brooks
Writers: Richard Brooks
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

51 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Richard Brooks, shot by Harry Stradling Jr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alex North. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor George Grenville shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen and James Coburn carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0072705 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Brooks directs. Harry Stradling Jr. behind the camera. Alex North scores. George Grenville cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
251 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
4Directed by Richard Brooks, shot by Harry Stradling Jr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Alex North. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor George Grenville shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen and James Coburn carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt0072705 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Harry Stradling Jr.
Original score: Alex North
Editing: George Grenville
Makeup / hair: Fred C. Blau Jr.
Sound: Les Fresholtz
Runtime: 132 min · 2h 12m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,000,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Bite the Bullet (1975)

Also by

Richard Brooks

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2019-08-28
★ 6/10
Big-budget Western about a 700-mile endurance race with a top-notch cast In 1906, a 700-mile horse race in the Western wilderness is sponsored by a newspaper. The racers include two former Rough Riders (Gene Hackman & James Coburn), a part-time prostitute (Candice Bergen), a punk “Kid” (Jan-Michael Vincent), an aged cowboy (Ben Johnson), a Mexican with a toothache (Mario Arteaga) and an English gent (Ian Bannen). “Bite the Bullet” (1975) was written & directed by Richard Brooks, who said the movie is based on several historical cross-country races subsidized by newspapers and cities from 1880-1910. The most well-known was a 1908 race from Evanston, Wyoming, to Denver backed by the Denver Post with a $2500 prize, which was his main inspiration. While this was a big budget production with a kick-axx cast it’s not often cited on Best Westerns lists, probably because the long race makes it a one-of-a-kind Western that’s not about a suspense-building story, but rather an episodic adventure with character-defining vignettes. Speaking of which, it helps if you utilize the subtitles to keep up with the sometimes mumbled dialogues. Unfortunately, the escaped convict subplot seems shoehorned into the last act. It's like Brooks tried too hard to concoct an "exciting" ending, but ended up almost ruining the movie. The film runs 2 hours, 12 minutes, and was shot in Nevada (Carson National Forest & Lake Mead), New Mexico (White Sands) and Colorado. GRADE: C+/B-

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