The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

"If this story ain't true... it shoulda been!"

1972 2h 0m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 187

WesternComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Outlaw and self-appointed lawmaker Judge Roy Bean rules over an empty stretch of the West that gradually grows, under his iron fist, into a thriving town, while dispensing his his own quirky brand of frontier justice upon strangers passing by.

“If this story ain't true... it shoulda been!”

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Cast

Paul Newman
Judge Roy Bean
Victoria Principal
Maria Elena
Ned Beatty
Tector Crites
Matt Clark
Nick the Grub
Roddy McDowall
Frank Gass
Jacqueline Bisset
Rose Bean
Bill McKinney
Fermel Parlee
Anthony Perkins
Reverend LaSalle

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Huston
Writers: John Milius
Languages: English
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 / 7

ERA

Did you know

54 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Huston, shot by Richard Moore. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Paul Newman and Victoria Principal and Ned Beatty carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "If this story ain't true... it shoulda been!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0068853 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Huston directs. Richard Moore behind the camera. Maurice Jarre scores. Hugh S. Fowler cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

154 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by John Huston, shot by Richard Moore. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Maurice Jarre. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Hugh S. Fowler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Paul Newman and Victoria Principal and Ned Beatty carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "If this story ain't true... it shoulda been!".
7IMDB entry: tt0068853 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Richard Moore
Original score: Maurice Jarre
Editing: Hugh S. Fowler
Costume design: Edith Head
Makeup / hair: John Truwe
Sound: Don MacDougall
Stunt coordinator: M. James Arnett
Runtime: 120 min · 2h 0m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)

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John Huston

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-08-30
★ 5/10
Beanisms! The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean is directed by John Huston and written by John Milius. It stars Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Perkins, Ned Beatty, Roddy McDowall, Tab Hunter, Victoria Principal and Ava Gardner. Music is by Maurice Jarre and cinematography by Richard Moore. In Vinegaroon, Texas, former outlaw Roy Bean becomes the self appointed judge for the region and dispenses his brand of justice as he sees fit. There were a handful of Quirky Revisionist Westerns that surfaced in the 1970s, usually directed by a big name and starring another, one such film is this effort, and much like the others of its ilk it is met with understandable division. The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean can not be recommended in confidence since it is far too rambling and episodic for its own good, something which writer Milius was at pains to say himself. Going so far to say that it’s not the film he wrote and that Huston just did his own thing and steered the pic in another direction – for better or worse depending on your own filmic proclivities. The intention on the page was to have a man clearly with delusions of grandeur, a self appointed judge, jury and executioner, and as an egostical berk into the bargain as well, this side of things comes through. Yet the pic never settles down into a coherent rhythm, as a number of characters played by guest stars wander into each episode, the pic stalls and resorts to bawdy frothery or pretentious surrealism to hopefully hook you into staying with the piece. Unfortunately come the hour mark this becomes tedious and it’s a slog to get through. Some folk do love it, and maybe it’s one to revisit on occasion to catch any nuances missed previously, maybe even grasp the point Huston was trying to make? But for me it’s a mess, an overblown mess that not even the great Paul Newman could save. 5/10
CinemaSerf2025-06-27
★ 7/10
It was always going to be difficult for anyone to beat Walter Brennan’s feisty effort as this character from 1940, but Paul Newman and John Huston come close with this slightly contradictory portrayal of the 19th lawman. We start as he, himself, only narrowly escapes a vigilante squad who didn’t much like the cut of his gib and then returns to exact his own vengeance. A chance encounter with “LaSalle” (a barely recognisable Anthony Perkins) sets in train his ruthless reign over a territory that saw him use the rule of law to coax, cajole, threaten and downright extort from anyone who had the misfortune to pass through so he could expand his hick town into something that, believe it or not, did actually have some semblance of law and order to it - providing you were prepared to swear an oath to Lily Langtry. Of course, as we know, absolutely power can corrupt and as his reputation grew the place attracted those worthy and those deadly, and it’s soon those latter folks as well as a fondness for “Maria Elena” (Victoria Principal) that look like changing things. It’s quite a confusing plot, this. On the one hand he’s a ruthless and violent man who thinks nothing of hanging and shooting - just ask the scene-stealing Stacy Keach, on the other hand he does have a code of decency that does want his town to become gentrified. It’s that paradox of styles that helps this to work, but that also illustrates just how difficult it was for anyone to “civilise” an aptly named Wild West where an horse or a wallet was worth way more than a man’s life. There are plenty of familiar faces popping up here, but none that really epitomise the genre which is a shame. Still, Newman is on good form for the first hour or so before the pace starts to fall away and the whole thing starts to become a bit flat before there’s a lively denouement and the arrival of the star of the whole thing, and boy does she positively glow! It’s a good film, just not a great one, and I’m afraid I’m still with Brennan on the best Judge Roy Bean.