Ballad of Cable Hogue

"The Ballad of Cable Hogue" is a light-hearted western starring
Jason Robards.

When his partners beat him up and leave him to die in the desert, it looks like the end for Cable Hogue (played by Jason Robards).  But through a stroke of good luck, it isn’t.  While wandering in the desert, Cable Hogue finds water that saves his life.  It also turns out that the water well is right on the stagecoach line.

Hogue gets the rights to the well and sets up shop.  Now he waits for his two ex-partners to come back through town. He knows that one day they will return to the area and he intends to get his revenge.

In the meantime, Cable Hogue takes up with town prostitute Hildy (Stella Stevens). As he waits, the West as he knows it, is slowing changing around him.

Directed by famed western movie director, Sam Peckinpah, “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” is reputed to be one of Sam Peckinpah's own favorites.

•  “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” is reportedly one of  director Sam Peckinpah’s favorite films.  Because Sam Peckinpah went $19 million over budget and took longer than expected time to finish this film, Warner Brothers did not do any more movies with him.

• Director Sam Peckinpah is well-known for his more violent Western films like “The Wild Bunch,” but “The Ballad of Cable Hogue”  has a light-hearted tone.

•  Sam Peckinpah, also directed these other famous western movies:

• The Wild Bunch
• Ride the High Country
• Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

• Many critics refer to “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” as a “Death of the West” film because it shows the transition from the old west to modernization.