Film

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Name: The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Genre: Comedy, Western, Action
Released: 1970
Cast: Jason Robards, Stella Stevens, Slim Pickens, David Warner, L.Q. Jones

Comedy western

Sam Peckinpah's oddball 1970 western is equal parts revenge fantasy, love story, and meditation on progress crushing the old frontier. Jason Robards is magnetic as a desert prospector who strikes it rich not with gold but shrewd hospitality. Funny, tender, violent in bursts, and utterly unconcerned with being a traditional western—it's for anyone who likes character-driven stories about men learning too late what actually matters.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love loose, meandering Westerns where character and a sly, melancholy sense of humor matter more than gunfights, the kind of film that lets a lonely man talk to his mule and the desert.

Skip it if you want a tight plot and steady momentum; this one wanders through long stretches of quiet and small domestic business, and its two-hour-plus running time will test patience.

What it asks of you: It asks for unhurried attention across a long runtime, with languid scenes that drift rather than build, and a willingness to let its tone shift between wry and wistful.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

True Grit1969

John Wayne as a grizzled U.S. Marshal and Jeff Bridges as a determined teenager form a partnership that's funny, touching, and built on mutual respect earned through hardship. The dialogue crackles and both actors disappear into their roles.

But It's a revenge story that takes its time, and some of the plotting in the second half feels episodic rather than propulsive. Not a lot of spectacle.

Monte Walsh1970

Lee Marvin and Jack Palance are aging cowboys watching the West die around them, played with weathered grace and dark humor. It's elegiac without being sentimental, with real affection for these men and their obsolescence.

But The story is loose and meandering by design, which feels right for the mood but won't appeal if you want a tight three-act structure. Quiet in ways that can read as slow.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid1969

Newman and Redford are charming outlaws on the run, delivering chemistry and humor alongside genuine danger and a haunting ending. It's a western that understands charm and timing as much as gunplay.

But The tone shifts between comedy and tragedy in ways that don't always land smoothly. Some find the lighter bits undercut the stakes.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Ballad of Cable Hogue

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Stalker1979

Both explore what a man builds, who he becomes in the building, and what happens when the world changes around his choices—but Tarkovsky goes inward where Peckinpah goes outward.

Andrei Tarkovsky's Russian science-fiction meditation on desire, faith, and what we're actually chasing when we chase things. A man guides two others through a mysterious zone to a room that grants wishes. It's slow, philosophical, and utterly transcendent—a spiritual cousin to Cable Hogue's question about what makes a life valuable.

But It's 163 minutes of long takes and philosophical argument with almost no conventional drama. Patience isn't negotiable; rapture is not guaranteed.

Little Big Man1970

Dustin Hoffman as a man who lived among the Cheyenne, narrating a rambling, hilarious, heartbreaking story of frontier mythology colliding with reality. It's chaotic and digressive and completely alive.

But The satire is sometimes blunt, and it's long—almost three hours. The tonal swings from comedy to massacre can feel tonal rather than earned.

Junior Bonner1972

Peckinpah himself directed this one—Steve Reeves as a fading rodeo star returning to his small Arizona hometown. It's tender and precise about failure, family, and knowing when to walk away.

But Rodeo and small-town life won't grab everyone, and there's no real antagonist or conflict in the traditional sense. It's mood over plot.

The Wild Bunch1969

Peckinpah's masterpiece about aging outlaws on their last job. The action is balletic and devastating; the men are tragic; every frame looks painted. Essential cinema.

But Violent—genuinely, unapologetically violent—and three hours long. The political undertones can feel heavy-handed, and the treatment of Mexican characters is complicated at best.

Johnny Guitar1954

Joan Crawford runs a saloon and stands her ground against a lynch mob led by a woman. It's a western that cares about psychology and dialogue as much as shooting, and it's completely strange.

But The melodrama is thick, the plot is thin, and the pacing can feel airless. It's a curiosity that rewards patience but won't click for everyone.

Ride the High Country1962

Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott as aging lawmen on one last job, playing with mortality and honor. Anthony Mann directs with restraint; the film is quiet and morally complex.

But It's a chamber piece disguised as a western—not much action, lots of talk about duty and conscience. The payoff is modest.

The Naked Spur1953

James Stewart and Robert Ryan as a bounty hunter and his prey, locked in conversation and low-level violence in the mountains. Mann and Stewart explore something raw about obsession and masculinity.

But Slim on plot, heavy on psychological tension. Some find the repetition tedious; others find it hypnotic.

The Straight Story1999

Both are westerns about men finding worth in hospitality and simple living, and both are fascinated by what the modern world takes away when it rushes past us.

David Lynch's only G-rated film: an elderly man rides his lawnmower across Iowa to reconcile with his estranged brother. It's as strange as Lynch ever gets while being gentle and humane—about small dignity, slow living, and redemption on your own terms.

But Almost nothing happens. If you're looking for narrative momentum or conflict, you'll find neither. It asks you to be present to moment-to-moment life.

The Tragedy of Macbeth2021

Like Cable Hogue, it's about a man's ambition—building a kingdom instead of a rest stop—and how the world itself conspires to destroy what you've made through sheer indifference to your wishes.

Joel Coen's black-and-white Shakespeare, dense and theatrical and hypnotic. Denzel Washington as Macbeth is magnetism and corruption; Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth is steel. It's brutal and gorgeous and never boring.

But It's Shakespeare spoken at speed with a theatrical production design that might feel mannered. If you don't like the language or the form, the film can't save you.