Henry Moon is captured for a capital offense by a posse when his horse quits while trying to escape to Mexico. He finds that there is a post-Civil War law in the small town that any single or widowed woman can save him from the gallows by marrying him.
Acting
Mary Steenburgen's film debut, holding her own against unhinged Nicholson.
Direction
Nicholson's first time behind the camera — messy, ambitious, totally him.
Writing
Marriage-of-convenience tropes twisted into genuine character study.
Director
Jack Nicholson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mary Steenburgen won a Golden Globe for this, her very first film role — she beat Meryl Streep.
This was part of a brief 1970s wave of 'revisionist westerns' that treated the genre with irreverence, alongside McCabe & Mrs. Miller and The Missouri Breaks.
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