Rent The Reivers (1969)
3.5 of 5 from 55 ratings
1h 47min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Steve McQueen stars as Boon, a roguish hired hand who "borrows" his employer's new automobile, a spectacular Winton Flyer, and takes off for Memphis. Accompanying him are Ned, the black stable hand (Rupert Crosse) and Lucius (Mitch Vogel), an earnest 12-year old on the verge of losing his innocence. The three "reivers" (thieves) set out on a wild escapade that takes them everywhere from a brothel to a spectacular horse race where Lucius must ride a stallion to victory if he is to win back the Winton that Ned swapped for the horse.
- Actors:
- Steve McQueen, Sharon Farrell, Ruth White, Michael Constantine, Clifton James, Juano Hernandez, Lonny Chapman, Will Geer, Rupert Crosse, Mitch Vogel, Diane Shalet, Pat Randall, Diane Ladd, Ellen Geer, Dub Taylor
- Directors:
- Mark Rydell
- Producers:
- Irving Ravetch
- Writers:
- William Faulkner, Harriet Frank Jr., Irving Ravetch
- Others:
- John Williams
- Studio:
- Paramount
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Comedy
- Collections:
- Films by Genre, The Best American Road Movies
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Reviews (1) of The Reivers
Southern Nostalgia. - The Reivers review by Steve
Comedy-drama based on William Faulkner's novel set in the American south of distant memory. A car is delivered to a rich family in a small rural town in Mississippi. Steve McQueen and Rupert Crosse play stable boys who 'borrow' the vehicle and drive the family's 11 year old boy (Mitch Vogel) to Memphis where bawdy adventures take place and life-lessons are learned.
The narrator (Burgess Meredith) declares that the citizens of his youth were a 'pleasant courteous people'. This was a time of apartheid, religious fundamentalism and awful inequality! There is racism in the film (and free use of racist expletives) though it is stripped of menace. There are rednecks, a stupid fat sheriff, ribald sex workers... all the archetypes of southern comedy.
Perhaps this nostalgic idealisation of the past is more credible because it is a memory film. The suffering has been forgotten. If that hurdle can be overcome, and McQueen's rather grotesque, broad caricature, then there is a warm coming of age story set in the endless summers of all our pasts.
The photography is beautiful. There is a folksy score by John Williams, all banjos and fiddles, and a sentimental orchestral theme for those special moments. There is a sense of the past being a place of safety and childhood a time of adventure. Which has a certain innocent, naive charm.
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