1966, the year Arthur Penn made ‘The Chase‘, belongs to the period in the second half of the 1960s that transformed American cinema. These are the years in which the French New Wave reached the shores of Hollywood, in which the producers left to the directors the responsibilities of being the lead authors and principal influencers in the making of films, and in which the golden generations of established actors from the 50s or even before began to collaborate with the new generations of young actors, extremely talented but educated in a different style of acting, natural and devoid of rhetoric and theatricality. ‘The Chase‘ captures this transition by combining elements of a classic movie, a contemporary western if you wish (with the lone sheriff fighting for truth and justice in a small Texan town) with a social drama with surprising resonances in reality. The cast brings to screen Marlon Brando, a mega-star who had gained fame in the previous decade together with some of the younger actors who would make, each of them, formidable and lasting careers in the following decades.
‘The Chase‘ begins with an escape that is complicated by a murder, but most of the story takes place in the mid-60s in a small Texan town. Equality in civil rights had been legislated but mentalities had not changed much. Society is stratified. The city is controlled by tycoon Val Rogers, who is the director of the bank, and the owner of oil wells and of most of the region’s farms. The rest of the inhabitants spend their time gossiping and partying on jazz music sprinkled copiously with booze. Sheriff Calder (Marlon Brando) is considered Rogers’ man. The community and the sheriff will be put to the test when news arrives in town that young Bubber (Robert Redford) has escaped from the prison where he landed after being arrested by the sheriff and charged with deeds of which he may not have been guilty. Meanwhile, his wife Anna (Jane Fonda) had found solace in the arms of young Jake Rogers (James Fox). The drunken mob wants to do justice alone, the only one trying to obey in the name of decency and the law is the sheriff. Will he succeed? At what price?
The way the story in ‘The Chase‘ is conceived (based on a novel and a play written by Horton Foote) pays tribute to the style of the big studios. The social context is well described, a whole gallery of well-sketched characters populates the story. But the real surprise appears for us viewers in the final third of the film when we understand that everything we have seen so far builds-up a dramatic confrontation with surprising turns. Under the influence of alcohol, fallen into a collective psychosis, the inhabitants of the small town with its gossip and stereotypes turn into a threatening and violent mob, ready to break the law and face the people who dare to represent it. In this final part, the acting creations also stand out. Marlon Brando manages one of the solid roles of his career here, while Robert Redford, Jane Fonda and Robert Duvall seem to be preparing the significant roles they will play in the coming years. There was need perhaps for a little more depth in defining some of the characters. Fonda‘s Anna is mostly decorative and the reasons of her infidelity is too little explored. About Bubber, we understand that he had been a victim of circumstances, a marginalised young man, who had not had many chances, but this emerges from the stories of other characters, not from the time allotted to Redford on screen. Director Arthur Penn honourably deals with the conventional parts of the film, gradually increasing the tension towards the final confrontations. Looking at his filmography we can see that this ascent continued. The following year he would make ‘Bonnie and Clyde‘.