Very well executed

To me, this movie is perfection.

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I have seen two different versions of this "Mexican" film on the Fox Movie Channel (or its on demand version). The first time was the 1.33 version with no subtitles. While it's true that most of the Norte Americano characters (which in this case includes Von Sydow whose accent is very slight--he was reputed to have intentionally learned a mid-Atlantic version of English) have a limited or non-existent command of Spanish, you can't really understand what is going on without subtitles. The novel on which it is based notes that the Americans do not always understand what is going on but the dialog is in "English" anyway. A kind of stilted way of talking which suggests a translation. Also the Mexicans are really Indians except for the police chief who has been exiled from the big city and wants to get back. Even he might not understand what the Indians are saying among themselves. The second time I saw this film (on Fox Film channel, May 2016) it now had English subs and was letterboxed at 1.85 (though the opening title sequence clearly shows that this was a full Cinemascope frame originally!). I'd like to see this in HD (we don't get that for the Fox movie channel here) and a proper Cinemascope ratio. (TCM please) I would also recommend Michael Barrett's novel for richer detail which is hinted at in the film. Another reviewer compared this film to "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". You could say that it falls into a certain subgenre which I call "a Mexican" like the Wild Bunch and other westerns or several film noirs that take place mostly in Mexico or a goodly number of other films and books which highlight our neighbor south as a place of danger, corruption, illicit behavior, serious crime, poverty, untold wealth, a place of refuge for those fleeing the law, etc. Mexico itself has had a first-class film industry which has had its ups and downs. Mexican noirs of the 40s and 50s are every bit as good as the Hollywood versions and laden with less censorship to boot! I agree with another reviewer that there may have been more footage that didn't make it into the final cut which would have made elements of the story clearer. Certainly the ending is very abrupt. In any case this is a film that should be given the restoration treatment. Were it to happen it would probably have a much greater reputation. Perhaps the person who was in charge of production at the studio during the film who contributed some information in another review could tell us more about the process that led to its release. Maybe Von Sydow remembers something as well.Worth seeing!

"The Reward" (1965)is one of the most interesting and well photographed and directed westerns that I've seen. Director Serge Bourguignon ("Sundays and Cybele") proves he's a distinguished director with this tale of two men who try to bring a posse out after a fugitive for the $50,000 reward and end up having to agree to split the reward with the three other men, a sergeant and an Indian and another Mexican. Bourguignon shows his strength just in his casting decisions that he is a top-flight director. In the cast, as his protagonist, a pilot, (Max Von Sydow)paired with Gilbert Roland as an captain, with Emilio Fernandez as the sergeant, Henry Silva as the Indian and Nino Castelnuovo as the other Mexican. Yvette Mimieux plays the girl accompanying Emphrem Zimbalist, Jr. as the fugitive. The cinematography is very well realized by Joe MacDonald in Color By Deluxe. Bourguignon's directorial flourishes abound, the matching of image to sound and the cutting from scene to scene are skillfully wrought. Film Editor was Robert Simpson. Of course, the English subtitles for the Spanish should have been retained. The script was by Bourguignon and Oscar Millard based on a novel by Michael Barrett. Produced by Aaron Rosenberg. There was always a question after "Sundays and Cybele" that it could have been a fluke the film was as good as it was winning Best Foreign Film, (After all it had Patricia Gozzi as the star) but "The Reward" certainly cements his reputation and makes me interested to see his other films. Yes, I think the film should be revived. It is probably more important today than initially upon release. It was a 20th Century-Fox film.

Max van Sydow and Yvette Mimieux in a western? With Efrem Zimbalist? What were they thinking? Even the presence of Emilio Fernandez (the great Mapache from "The Wild Bunch"), Gilbert Roland, and Henry Silva can't rescue this strange re-make of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre".The story itself is not so bad and with different actors and a different director it might have been better. Director Serge Bourguignon is a Frenchman best known for "Sundays and Cybele" and "Two Weeks in September", not exactly the kinds of films that you think of when looking at someone to work in the Western genre.When you think of the good westerns made in the mid 60s ("Ride the High Country", "Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", "A Fistful of Dollars". "Cheyenne Autumn", "Cat Ballou", "Shenandoah", "Sons of Katie Elder", "The Wild Bunch") this film pales in comparison.

There are some films that you just know are never going to improve with time. I've no burning desire to see Rio Conchos again — though I wouldn't pass up the opportunity if a Scope print became available. On the other hand, there are movies that you just know you didn't fully appreciate at their first viewing. Maybe you were too young, maybe you had the wrong expectations, maybe the audience was distracting, maybe you missed the beginning, or maybe you were simply too tired or had too many other things on your mind. Such a movie for me is The Reward. Fox signed up Bourguignon after he scored such a big hit with Sundays and Cybele. But this movie, lukewarmly received by the critics, was utterly ignored by the public. Bourguignon tried to salvage his reputation with a Brigitte Bardot drama, Two Weeks in September (1967), followed by a Ray Bradbury story, The Picasso Summer, starring Albert Finney and Yvette Mimieux, in 1969. I'd love to see The Reward again. The acting may not be as heavy as I remember, nor the story so much of a twice-told tale; and the stylishly evocative cinematography may be even more tightly, broodingly atmospheric and rewarding.