Wonderful character development!

Touches You

People are voting emotionally.

Absolutely Fantastic

Old Scottish bank robber and young 'half breed' accomplice on the run after the former mistakenly killed (only meant to wound) person during the bank robbery. Determined and ornery lawman goes after them with the help of a friend. Older bank robber is injured when the friend takes a very long range shot at him with his Sharps 'buffalo' rifle (also see 'Valdez is Coming' for more Sharps action).Anyway the other reviews do a good job summarising the rest of the film. Highlights for me: - Peck's Scottish accent is quite good, no surprise as he was brought up by his grandmother who was Scottish. - long range Sharps action - lawman treating his friend poorly, his friend can't believe it... - lawman tussling with some unsaid contradictions he has to consider - Indian is a good guy (pity he was not played by a first nation actor still it was 1974).Do watch it and reflect on some of the odd moments and interactions.

Billy Two Hats is directed by Ted Kotcheff and written by Alan Sharp. It stars Gregory Peck, Desi Arnaz Junior, Jack Warden, David Huddleston and Sian Barbara. Music is by John Scott and cinematography by Brian West.Interesting. Peck plays a grizzled Scottish outlaw and Arnaz Jr. the half-breed Indian of film's title. They rob banks and have a sort of father and son relationship as they try to escape from vengeful racist Sheriff Gifford (Warden). So in essence it's a buddy Western, albeit one that's a bit off-beat and has grand ideas to be a religio parable of sorts.Unfortunately away from the unusual casting decisions which happen to entertain, it's immeasurably dull on narrative terms and blandly photographed (in Israel) into the bargain. It's not hard to see why it flopped upon release to theatres.The sporadic action passages are adequately performed, and the intentional humour hits the required mark, but by the time the boorish inter-racial relationship comes to the fore, you may find it hard to stay awake. 5/10

I saw this film on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).It seems others have made a virtue out of this film's odd credentials and quite possibly used these against the film itself. On the face of it and if you didn't know (most folks won't, or care) then this is a decent western, with a Sam Peckinpah sense of gritty realism and dynamism.The story follows a familiar one; an aged Scottish Gregory Peck and a young half-caste youth become fugitives - then friends - after a bungled bank robbery. They are pursued by racist and violent sheriff Jack Warden who hounds the pair, right to the bloody finale. There's good action and the unusual Israeli scenery actually adds a bit of variety to the surroundings.The interestingly titled Billy 'Two Hats' is given an unusually sympathetic and approachable role, especially considering the western genre's tendency to the opposite toward native American characters. This again, adds to the flavour of the film, giving it a nuance that marks it apart from dozens of others.I'd not heard of 'Billy Two Hats'; its title got me interested in the TV listings and found it well worth the time and effort but not quite enough to buy it on DVD.

Please rest assured that this little gem of a western will be very appealing to you. Having past it by many times for more modern films, I viewed it on a whim and was very pleased. A straight forward story of hate being defeated, love being found, loneliness lost and adversity faced. Easy to understand for any viewer requiring no interpretation. A gem well played by all actors. The stark scenery that others have noted as being filmed in Israel provides a great background for this simple story. The evils of bigotry and prejudice towards native Americans is well covered and evaluated without being preachy. Subjugation of women during this early western period is also exposed for its cruelty.