John Sturges (“The Great Escape”) directs Clint Eastwood (“Dirty Harry”, “Blood Work”) in this exciting, clever, funny and well-acted Western that works well on virtually every level.

Eastwood plays the titular character here as the movie opens with him jail. After several events, he teams up with a wealthy landowner (Robert Duvall “The Godfather”, “Days Of Thunder”) to kill a Mexican revolutionary (John Saxon “A Nightmare On Elm Street”). After a while the tables are turned and we get one great finale involving something with a train that I’ve never seen before in a Western. As you’ll discover, the plot serves the characters and the action brilliantly.

Eastwood plays yet another character like ‘Man With No Name’ or William Munny (or even Harry Callahan), who has his own sense of justice that doesn’t particularly comply with the law or the criminals and just like them he’s full of attitude. “Next time I’ll knock your damn head off” he promises one man and that perfectly sums up his nature. Robert Duvall is great as the landowner and the final scene that he and Eastwood share is something magical. John Saxon is pretty decent considering how little screen time he actually gets.

“Joe Kidd” is everything I love about Eastwood’s Westerns; it manages to utilise the art of film to create something spectacular yet has a grittier tone than most films in the genre that makes it seem much more plausible and much higher in detail, every bit of dirt in his films helps the look. Joe Kidd himself is pretty interesting as he follows in the footsteps of many of the actor’s other roles but without seeming remotely tired. It’s a darn fine film and really worth your attention if you like Eastwood’s films or the genre. Now as Joe Kidd says “Get out of here”.