A cult classic Western movie is airing on TV today

The Western gave a future Hollywood legend and Oscar-winner one of his earliest major roles.

Written by Carole Eastman (Five Easy Pieces) and directed by Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop), the film is set in the American West.

Its story sees Willet Gashade (Warren Oates, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia), a former bounty hunter, and Coley Boyard (Will Hutchins, Sugarfoot), his dimwitted partner, be approached by a secretive young woman (Millie Perkins, The Diary of Anne Frank).

She offers them money to guide her through the desert, but refuses to discuss why she is travelling.

The group embarks on the journey and is eventually joined by Billy Spear (Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), a volatile gunslinger whom the woman has also hired.

"The only question is why," the plot synopsis adds.

The Shooting did not get a big release, perhaps because of its low budget or because distributors didn't know what to make of the movie, which subverts many of the expectations of the Western genre and actively avoids a clear resolution in its storytelling.

That said, its reputation has improved massively over time, with the film currently holding a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Shooting is now credited as being the first "acid Western", a sub-genre that blends classic Western tropes with elements of 1960s counterculture.

BFI [British Film Institute] has compared the movie to the work of Samuel Beckett, while Criterion describes it as "eerie and existential".

The latter also wrote: "Hellman’s singular odyssey is a vision of the weird old West unlike any other, a spare and challenging work leading to a provocative ending."

The Shooting is airing on TV today on the channel Legend at 3.25pm. It's also available to rent on Apple.

For JOE's list of the movies on TV tonight, including another Western classic, click here.

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