Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) gets double-crossed and left with nothing in the middle of the desert. He manages to find water in a waterless stretch between two stagecoach stops. He starts charging a dime for the water. After Rev. Joshua Duncan Sloane (David Warner) makes a threat to spread the news, Cable goes to town to buy up the 2 acres. He falls for local prostitute Hildy (Stella Stevens).Sam Peckinpah is trying more to make a comedy than a violent thriller. The comedy is pretty broad. It's a wild west of sometimes slapstick level. Robards is intriguing but maybe not as a comedian. The story meanders a bit. It is not Peckinpah's normal pathway and it shows a little. It has some fun moments but I wouldn't say any of this is a big laugh. It is still interesting.

It is extremely rare for me to watch the same movie over and over, but that's just how much I enjoyed this one! (of course, Encore's line-up give a whole new meaning to Re-runs) I liked it so much, I bought a copy to share.Encore's ad said this was Peckinpaugh's favorite film and that the "studio brass hated it." I'd have to say Peckinpaugh's feelings were right and the studio brass at the time were not too bright.This is a movie that should appeal to both sexes: not a chick-flick or a high drama guy's film. It's difficult to file this movie into any one genre, as it has a slight Western feel with a lighthearted touch of tenderness and it's wonderfully comical. The little 'dance' Cable does after leaving the land office is priceless, LOL! Another rarity for me is to instantly like the music scores from any movie. "Tomorrow Is The Song I Sing" and "Wait For Me, Sunrise" were stuck in my head, even the day after watching the movie the first time. I was happy to find both songs on YouTube and saved them to my play-list. The lyrics from both songs contain meaning that can strike a chord with anyone who has ever faced hard times, looking for a brighter tomorrow. (I expect this would be just about everyone)

This classic Western deal with Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) a roguish hustler who in search of good life discovers water and gets property some lands placed on a desert in remote part of the Old West . After getting its register in the Land Office , Cable meets a whore (Stella Stevens) and falls in love with her . Cable along with the prostitute and a lecherous priest (David Warner) care his stopover as resort-lodging of a line stage. Hogue's Castle was a real-life hotel which was acquired in Bishop, California. It was packed-up and transported along with its own furniture to its shooting location across the border in Nevada. Interesting story about a loner who turns into successful entrepreneur is deliberately paced by Sam Peckinpah and the production base for the film was at Echo Bay, Nevada . A twilight story ,¨Ballad of Cable Hogue¨ is a director Sam Peckinpah's lovely effort, feeling look at the world of the Western. Jason Robards , engagingly easygoing but obstinate , is the title character, a drifter who strives to preserve his values in an often harsh modern world . Robards turns a magnificent acting as a hustler who is searching in a changing world for values that have long time disappeared . He also must deal with his two enemies well played by usual Peckinpah couple, L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin , and a lovely whore wonderfully performed by Stella Stevens in his best role ever acted . Sam Peckinpah started work on this film almost immediately after finishing work on the landmark ¨Wild bunch¨ that is why Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones were cast in similar roles in both films . David Warner is particularly fine as the raunchy priest and in his relationship to Jason Robards strike real sparks. Furthermore, it contains an emotive score by the master Jerry Goldsmith, adding various sensitive country-western songs . Colorful and glimmer cinematography by Lucien Ballard, Peckinpah's usual, make this one a winner. An agreeable western with marvelous interpretations and exciting , enjoyable images including split-frames and fast-motion . This outstanding motion picture is stunningly directed by Sam Peckinpah, creating a true classic . Restored and reissued various times with diverse running . ¨The Ballad of Cable Hogue ¨ is a real must see for fans of the genre . This is a much quieter movie than habitual from ¨Cross of Iron¨, ¨Straw dogs¨, ¨The getaway¨, ¨Wild bunch¨ , ¨Major Dundee¨ director Sam Peckinpah who has always a deft eye for period detail . Rating : Above average, well worth watching .

More then a decade ago, when I was a young cognoscente, not yet in love with Mme. Woolf and her stylish literary modernism, nor with Maria Lazariu—so, more then a decade ago, in '96, as a young dashing cognoscente, I have been charmed by this comedy. I did find it a quite sexy movie, funny and what not. In that delightful uncut version, Mrs. Stevens was indeed a girl to be watched. Otherwise, CABLE is a rather sour satire about a looser—quite like the later ROY BEAN. Mrs. Stevens was the babe of the showers or the bath scenes. No babe looks fairer in such circumstances; a cunning, malicious, inventive blonde, she was typecast as prostitute or as babe who takes a shower. A piece of sour revisionism, HOGUE was turned by Stella into a funny sex comedy and even a kind of a clumsy, oxymoron screwball.She always looked like a naughty but essentially accessible babe. In this sense, very late '60s—mere '70s girl. In a way, she looked too average and common to star in real screwballs (apart from the fact that the genre itself was abolished); but she had the charm to turn a satirical western into some kind of a screwball. She was noticeable.Stella Stevens is for me one of the essential actresses—like Mimi Rogers, Eva Ionesco, Deborah Caprioglio, Rene Russo, Alexandra Moen, María Conchita Alonso, Stefania Sandrelli, Claudia Koll , Serena Grandi , Virginia Madsen, Jodie Foster, Kim Novak, Kim Basinger, Michelle Pfeiffer.