Hardpan
AIMDb Rating
38K
Your Rating
Popularity
8
“Some land remembers its dead.”
A weather-beaten drifter returns home to a drought-cracked New Mexico valley to claim his late brother's land, only to find the town under the thumb of a cattle company that wants the same parcel. Refusing to leave, he reopens questions about his brother's death that the town would rather keep buried. What begins as a quiet inheritance dispute ends with the whole valley reckoning with what it has been willing to forget.
- Director
- Chuck Wexford
- Writers
- Chuck Wexford · Marlena Rose
- Stars
- Clive Branwell · Roy Brindle · Adelina Reyes ›
Top Cast (6)
Clive Branwell
Ezra Calloway
Roy Brindle
Sheriff Calver
Adelina Reyes
Mira Salcedo
Hank Dunaway
"Old Doc" Pell
Tomás Espinosa
Felix Salcedo
Margaret Holcomb
Loretta Calver
User Reviews
5 reviewsUnderrated Western gem
by spaghetti_west_lover
Wexford understands that a western lives or dies in its silences. The middle hour barely raises its voice and yet I never looked away. Branwell's restrained anger is some of the best work of the era.
Solid but familiar
by casual_film
Hits all the revisionist-western beats you'd expect for the early 70s. Beautifully shot but you can see most of the moves coming. Good Sunday-afternoon watch.
The land does the acting
by western_purist
Wexford and his cinematographer turn the New Mexico hardpan into the third lead. The shootout in the dry riverbed is staged with real geographic intelligence. Adelina Reyes deserved more screen time.
Too talky, too slow
by action_only
If you came for gunfights, manage your expectations. Mostly people staring at the horizon and saying nothing. The ending is good but the road there is long.
Beautifully shot, sometimes ponderous
by cinemamilk
Some shots in this film deserve to be hanging in a museum. The script, less so — a few of the supporting characters feel underwritten. Still recommend for the craft.
Details
- Release date
- September 8, 1972 (United States)
- Country of origin
- United States, Spain
- Language
- English, Spanish
- Also known as
- Tierra Dura · Hardpan – Le Sang de la Terre · Verbrannte Erde
- Filming locations
- Tabernas Desert, Almería, Andalusia, Spain · Truchas, New Mexico, USA · Estudios Sevilla Films, Sevilla, Andalusia, Spain
- Production companies
- Sierra Pacific Pictures · Estudios Sevilla Films · Coltrane-Wexford Productions
Box office
- Budget
- $1,800,000 (estimated)
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $640,000
- Gross US & Canada
- $9,200,000
- Gross worldwide
- $14,800,000
Technical specs
- Runtime
- 2h 4m
- Color
- Color
- Sound mix
- Dolby Digital
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
