Comedy manque plays like a vanity project for Paul Newman. (It was released by his short-lived First Artists company.) He co-stars with Lee Marvin in a buddy/buddy pic about a luckless horse trader who grabs a gig gathering up a mess of Mexican cattle for shady wheeler-dealer Strother Martin. Terrence Malick’s script aims for a drawling Texas pace, rich with characterization, and the existential tone of Beckett. (Hmm, Marvin & Newman as Vladimir & Estrogen.) Marvin occasionally connects with the material, but Newman, always at sea in straight comic mode, distances himself from the action with a tight, little voice that’s more distracting than humorous. (Though Woody Harrelson seems to have studied it with great care.) Stuart Rosenberg was the worst of the faceless meggers Newman favored and his graceless camera set-ups & the resulting haggard editing kills any performance rhythm this sort of story cries out for. Fun to see that the young Wayne Rogers was a ringer for Will Ferrell. He’s good, too.
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