Alternate Best Actor 1970: Jason Robards in The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Jason Robards did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying the titular character of the Ballad of Cable Hogue. 

The Ballad of Cable Hogue is a wonderful little western (even if it has early 70's song syndrome) about a drifter who finds a beneficial watering hole after having been marooned in the desert. 

"Cable Hogue" as a film is probably the least Sam Peckinpah movie out of all his film, while also definitely being one of his films. This is as it lacks the extreme violent found in most of his films, there's a little bit of violence but depicted in more of in a classic style western kind of way. It does though have the off-beat energy of his films, though realized in a very different fashion. This being perhaps best realized by the lead performance of Jason Robards as Cable Hogue. Robards actually is an actor who probably doesn't immediately scream western, but of course one of the all time great western supporting turns in Once Upon a Time in the West. A film that this one relates to in a few ways I think, and more than the obvious Robards connection. I guess it is always interesting to see how an actor's presence can change, or the actor can change their presence in a short amount of time. This as Robards is playing a western type here and as he did as Cheyenne in the aforementioned film. The thing is the character's while both very much idiosyncratic, are extremely different in the hands of Robards. This in the earlier film, while actually only being two years earlier, Robards projected a more youthful slick style in the bandit leader of that film. In this film though Robards projects that of a somewhat bitten down old prospector type, closer to Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. This isn't of course something you need to think about, Robards simply is both character's. Here from the opening scene where he is left marooned in the desert by two companions, who get the better of him because he hesitates to shoot them. 

This opening scene is beautifully used by Robards to wholly establish Cable Hogue. This from just his manner with a Gila monster. This where Robards emphasizes really a tenderness in recognizing the old lizard while recognizing he's going to need to kill him for food. This before being robbed of his only water from the two other men. Robards even in this reaction though portrays really what is a kind of underlying decent nature of Cable that helps to define his performance. This with an earnest honesty in his eyes where he might as well say "come on fellas". This in projecting Cable trying not to go towards the lower act if he can avoid it. Unfortunately this leaves Cable to try to map the desert all by himself in a search for survival. Robards brings so much life, even in this life and death situation. This as Robards just has an abundance of real sense of character in his manner of a man who in a way just goes with what he has, and carries with it a dogged, if still casual demeanor. This as we watch him tread along with a certain exasperation of an older man but also the conviction of one whose found his ways to outlast more than a few trials. Robards's work creates an innate of empathy of this sort of seasoned protagonist, where there is so much life just in his very being due to his performance. This being particularly essential in that so much of the film is centered around us just watching Robards as Cable kind of do his thing. The main plot point actually being another relation to Once Upon a Time in the West as we kind of get the story of the specific land claim in a seemingly desolate area, but here we actually see the progress of this endeavor. 

Robards is great in portraying the man discovering it, naturally even taking in the muddy water he finds as some sort of nectar of the gods. Robards then though is so great here in portraying this remarkable character just in the rather sloppy way we see him set up his business with a makeshift sign. Robards captures a unique energy this as he's both earnest in this while also presenting the very almost bumbling manner of Cable, who is always doing this in his own particular way. It is this style of personality that Robards crafts so vividly in his work that it is just so enjoyable to watch him. The film isn't exactly comedy, in some ways it's kind of a precursor to a Jim Jarmusch style film, therefore where it lives most is in the way the performances bring to life this unique quality. Well Robards does it brilliantly here but not simply, which is particularly important. This as when we get Cable's first "costumer", who tries to kill Hogue rather than pay for water, leaves Hogue to kill the man. Robards is great in the scene portraying no joy in the act rather the certain shame of it, though with also the sense of having been a necessity in the moment. We then follow Cable going to set up his well as business which includes making sure he gets the land claim, after being tipped off by a wholly unscrupulous preacher Joshua (David Warner). Robards's performance very much is the film as he makes the act of getting all the paperwork, while also getting distracted by a local prostitute Hildy (Stella Stevens), compelling through his performance. This as Robards brings so much to every moment of frustration, disbelief at the process but also joy at his success. Also a hilarious bit of wandering eye as he gets a fixation for Hildy. 

The relationship with Hildy which ends up being the center of the film, and again another Once Upon a Time in The West connection. This as we kind of get to see what might've happened if Cheyenne had stayed with Mrs. McBain. Robards is an typical but terrific romantic lead in his own way. This as Robards brings such a playfulness with Stevens that has this overabundance of warmth within the relationship. This striking up this peculiar but wholly winning chemistry between the two. This as Robards offers a sense of sincerity even within the sort of still very Cablelike behavior of being both kind confident and lacking confidence all the same. The two though create such a wonderful pair as there is such a strong sense of love even the certain difficulty has Hildy wants to move from the west, where Cable insists on staying with it in his watering hole that has become basically a pit stop. This staying till the point Hildy leaves him and the two men who marooned him come back in a most unusual showdown. Again it is what is so splendid about Robards's work here. This as again we have the sense of determination in his eyes, but still this demeanor that makes it all so very casual in Robards's hands. It is absolutely great as he brings the intensity in the serious moment of dealing with one who tries to kill him, then he's rather funny in naturally seguing to a rather gregarious manner towards the surviving member. Robards is great in showing it as the wild go with the flow western manner, that is a little messy but gets the job done in his own way. Of course, Spoilers, yet another connection to the Leone film, like Cheyenne, Cable ends up being too symbolic of the west having to go out with it in a rather unexpected way. Of course he befitting the jovial Cable, his exit is hilarious in its casual quality, while being oddly moving all the same. Robards again pulls off both by showing again this sort of "just living his life" manner after an accident leaves him dying, but is moving all the same by showing the man so true to his nature to the very end. This is fantastic performance and really companion work to his portrayal of Cheyenne. Of course the performances themselves are extremely dissimilar in the end, but they are similar as they are both brilliant portrayals of rather different men of the west.