There are some films that you just know are never going to improve with time. I've no burning desire to see Rio Conchos again — though I wouldn't pass up the opportunity if a Scope print became available. On the other hand, there are movies that you just know you didn't fully appreciate at their first viewing. Maybe you were too young, maybe you had the wrong expectations, maybe the audience was distracting, maybe you missed the beginning, or maybe you were simply too tired or had too many other things on your mind. Such a movie for me is The Reward. Fox signed up Bourguignon after he scored such a big hit with Sundays and Cybele. But this movie, lukewarmly received by the critics, was utterly ignored by the public. Bourguignon tried to salvage his reputation with a Brigitte Bardot drama, Two Weeks in September (1967), followed by a Ray Bradbury story, The Picasso Summer, starring Albert Finney and Yvette Mimieux, in 1969. I'd love to see The Reward again. The acting may not be as heavy as I remember, nor the story so much of a twice-told tale; and the stylishly evocative cinematography may be even more tightly, broodingly atmospheric and rewarding.
Review of The Reward
