Nothing is up there with The Wild Bunch, but Cable Hogue is a charming change of pace for Peckinpah that wrong-footed a good number of critics and filmgoers at the time of its release.
It’s a clever, amusing melding of Western and allegory, with a bravura performance from Jason Robards, with a wistful tone similar to Junior Bonner (though it’s more bitter in places than that film). There are also shades of The Wild Bunch, in particular the venal villains who double-cross Cable and the anachronistic appearance of a motor car.
And I defy any red-blooded male not to fall in love with Stella Stevens’ whore with a heart of gold.