The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
National General Pictures | Release Date: December 17, 1972 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
The New York TimesVincent Canby
It leaves itself wide open to charges of pretentiousness. Yet "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" is so entertaining and so vigorously performed, especially by Newman in the title role, that its pretensions become part of its robust, knock-about style. Read full review
70
TimeGary Susman
With a two-fisted script by John Milius (who later wrote Apocalypse Now and Red Dawn), Huston and Newman created a raucous, Rabelaisian, revisionist western of the sort popular at the time. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Paul Newman has lots of fun playing the legendary hanging judge, and Ava Gardner is a ravishing Lily Langtry, the object of Bean's unrequited love. [18 Aug 1991, p.6]
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It's an incredible lapse in a movie of this size and ambition - but they've failed to make Judge Roy Bean interesting. He's one-dimensional, predictable, propped up by Paul Newman's acting style, with no personality of his own. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderDon Druker
Newman does a remarkable John Huston impression, and screenwriter John Milius demonstrates once again that he went to film school. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
A rambling revisionist western whose episodic nature was only marginally successful and which didn't come close to BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID on any level. Read full review
40
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
The overkill and the underdone do it in. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneSteve Dale
Despite the direction of John Huston, this story of a self-appointed Western judge (Paul Newman) isn't one of anyone's best. [06 Apr 1990, p.71]
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