ONE-EYED JACKS (1961) Better smile when you call somebody that

Five years back, Rio (Marlon Brando) and his best pal “Dad” Longworth (Karl Malden) rob a bank in Mexico. With a single horse between them and a posse closing in fast, Dad volunteers to ride off with the gold to fetch ammo and bring back another horse. Being a crooked pragmatist, however, he just keeps riding. Rio gets nabbed and goes to jail while Dad goes straight, marries, and gets himself elected town sheriff. Now Rio’s free and come to pay Dad a little visit. Does Rio just want to get back in touch base get even? Hint: Dad doesn't want him around to mess up his new life. Many critics panned Brando's first and only directorial effort, but I love ONE-EYED JACKS. Brando and Malden had co-starred six years earlier in ON THE WATERFRONT and are terrific, as are Slim Pickens and Ben Johnson as bad guys. (Trivia notes: A novice behind the camera and at editing, Brando delivered such a long movie and so late that Paramount was forced to take over and recut it themselves. There are two endings floating around: Brando's, in which Dad misses Rio and kills his step-daughter Louisa, and the studio's, in which Rio and Louisa have an emotional parting at the beach and Rio rides away. I've seen both, and without doubt Brando's is the right one.)