THE CHASE brings us into a small Texas town filled with prejudice, violence and
frustrated love. The A-list cast includes Marlon Brando, E.G. Marshall,
Robert Duvall, James Fox, Jane Fonda, Janice Rule and Robert Redford.
Local bad-but-not-so-badboy Bubber Reeves (Redford) escapes from
prison, and the news he’s headed home throws the townsfolk into mob
mode. The straight-arrow sheriff (Brando) sets out to bring Bubber
in before things get out of hand. Meanwhile, an oversexed housewife (Rule)
cheats in public on her cowardly husband (Duvall); Bubber’s overwrought
mother runs around town in hysterics; an over-protective father
(Marshall) schemes to bust up the affair between his son (Fox) and
Bubber's wife (Fonda); middle-aged men lust after teen girls and racists
run rampant; and the sheriff has a fight off not only the town baddies,
but with Janice Rule as well. Director Arthur Penn skillfully weaves
these and other subplots together, setting up a finale both tragic and
inevitable. A social critique of the late 1960s, THE CHASE touches on
gun control, abuse of power, sexual promiscuity, jealousy, greed,
justice and mob mentality. Plus, there’s the bloody
"crucifixion-by-beating" scene that had been S.O.P. in Brando films ever
since Along with LAST TANGO IN PARIS and THE GODFATHER, this is considered one of Marlon's last great
films. 
Randy housewife (Janice Rule): "Hiya Sheriff. Wanna join our party? All you need is a pistol (looking him up down), and you surely got one."Sheriff (Brando): "With so many pistols around here already, it don't look like you'd have room for mine."
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