Joe Kidd | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

Scripted by Elmore Leonard, this breezy open-air Western finds a formidable punch against masculinity by questioning the need for power while being supremely entertaining and never straying from Eastwood's clinched-jaw aesthetic.

Colorfully played by character actors Don Stroud, James Wainwright, and Paul Koslo, the villainous sidekicks spark the proceedings and provide Eastwood's hero with interesting antagonists.

It's lesser Eastwood (and Leonard and Sturges), but it's impossible to squash the spirit of the work, which carries the film far enough to satisfy basic needs from the genre, making it a lark, but a convincing one.

It's still a prime example of a good, sturdy bread-and-butter Western.