P. Fonda's Hired Hand

Leon Rodriguez · February 19, 2004

When I was a young man I saw a Peter Fonda film with incredible cinematography and very unique editing. I could never remember the name, although the images of it remained very clearly in my mind for the next 34 years. Lotta great skies and sillouettes with overlay editing.

Yesterday while rumaging through a bargain bin I found a single DVD copy of Sundance Channel / Scorsese restoration of that film. THE HIRED HAND dir. by Peter Fonda, 1971. Villmos Zigmond, DP. I just flipped. I couln't get it on the DVD player fast enough. It did not disappoint. They did an absolutely brilliant job of restoring this innovative film to it's original impressiveness.

It stands out along with THE CONFORMIST (another early influence one I can't find on DVD anywhere), DAYS OF HEAVEN and a few others as personally important to my passion for the medium. Now that I know the name... Does anybody know any of the technical specifics of how this picture was shot? I'd love to track every shot if that were possible.

Mitch Gross · February 19, 2004

Zsigmond discusses the film a little bit in the book Masters of Light. He said that Fonda showed him a print of one of his father's films, "My Darling Clementine," and told him that he wanted a color version of it. Old-style classic Hollywood where it would be fine for people to sit down and have a conversation rather than the oblique adventurous style of "Easy Rider." He wanted the film to look as realistic as possible.

You should pick up a copy of this book; I think you'll really enjoy it. It was my Bible when I was first getting into cinematography.

Jean Dodge · April 12, 2009

Incredible cinematography... one of the best looking films of it's era, and that is saying a lot. I saw it with Peter Fonda in attendance and a show-quality restored print right before the DVD release. It looks of course, a dozen times better on the big screen.

BTW, Hired Hand's writer Alan Sharp also wrote NIGHT MOVES, another great film film the era.