If you've known me for a while, you've probably heard me mention that I generally don't pay attention to acting in films. Like, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against people who do. It's just typically not something which bothers me, with very few exceptions (and by the same token, the converse is also true: that acting generally isn't one of the things I enjoy about a film). While watching this film, however, I couldn't help but fixate on Peter Fonda's performance. I've seen a handful of film buffs I'm close to refer to Peter Fonda as the least talented of the Fonda family by a long shot and that might be true. The last time I watched Peter Fonda onscreen was in "Easy Rider", and that was at least a few years ago (as expected, I don't recall his acting affecting my opinion of the film much). I found Fonda's performance in this film though to be remarkably bland and emotion-free to the point I was somewhat bored whenever Warren Oates wasn't onscreen. To cut the film some slack though, Fonda's acting does suit the character he plays to a certain degree. When we first meet Harry, it's apparent that he lacks any direction in life and has no idea what to do with his future. Often when characters attempt to speak to him, we simply get a close-up of him looking around aimlessly. This effect continues when he arrives at Hannah's ranch, given the distant and somewhat unnerved reaction he displays around her. So, for a little while, Fonda's acting suits the film well. The more time he spends around Hannah though, he begins to warm up and grow closer to her. In spite of that, his acting remains wooden, thus making it hard for me to buy his supposed change. Unless this was to imply that he never actually warmed up to her, but his final conversation to Hannah says otherwise. Regardless of whether it was Fonda's intention or not, I did appreciate his wooden acting in the first half or so of the film, but the further I got, the more this effect wore off. Plus, going up against Oates oozing personality and charm in every scene did him no favors. In spite of that, I did find the film somewhat interesting due to the aforementioned first half (and Warren Oates, I suppose), and that helped to keep me from disliking the film. Another key takeaway was the amount of cross dissolves in the film. I generally dig them and while we don't get much, given the film's mostly straight face, I appreciated it whenever the film threw me a bone. Like, I straight up love the first scene, for instance. And not because you get to somewhat see Warren Oates naked...okay, fine; that's partly why.
Review of The Hired Hand
