Willett Gashade (Warren Oates) returns to his mining camp to find Coley (Will Hutchins) in a fright. Coley tells him that his brother Coin had walked away and their other partner Leland Drum got killed a couple of days earlier. A mysterious woman (Millie Perkins) finds herself at the camp after shooting her lame horse. Willett finds the dead horse not injured. She offers them $1000 to take her to Kingsley. Willett accepts despite not trusting her. They are followed by gunman Billy Spear (Jack Nicholson) who seems to be communicating with the nameless woman.

This has an intriguing premise. It's one that seems foreseeable. Some version of that ending was always expected. The movie brings out the mystery but the intensity could be higher. Oates is solid. On the other hand, Perkins' acting is a little flat. Her role could have been really juicy but she doesn't bring it. It's an intriguing indie western.

I'm saddened by the many negative reviews I've read here. But I can see why the film's a cult favorite...and why it's not for everyone. I loved it.

Bearing in mind that what the message the audience takes from a film is never necessarily the message that the makers themselves intend, here's my take:

What if Willett and his "brother" Coigne are really the same person...and this is all an ALLEGORY--not to be understood in a literal sense? What if Willett and Billy Spear are the same person? During the journey, when Willett smashes Spear's hand with a rock he's actually smashing his own hand in a (vain) effort to keep this entire scenario from happening again and again. (Notably, Willett has a bandaged hand at the start of the film, when we see him leaving a trail of flour for the woman ("Death") to follow--thereby literally sowing the seeds of his own destruction). Thus, it was Willett who killed the "woman and child" in town; it's also Willett (in the form of the flip side of the...Coigne) who killed Leland (through his other persona of Billy). In the end Death shoots Willett/Coigne...and the circular process begins anew, as Billy/Willett/Coigne endlessly wanders the desert--a pawn in the meaningless game we call Life. ;)

As I read the many reviews of "The Shooting" I am amazed at how "certain" some people are about their speculation while other people seem to completely miss the point of some aspects of the movie. It seems to me that you are supposed to be left guessing about many of the details. I.e. who, exactly, is the woman? and who shoots who in the end.

The performance of "the woman" is a very difficult role and done quite well by Millie Perkins. She is playing the part of a clearly troubled and emotionally unstable woman who at the same time is very focused, determined, and calculating about one objective. The fact that she is slight and girlish in appearance is an intentional contrast to the vicious objective on which she has focused. Whatever her history, she is not a "gunslinger."

The unknowns during the movie and the unanswered questions even at the end are completely intentional, I think. Reality isn't about being omniscient. Everyone lives and dies having known only part of the story they've lived through.

Some clues in the movie that I think have been missed by many are as follows: The woman is more disturbed than would seem to be appropriate for being simply distraught over the death of husband and child. She also exhibits some signs of having been sexually assaulted.

Will intentionally leaves a trail of flour for the woman following him. Why? He must have already known something about her and her objectives before he even talked to Coley.

Will's hand is injured. How and why?

Will was late getting back. He gives Coley an explanation, but it isn't very satisfactory.

Will's gun is missing. What's up with that? Again, the dialogue doesn't give a satisfactory explanation.

Why is it that the woman gets there so far ahead of the Sheriff?

Why did the woman kill her horse? The obvious answer of drawing Will and Coley to her assistance seems to be an awfully high stakes gamble against the odds.

Leland didn't seem to think he had anything to fear. So why did he get killed and Coley didn't (initially).

If Billy wanted to kill Coley, why didn't he do it the night he killed Leland?

Why wasn't Coin (Coan?) "running" faster and why did he trust the Bearded Man and yet leave him to die?

What did the Bearded man tell Coley?

What exactly was Coley trying to accomplish in the minutes leading up to his death?

One might notice that I've switched from clues to questions. If anyone thinks they have easy, or certain, answers to the questions or conclusion from the clues, then they are missing the point of the movie.

One last thing, pay careful attention to the colors of the horses and the horses legs.