The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

Set in Texas in the late nineteenth century, this western comedy follows Roy Bean, a fugitive who is beaten and left for dead in a small settlement and nursed back to health by a young Mexican woman, Maria Elena. He returns to deal with his attackers and then appoints himself the local judge, holding court in a saloon and applying his own eccentric version of frontier justice to the travelers who pass through. Over the years the settlement grows around him, and his authority and habits shape its development. Adapted from a true story.

John Huston directed, working from a screenplay by John Milius, with John Foreman producing. It sits between The Kremlin Letter and The Man Who Would Be King as the sixteenth of the twenty-two films Huston directed. Paul Newman plays Bean, with Victoria Principal, Ned Beatty, Matt Clark, Roddy McDowall and Jacqueline Bisset among the main cast, part of a credited cast of 48 and a credited crew of 43. The production was handled by First Artists and National General Pictures.

Reception was mixed. On IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.8 from around 10,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.5 from 185 votes. A critics' rating of 6.1 from 10 reviews places it close to the audience scores rather than clearly above or below them. The film runs 120 minutes and was released on December 1, 1972.