The Missouri Breaks

David Braxton has spent years building a prosperous ranch on the Missouri River, and he deals harshly with anyone who threatens it. When one of Tom Logan's friends is hanged for cattle theft, Logan and his gang buy a nearby farm and use it as cover while they rustle Braxton's horses. Braxton retaliates by hiring Robert E. Lee Clayton, an eccentric and deadly "regulator" whose methods prove as dangerous to his employer as to the thieves. Logan's growing romance with Braxton's daughter, Jane, complicates an already volatile standoff.

Arthur Penn directed The Missouri Breaks from an original screenplay by Thomas McGuane. It followed Little Big Man and Night Moves in Penn's filmography, and it reunited him with Marlon Brando, whom he had directed in The Chase. Brando plays Clayton opposite Jack Nicholson as Logan, with supporting turns from Randy Quaid, Kathleen Lloyd, Frederic Forrest and Harry Dean Stanton among a credited cast of 21; the crew numbered 50. The production, backed by United Artists and Devon/Persky-Bright, cost around 10 million dollars and returned roughly 14 million in worldwide box office.

Audience response has been moderate. On IMDb it holds 6.5 out of 10 from about 14,000 votes, and on TMDB it has 6.5 out of 10 from 259 votes. A critics' rating of 7 out of 10 from 26 reviews places professional assessment somewhat above the general audience scores.