Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507180123
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON MILLER KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's why there seem to be so many uncanny echoes in his latest film, Showtime's absorbing ``Convict Cowboy,'' in which Voight is the grizzled veteran in an equally cynical environment, helping a naive young Kyle Chandler find his way to a better life.
Sunday's film takes place in a mythical Montana prison called Brownwood, where inmates with rodeo skills are enlisted to compete on the prison rodeo circuit. Voight is lifer Ry Weston, who reluctantly becomes the mentor for hot-headed, hard-drinking young cowboy wastrel Clay Trenton (Chandler) and molds him into a first-rate convict rodeo star.
Their love-hate relationship is not so different from the central relationship in the 1969 ``Midnight Cowboy,'' where the savvy Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) became Voight's tour guide through hell and, ultimately, the most important person in his life.
Modeled on a real prison in Huntsville, Texas, Brownwood and its rodeo ring were re-created in Calgary, Ontario. Voight and Chandler, the former star of ABC's ``Homefront'' series, had to do much of the rodeo riding themselves in all but the most dangerous scenes.
``As soon as we knew we were going to do this thing,'' Voight explains, ``we visited a couple of friends of mine who have a ranch in Simi Valley. We worked real hard trying to get ourselves up to knowing a little bit about cowboying before we went up to Calgary.''
Voight saw that as a good way to start the process of bonding he believed the two actors would need to make their relationship work on screen.
``I always look to make that connection to the other artists I'm with,'' he says. ``The performance depends on that chemistry.''
In the film, Chandler's Clay has a chip on his shoulder, but soon finds himself ranged against the more vicious hard-timers in Brownwood, who brutalize and even kill inmates who don't go along with their plans for smuggling drugs into the prison. The older Ry stands apart from them and is tough enough to take care of himself, but doesn't appreciate the edgy Clay stirring up all the prison's hornet nests.
Voight came away from ``Convict Cowboy'' with a very high opinion of young Chandler, whom he believes was a perfect fit for the character.
``He's gotta be great looking with that `bad boy' charm that Steve McQueen had, that Paul Newman had,'' says Voight. ``This is Paul Newman about to make `Hud.'''
Chandler, who's embarrassed by Voight's often gushy praise, says ``We got on pretty well and I learned an incredible amount working with him.''
Since his Oscar nomination for ``Midnight Cowboy'' and his eventual Academy Award a decade later as the paraplegic Vietnam vet in ``Coming Home,'' Voight has veered away from traditional leading man roles toward character parts, not all of them in the heroic mold. He was an escaped convict in ``Runaway Train,'' which earned him another Oscar nomination, a battered prizefighter in ``The Champ'' and, most recently, the dour ex-ranger Woodrow Call in ``Return to Lonesome Dove.'' He looks for parts that verge on anti-hero behavior.
``This guy is in a shell,'' he says of Ry Weston. ``He's really an angry guy, bitter, stoic, tough, and, yet, somehow has nobility. He's respected in his environment.''
Voight thinks Ry comes to a crossroads when he can either reach out to help this ornery kid or ignore him. He thinks it's a character-building choice he finally makes - to take responsibility for Clay.
``The responsibility turns into something that changes him for the better,'' says Voight. ``Of course, with every gesture you make toward a fellow human being, you get back more than you give. And that's what happens to this character.''
Voight's performance is deft and convincing, even in those few places where the movie really isn't - as in the hard-to-imagine romance that develops between Voight's Ry and a female veterinarian (Marcia Gay Harden). Ry is a man who can put you off with his rough and sometimes distant manner, but Voight invests him with a great deal of his own personal warmth and you wind up caring a lot what happens to him and his young friend.
Coincidentally, Voight does believe in the redemption of hardened criminals such as Ry. He has corresponded with a prison inmate for several years and says he has ``great feeling'' for the man.
``Some of us, unfortunately, buy into the negative, and it becomes our personality,'' he says. ``But aren't we all redeemable? Sometimes, I guess you have to say, `No, not in this lifetime anyway.' But you still try for it.''
by CNB