The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean is a 1972 American Western comedy film written by John Milius, directed by John Huston, and starring Paul Newman. It was loosely based on the life and times of Judge Roy Bean.
Plot
An outlaw, Roy Bean, rides into a West Texas border town called Vinegaroon by himself. The customers in the saloon beat him, rob him, toss a noose around him, and let his horse drag him off.
A young woman named Maria Elena finds and helps him. Bean promptly returns to town and shoots all those who did him wrong. With no law and order, he appoints himself judge and "the law west of the Pecos" and becomes the townspeople's patron. A traveling preacher, LaSalle, buries the dead.
Bean renames the saloon The Jersey Lilly, and hangs a portrait of a woman he worships, but has never met, Lillie Langtry, a noted actress and singer of the 1890s. Maria Elena is given a place to live and fine clothes ordered from a Sears Roebuck catalog. When a band of thieves comes to town (Big Bart Jackson and gang members Nick the Grub, Fermel Parlee, Tector Crites, and Whorehouse Lucky Jim), rather than oppose them, Bean swears them in as lawmen. The new marshals round up other outlaws, then claim their goods after Bean sentences them to hang. Prostitutes are sentenced to remain in town and keep the marshals company.
Dispensing his own kind of frontier justice, Bean lets the marshals hang a murderer named Sam Dodd, and share his money. When a drunk shoots up a saloon, Bean does not mind, but when Lillie's portrait is struck by a bullet, the fellow is shot dead on the spot. Bean then goes through the dead drunk's pockets. Finding money, he then fines the dead drunk for discharging a firearm in a public place and pockets the money.
Bean proceeds to encounter many odd characters passing through his town. First a mountain man called Grizzly Adams gives Bean a bear (named Zachary Taylor after the 12th president of the United States, but later renamed the Watch Bear) as a pet. Later a madman, Bad Bob, comes to town and proceeds to raise hell, kill his own horse and challenge Bean to a showdown. Bean shoots him in the back. When a lawyer named Frank Gass shows up claiming the saloon is rightfully his, Bean puts him in a cage with the bear.
Bean goes to San Antonio, Texas alone to see Jersey Lilly, leaving a pregnant Maria Elena behind and promising her a music box that plays "The Yellow Rose of Texas". In his absence, Gass and the prostitutes conspire to seize control of the town from the judge's hard rule. A dapper Bean tries to see Lillie Langtry's show, but it is sold out. He is deceived by men who knock him cold and steal his money.
Upon his return, Bean finds that Maria Elena is dying following a difficult childbirth. He names the baby Rose after the music box's song. He also plans to hang the doctor, but Gass, who has been elected mayor, overrules him. Bean is sorrowful about losing Maria Elena and rides away. Gass brings in hired guns to get rid of Bean's marshals.
Years go by. Oil rigs have been built around the prospering town. Automobiles are seen everywhere. A grown-up Rose is surprised one day to look up and find Bean has returned. A shootout follows. Bean, on horseback, chases Gass into a burning building, declaring "For Texas, and Miss Lilly!".
Some time later, a train pauses by the town. Out steps Lillie Langtry. She is told the story of Judge Roy Bean and his feelings toward her by Tector, the caretaker of the saloon, now turned into a museum. She concludes that he must have been quite a character.
Cast
Paul Newman as Judge Roy Bean
Jacqueline Bisset as Rose Bean
Tab Hunter as Sam Dodd
John Huston as Grizzly Adams
Stacy Keach as Bad Bob
Roddy McDowall as Frank Gass
Anthony Perkins as Reverend LaSalle
Anthony Zerbe as Hustler, at the opera house
Ava Gardner as Lillie Langtry
Victoria Principal as Maria Elena
Ned Beatty as Tector Crites
Jim Burk as Big Bart Jackson
Matt Clark as Nick the Grub
Billy Pearson as Stationmaster
Bill McKinney as Fermel Parlee
Steve Kanaly as Whorehouse Lucky Jim
Michael Sarrazin as Rose's husband
Additional notable appearances include Mark Headley as Billy the Kid, Jack Colvin as a Pimp, Dick Farnsworth, Roy Jenson, and Fred Krone as Outlaws, Howard Morton as a Photographist, and Don Starr as the Opera House Manager. Stuntman Stan Barrett appears as a Killer while stuntwoman Jeannie Epper makes an appearance as a Whore. The black bear Bruno also appears as Zachary Taylor/Watch Bear.