I noticed that some reviews complained about the quality of the print on YouTube for "The Farmer". Well, I found it on the Tubi app and it's near perfect in quality...crisp, and looking like new.
The story begins just after WWII...though you cannot tell this by hairstyles (especially of the women), cars (most are 1950s vintage), some of the fashions (particular shoes) and a 1970s style train that you see about ten minutes into the story. Trust me...it IS supposed to be 1945 or 1946 at the latest. I think I noticed this stuff because I am an ex-history teacher and I often notice what the average person might not. My aunt thinks I'm a nut about this...and she's probably right. Regardless, either they didn't have the money to get it right or they just didn't care.
Aboard a train, a returning soldier, Kyle (Gary Conway of "Land of the Giants" fame), intervenes when a nasty group of bigots are harassing a black man (with 70s hair). For his troubles, Kyle's tossed off the train and must walk a long way to his farm. However, when he arrives he learns from his hired hand that the place is in foreclosure and is a mess. Kyle tries to re-negotiate the loan with the bank with no success. He just can't seem to catch a break.
Soon after this, there's a car wreck near Kyle's farm. He and his hired hand save the guy in the car just before it explodes...and the guy turns out to be a gambler. Soon after this, the gambler is kidnapped by local mobsters and deliberately blinded with acid! He tries to hire Kyle to kill them, as he himself doing it would be problematic (but NOT unheard of...see "Master of the Flying Guillotine" if you don't believe me). But Kyle isn't THAT desperate for money. However, later, after his hired hand is murdered and a woman Kyle cares about is violently raped, he decides he could use the $50,000 bounty the gambler has put on the hoods.
What follows is quite violent by 1970s movie standards. In addition to the rape and acid attack, there are a lot of murders (such as by using a garrote, putting a gun to a man's mouth and pulling the trigger and a lot of other bloody methods) and a bit of nudity. It clearly is NOT a family movie and you might want to consider this before you show it to your kids or Father O'Malley if he stops by for a visit.
So despite the violence and terrible attention to 1940s details, is it any good? Well, the story actually isn't bad...and I loved the way the movie ended. The acting also isn't bad considering most of the actors are relatively smalltime. But it's also unpleasant and something you may find too much so. It all just depends on you and your tastes. I think it's a movie crying out for a bigger budget remake. I was shocked that despite its problems and cheapness it's STILL a very good movie.
By the way, the ballistics in the film are nutty. You cannot blow a man across a road about 10 feet with a shotgun blast. Heck, a tank would have a hard time doing that! In fact, if hit by a shotgun blast, you'd probably just fall down...not go flying.
