LITTLE FAUSS AND BIG HALSEY

US, 1970, 97 minutes, Colour.
Robert Redford, Michael J. Pollard, Lucille Watson, Noah Beery, Lauren Hutton.
Directed by Sidney J. Furie.

Little Fauss and Big Halsey takes up two trends of 1969-70: the interest in bikes on the screen and the pairing of unlikely partners like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford again). This is quite a good film for discussion but probably not very good for entertainment. There is enough riding footage to satisfy, but there is quite a lot of the relationship between Fauss and Halsey. The trouble with this is that neither of them is particularly engaging and we do see quite a lot of them. Their interaction, friendship and dependence, however, is worth discussing as is the significance of the ending where the beginnings of human feeling come through. A number of people live on the fringe of society where Fauss and Halsey find themselves. The film presents something of what they are.

Robert Redford is in Downhill Racer form. Michael J. Pollard is meaner than in Bonnie and Clyde. Direction is by Sidney J. Furie who has made some interesting films. The Leather Boys (where there is far more sympathy and understanding than in this film); The Ipcress File, The Naked Runner and The Lawyer.

1. What was the theme of the film - friendship, dependence, using of others, ambition, the achievement of bike-riding, failure...?

2. How important was the bike-racing theme to the whole film?

3. Did the film give you an insight into the type of man Halsey was? what incidents gave clues to his character?

4. Was Halsey a good rider? Was he a 'con man' and completely self-centred in his riding as well as in his personal relationships?

5. Why did Halsey think he had a right to use people and that the world owed him a living?

6. Did you like Little Fauss? What were his limitations? What impression did he and his parents give? (What of Little carrying on a conversation with himself in the dark?).

7. Why did Little and Halsey combine? why was it to their mutual advantage?
Did they like each other? (Significance of the sequence where Little breaks his leg and waits in the dark).

8. Why did Rita join them? What had she to gain? Did she love them?

9. Why did Little walk out on Halsey? Did Halsey care? What did Halsey find oat about himself when Little was gone?

10. Why was Little driven by ambition to succeed in riding?

11. What did Rita expect out of life - her phone call to her parents and her exasperation with them, expecting Halsey to 'split' when the baby was born, walking out on Halsey?

12. What did the film contribute to your understanding of U.S. society (and any society) today - the race-track crowds, the wanderers, drifters and camp-following women?

13. What did Johnny Cash's songs contribute to the film?