From Noon Till Three

Bronson and Jill in a satire about the making of legends

Many years after the Civil War, an outlaw (Charles Bronson) is forced to stay with a humorless Victorian woman (Jill Ireland) while his buds pull off a job in the nearby town. The few hours they spend together become legendary after she chronicles the events.

“From Noon till Three” (1976) is an atypical Western that features a quirky air and comedic bits combined with some effective romance in the mold of the first half of “Bandolero” or “The Ballad of Cable Hogue,” but morphs into a parable about myth being more important than reality.

It’s better than “Goin’ South,” but not as entertaining as "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox,” keeping in mind that this isn’t an all-out comedy like the latter. It has the tone of, say, “There Was a Crooked Man...” As long as you don’t expect the awe of “Chino” or the grim action of "Breakheart pass," it’s entertaining enough in its unique way. Jill is stunning and winsome as usual.

The moral doesn’t just apply to popular legends, like Jesse James, Wyatt Earp or Romeo & Juliet, but to the individual’s tendency to romanticize or bend the truth as years pass, making the person and occasion larger-than-life.

The movie runs 1 hours, 39 minutes, and was shot at Thousand Oaks, California, and nearby Warner Brothers Burbank Studios.

GRADE: B-