Movie could have done better at the box office with undeleted scenes

I read that THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN did poorly at the box office. That's not hard to discern. You couldn't tell if the movie was supposed to be a real western or some kind of black comedy satire. There was a lot of cynicism in America at the height of the Vietman War and that cynicism extended to Hollywood in challenging the traditional, all-American values western cowboys and Indians movies. You can see that in THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN where corruption permeates everything.

That said, ironically the movie could have done better if the sex element was kept in the form of actress Barbara Rhoades's nude running scene out of the prison. That might have lent the movie publicity, good or bad, which would have brought in more moviegoers. Barbara Rhoades' character, Miss Brundridge, gets her clothing torn away by rioting, running prison inmates. Luckily, that is all that happens to Miss Brundridge since the inmates are too busy trying to escape. Miss Brundridge runs nude outside the prison along with the other fleeing inmates.

Perhaps the dvd movie should reinsert the deleted scene now.