# Welcome to Hard Times
**Welcome to Hard Times** is a 1967 American Western directed and written by Burt Kennedy, based on [E. L. Doctorow](https://www.edgepedia.org/e-l-doctorow)'s 1960 debut novel of the same name. Produced by [Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer](https://www.edgepedia.org/metro-goldwyn-mayer) and starring [Henry Fonda](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-fonda) as a pacifistic frontier mayor, it follows the destruction of a small settlement by a murderous stranger and the townspeople's attempt to rebuild and defend themselves. The film was Doctorow's first work adapted to the screen, received mixed reviews, and failed at the box office.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-el-doctorow-ragtime-billy-bathgate-20150722-story.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Source | E. L. Doctorow's 1960 debut novel *Welcome to Hard Times*; MGM optioned screen rights in February 1964[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) |
| Director and writer | Burt Kennedy, set to write and direct in March 1964[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) |
| Cast | Henry Fonda (Mayor Will Blue), Janice Rule (Molly Riordan), Keenan Wynn (Zar), Aldo Ray (the Man from Bodie)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/welcome-to-hard-times) |
| Production | Filmed 26 July to 2 September 1966 for MGM; Metrocolor; 103 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) |
| Casting change | Rita Hayworth was officially cast but, after breaking a rib in a July 1966 swimming pool accident, was replaced by Janice Rule[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) |
| Release | New York opening 1 May 1967; Los Angeles opening 17 May 1967[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) |
| Reception | Decidedly mixed reviews and weak box office; Doctorow later called it "the second-worst film to ever come out of Hollywood"[2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-el-doctorow-ragtime-billy-bathgate-20150722-story.html) • [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/11/09/writers-reel-tales-from-book-into-film/7da7a449-5371-4338-b220-abeda08b43ea/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Hard Times is a tiny frontier settlement of a few ramshackle buildings and a stable. It is terrorized by the "Man from Bodie" ([Aldo Ray](https://www.edgepedia.org/aldo-ray)), a stranger who murders several people, rapes dancehall girl Molly Riordan, and burns the town to the ground before riding away.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) Molly, one of his victims, blames the pacifistic mayor Will Blue (Henry Fonda) for failing to stop the rampage. Fearing the man's return, she teaches the adolescent orphan Jimmy Fee (Michael Shea) how to shoot. When the stranger does come back, the survivors band together to stop him.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/welcome-to-hard-times)
The town's redevelopment is initiated by a traveling whorehouse brought by Zar ([Keenan Wynn](https://www.edgepedia.org/keenan-wynn)), and the returning villain's second rampage ends with the mayor finally finding the resolve to gun him down.[5](https://www.timeout.com/movies/welcome-to-hard-times) • [6](https://time.com/archive/6890460/cinema-tired-palomino/)
### Interpretation and place in Doctorow's career
Although it has the outward appearance of an old-fashioned Western, the film retains the convention-upending core of Doctorow's book, which the *Los Angeles Times* described as a meditation on the inescapable, inscrutable nature of evil, with a cowardly protagonist in a nihilistic frontier tale.[2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-el-doctorow-ragtime-billy-bathgate-20150722-story.html) TCM suggests reading it as an allegory about how difficult it is for people to take a moral stand, comparing it to *High Plains Drifter* (1973).[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/91159/welcome-to-hard-times) Time Out reads the mayor's personal cowardice as responsible for the town's internal death wish, with his peace-making intentions bringing about a nihilistic ending in which three-quarters of the population lie dead among the smoking ruins.[5](https://www.timeout.com/movies/welcome-to-hard-times)
The film was one of several non-traditional Westerns Fonda made in the mid-1960s, alongside *[The Rounders](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-rounders)* (1965), *A Big Hand for the Little Lady* (1966), and *Once Upon a Time in the West* (1969).[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/91159/welcome-to-hard-times) Scholarly work has placed Doctorow's novel among the texts of the "New Western" of the 1960s, which deconstructed the genre's mythology while using it to revive the traditional novel-writing process.[10](https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/pdf/3303)
## Production
A news item in the 28 February 1964 *Daily Variety* announced that MGM had optioned screen rights to Doctorow's 1960 novel, with Richard E. Lyons assigned to produce; the 4 March 1964 *Variety* noted Burt Kennedy as writer and director.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) According to a 3 February 1965 brief, Lyons was in talks with [Rita Hayworth](https://www.edgepedia.org/rita-hayworth), whose own production company had previously been interested in adapting the book, and she was officially cast as reported in the 7 June 1966 *Daily Variety*. She suffered a broken rib in a swimming pool accident at her home in July 1966 and was replaced by [Janice Rule](https://www.edgepedia.org/janice-rule).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES)
[Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) ran from 26 July to 2 September 1966, with Harry Stradling Jr. as cinematographer and Aaron Stell as editor. Filming took place at the Janss Conejo Ranch in [Thousand Oaks, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/thousand-oaks-california).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062482/) According to [Turner Classic Movies](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-classic-movies), the picture was originally produced for television but released theatrically.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/91159/welcome-to-hard-times) The supporting cast drew heavily on Western genre regulars, including Warren Oates, John Anderson, Royal Dano, Edgar Buchanan, Denver Pyle, Paul Fix, Elisha Cook Jr., and Lon Chaney Jr.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/91159/welcome-to-hard-times) • [6](https://time.com/archive/6890460/cinema-tired-palomino/)
## Release and reception
The film opened in New York on 1 May 1967 and in Los Angeles on 17 May 1967; MGM registered copyright on 31 December 1966.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES) In Britain the BBFC classified it on 27 January 1967 at 103 minutes for cinema release through MGM Pictures.[9](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/welcome-to-hard-times-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynjq2ntc)
Reviews were decidedly mixed. Bosley Crowther of *The New York Times* called it "listless, haphazard," with no character to identify with, while Richard Schickel of *Life* magazine judged that it "may be a bit hard to take for those who insist on purity in the Western form."[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/91159/welcome-to-hard-times) *Time* dismissed it as "a movie composed entirely of other movies," though it credited the veteran supporting players with making the film seem better than it was.[6](https://time.com/archive/6890460/cinema-tired-palomino/) Audiences stayed away; TCM's account attributes this to reluctance to see Henry Fonda playing a coward.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/91159/welcome-to-hard-times) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 43% Tomatometer from a small number of critic reviews.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/welcome-to-hard-times)
Doctorow himself was dismissive. At a 1983 library gathering he called it "the second-worst film to ever come out of Hollywood," and he later said he had taken "every conceivable position" on screen adaptation, ultimately preferring to have nothing to do with film.[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/11/09/writers-reel-tales-from-book-into-film/7da7a449-5371-4338-b220-abeda08b43ea/) Fonda acknowledged the failure, saying he and Kennedy "went into it with a great deal of enthusiasm" based on their feeling for the book, but "It didn't work as a picture."[2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-el-doctorow-ragtime-billy-bathgate-20150722-story.html)
## References
1. [Welcome to Hard Times (1967), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23249-WELCOME-TO-HARD-TIMES)
2. [E.L. Doctorow's film legacy, from 'Hard Times' to 'Ragtime', Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-el-doctorow-ragtime-billy-bathgate-20150722-story.html)
3. [Welcome to Hard Times, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/welcome-to-hard-times)
4. [Writers' Reel Tales: From Book Into Film, The Washington Post (1983)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/11/09/writers-reel-tales-from-book-into-film/7da7a449-5371-4338-b220-abeda08b43ea/)
5. [Welcome to Hard Times, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/welcome-to-hard-times)
6. [Cinema: Tired Palomino, Time (1967)](https://time.com/archive/6890460/cinema-tired-palomino/)
7. [Welcome to Hard Times (1967), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062482/)
8. [Welcome to Hard Times, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/91159/welcome-to-hard-times)
9. [Welcome To Hard Times, BBFC](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/welcome-to-hard-times-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynjq2ntc)
10. [The Rise of the New Western in the 1960s: E.L. Doctorow's Welcome to Hard Times, European journal of American studies](https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/pdf/3303)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Westerns before 1980 › Released 1961 to 1979*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license