A newspaper stages a 700-mile horse race across the Western landscape in 1906, and this lavishly produced film follows the diverse group of competitors. Among them are two men who served together as Rough Riders (played by Gene Hackman and James Coburn), along with a woman working as a prostitute (Candice Bergen), a rebellious young man called “Kid” (Jan-Michael Vincent), an older cowboy (Ben Johnson), a Mexican suffering from a toothache (Mario Arteaga), and a British gentleman (Ian Bannen). Richard Brooks, who wrote and directed "Bite the Bullet" in 1975, has stated that the movie draws inspiration from various cross-country races funded by newspapers and municipalities between 1880 and 1910. He specifically mentioned a 1908 race originating in Evanston, Wyoming, and finishing in Denver, which was sponsored by the Denver Post and offered a $2500 reward as his primary influence. Despite its considerable budget and impressive cast, this film doesn’t frequently appear on lists of great Westerns, likely because the extended race transforms it into something unusual – not a tightly plotted suspense story, but instead an episodic journey marked by brief scenes that reveal aspects of each character's personality. Subtitles can be useful for understanding some of the occasionally unclear conversations. The plot involving an escaped prisoner feels awkwardly inserted into the final portion of the film. It seems as though Brooks attempted to force a more dramatic conclusion, and in doing so he nearly damaged the overall quality. The movie’s length is two hours and twelve minutes, and filming took place in Nevada (Carson National Forest & Lake Mead), New Mexico (White Sands) and Colorado. My assessment would be somewhere between a C+ and B-.

Source on TMDB