Packed with Technicolor Thrills!
Another great pairing of James Stewart and Anthony Mann in a modern revisionist western.
Apart from a brief incursion by a group of Blackfeet Indians, slaughtered without too much lasting remorse by the principals, this is a tight five-hander. At the centre is the conflicted bounty hunter, Howie Kemp (Stewart), hunting Ben (Robert Ryan) and his companion (Janet Leigh), who inadvertently picks up a couple of partners, an old prospector (Millard Mitchell), down on his luck, and a brave dashing but dishonourably discharged soldier (Ralph Meeker).
The plot is excellent. The stakes are clear: as the lieutenant neatly points out, Ben is not so much a man as a walking bag of money. In fact, the situation is very similar to that in Huston's Treasure of the Sierra Madre, where the lure of gold puts pressure on the characters to double cross each other,
It struck me that part of what makes this such a great story is the character of Ben (Ryan), and his sly skillful psychological manipulation of the other characters, as he schemes to create conflict between his captors, with apparent confidence that sooner or later, by this method, opportunities to escape will emerge. This gives the villain of the tale unusual depth and credibility, if not exactly sympathy. After all, in his shoes, it's a tactic any of us would surely use.
The locations and cinematography are wonderful, contrasting strongly with the meanness and pettiness of the principal characters.
- Rating: Exceptional
- When seen: 31 Jan 2011
- Where seen: Home, on iPad
- More information: IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Wikipedia
Amendments: Added writer tags: "Sam Rolfe, Harold Jack Bloom"; actor tags: "Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Millard Mitchell, Ralph Meeker". Removed link to Wikipedia-sourced image. Added ranking image.
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