A seldom played film, this western has superb characterizations, good casting, a good story, but sometimes poor camera work and editing. Films have come a long way since the 1960s, excluding computer graphics, but different angles and lingering shots on some scenes would have brought this film to the top, both by 1960s and today's standards. It would also have increased the 100min run time. Possible cost factors for this camera work are a slightly shorter-than-needed budget and/or a short shooting schedule. Obviously some scenes show that the camera capability existed. The cast is made up of several big names with some of them having an impressive history in the profession by the time of this film's release. The camera and editing quality notwithstanding, their expertise in the art shine through.
*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS *** The film contains some memorable scenes and portrayals: the angry focus of Jonas (Chuck Connors) while fighting with personal naive goodness, the latent evil within Johnsy Boy (Bill Bixby), Chuck Connors accosting Bill Bixby in the woods, the story telling in the bar by Tod (Frank Gorshin - who also played Riddler in the Batman series the same year), the clinging despair of Bonnie Shelley (Gloria Grahame) willing to do anything, Jessie's (Kathryn Hay) strong emotional rollercoaster changes, Mrs Lavender's (Joan Blondell) orbital character sketches, the borderline sanity of Elwood Coates (Claude Akins), Brooks Durham (Michael Rennie) riding along the edge of good and bad, the secret dream of Maria (Marissa Mathes) and onscreen smoking [it is still rare to see a woman in a western smoking a cigarette], Paul Fix (as Hanley) without teeth (reunited here with fellow 'Rifleman' Connors). There are others but that's enough here. *** END POSSIBLE SPOILERS ***
There's also a short appearance by a fairly young Jamie Farr, a decade after his film debut and a decade before his MASH series fame.
This revenge' western story doesn't follow standard plot strategy so characters don't behave, and events don't progress, as one expects them to in a 'safe' storyline. This results in mixed emotional responses by the viewer, with different emotions possible on multiple viewings. There are many good things about this movie but the lacking camera work and editing keep it from rising to being a really good film. Watch it for the wonderful characters and player's performances. Pass it up for the overall screen delivery, but do so at your own risk. This film rarely plays and is not available on video as of this writing so you may wish to pop in a tape in order to catch the nuances from highly professional performance artists at their craft.
*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS *** The film contains some memorable scenes and portrayals: the angry focus of Jonas (Chuck Connors) while fighting with personal naive goodness, the latent evil within Johnsy Boy (Bill Bixby), Chuck Connors accosting Bill Bixby in the woods, the story telling in the bar by Tod (Frank Gorshin - who also played Riddler in the Batman series the same year), the clinging despair of Bonnie Shelley (Gloria Grahame) willing to do anything, Jessie's (Kathryn Hay) strong emotional rollercoaster changes, Mrs Lavender's (Joan Blondell) orbital character sketches, the borderline sanity of Elwood Coates (Claude Akins), Brooks Durham (Michael Rennie) riding along the edge of good and bad, the secret dream of Maria (Marissa Mathes) and onscreen smoking [it is still rare to see a woman in a western smoking a cigarette], Paul Fix (as Hanley) without teeth (reunited here with fellow 'Rifleman' Connors). There are others but that's enough here. *** END POSSIBLE SPOILERS ***
There's also a short appearance by a fairly young Jamie Farr, a decade after his film debut and a decade before his MASH series fame.
This revenge' western story doesn't follow standard plot strategy so characters don't behave, and events don't progress, as one expects them to in a 'safe' storyline. This results in mixed emotional responses by the viewer, with different emotions possible on multiple viewings. There are many good things about this movie but the lacking camera work and editing keep it from rising to being a really good film. Watch it for the wonderful characters and player's performances. Pass it up for the overall screen delivery, but do so at your own risk. This film rarely plays and is not available on video as of this writing so you may wish to pop in a tape in order to catch the nuances from highly professional performance artists at their craft.