I never made the "Bad Day at Black Rock" connection that some other reviewers mention for this film, so I had to go back and take a look at my own comments for that film. It turns out Spencer Tracy made an observation about Black Rock that went something like this - "... only just seems to me there aren't many towns like this in America, but one town like it is enough." Well, with this story, I guess there really was another town like Black Rock, going by the name of Arborville. It wasn't much of a town really, and wasn't mentioned to be in any particular state; the only thing you could assume was that it was out West somewhere.
The thing about the filming that I find most curious were the handful of scenes in which characters get covered with oil. That first time with Joe Dakota (Jock Mahoney) had me jumping out of my seat - how'd they do that? I mean, Mahoney was seriously covered head to foot in some kind of black gunk, and even assuming it wasn't really oil, how did the film makers get the consistency right, and how did Mahoney keep it out of his eyes? I'm still puzzling over that.
As it turns out, Mahoney's character becomes the conscience of the town of Arborville when he begins digging into the disappearance of the 'other' Joe Dakota. The story did a credible job of explaining what that was all about, leaving no loopholes for the citizens to employ once it became evident that the 'real' Joe Dakota had done his homework.
Two things bothered me though. The first was the flashback scene showing the Old Indian coming to Jody Weaver's (Luana Patten) aid after she was assaulted by the unidentified attacker. He was smiling, and that didn't square with the situation. The other was during the eruption of the oil well when Joe got into the scrap with Cal Moore (Charles McGraw). Moore's tough guy henchmen (Claude Akins and Lee Van Cleef) were actually cheering for Joe! Why would that be the case? That situation just seemed to be out of synch with the story and the characters.
Oh yeah, one other comment I made in my 'Black Rock' review - the Eastman Color format managed to add a modern sensibility to what might otherwise have been an out of place 1950's Western. Guess what? - this turned out to be that out of place 1950's Western.
The thing about the filming that I find most curious were the handful of scenes in which characters get covered with oil. That first time with Joe Dakota (Jock Mahoney) had me jumping out of my seat - how'd they do that? I mean, Mahoney was seriously covered head to foot in some kind of black gunk, and even assuming it wasn't really oil, how did the film makers get the consistency right, and how did Mahoney keep it out of his eyes? I'm still puzzling over that.
As it turns out, Mahoney's character becomes the conscience of the town of Arborville when he begins digging into the disappearance of the 'other' Joe Dakota. The story did a credible job of explaining what that was all about, leaving no loopholes for the citizens to employ once it became evident that the 'real' Joe Dakota had done his homework.
Two things bothered me though. The first was the flashback scene showing the Old Indian coming to Jody Weaver's (Luana Patten) aid after she was assaulted by the unidentified attacker. He was smiling, and that didn't square with the situation. The other was during the eruption of the oil well when Joe got into the scrap with Cal Moore (Charles McGraw). Moore's tough guy henchmen (Claude Akins and Lee Van Cleef) were actually cheering for Joe! Why would that be the case? That situation just seemed to be out of synch with the story and the characters.
Oh yeah, one other comment I made in my 'Black Rock' review - the Eastman Color format managed to add a modern sensibility to what might otherwise have been an out of place 1950's Western. Guess what? - this turned out to be that out of place 1950's Western.