Two men turn up at a Mexican ranch and join a cattle drive north to Texas. One is a refugee from justice, who also loved the ranch-owner's wife long ago. The other is the lawman that is hunting the first, bearing a grudge as well as the law. Things can change on the long drive north but the truce between them is bound to be broken; when and how is the question.
This melodrama-set-in-cowboy-style has all the ingredients to make it a great film; a good scriptwriter, a great director, and a fine cast. However the end result is at best good in parts, and at worst pretty hopeless.
The main protagonists in making this film variously either were distracted or just phoned it in, and it shows. Aldrich said of it that making this film was an unpleasant experience but did also comment that the end result would have been a lot better if everyone concerned had approached it with the same professionalism as Hudson did.
Really this is a melodrama with a rather unrealistic plot (and very many sub-plots, some a bit risqué for 1961) in a western setting. As a drama maybe it still works but as a 'straight' (i.e.1950s style) western it lacks credibility and realism in nearly every respect.
For example Hudson appears at the end of a long ride and he looks like he had just stepped out of a dressing room (which he probably had). Not a mark on him. And Kirk Douglas wears the kind of outfit that no cowboy ever did, remaining elegantly coiffed more or less throughout.
One thing I found quite distracting was the time of day it was meant to be; they talk of mornings, evenings and night time, but there seemed to be little action shooting that didn't occur (randomly) around midday. Thus shadows appear, disappear, and vary in length nonsensically considering the time of day it is meant to be. one moment we are looking at a sunset and the next they are standing on their shadows. Likewise clouds appear, change, disappear equally randomly.
So there are things that not really good enough and that distract from the main plot for sure, but what remains is still a reasonable film. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either; there are much worse films in this genre and this has an interesting plot, reminiscent of greek tragedy, even if it is unrealistic.
So a bit flawed but still enjoyable; 6/10 from me.
This melodrama-set-in-cowboy-style has all the ingredients to make it a great film; a good scriptwriter, a great director, and a fine cast. However the end result is at best good in parts, and at worst pretty hopeless.
The main protagonists in making this film variously either were distracted or just phoned it in, and it shows. Aldrich said of it that making this film was an unpleasant experience but did also comment that the end result would have been a lot better if everyone concerned had approached it with the same professionalism as Hudson did.
Really this is a melodrama with a rather unrealistic plot (and very many sub-plots, some a bit risqué for 1961) in a western setting. As a drama maybe it still works but as a 'straight' (i.e.1950s style) western it lacks credibility and realism in nearly every respect.
For example Hudson appears at the end of a long ride and he looks like he had just stepped out of a dressing room (which he probably had). Not a mark on him. And Kirk Douglas wears the kind of outfit that no cowboy ever did, remaining elegantly coiffed more or less throughout.
One thing I found quite distracting was the time of day it was meant to be; they talk of mornings, evenings and night time, but there seemed to be little action shooting that didn't occur (randomly) around midday. Thus shadows appear, disappear, and vary in length nonsensically considering the time of day it is meant to be. one moment we are looking at a sunset and the next they are standing on their shadows. Likewise clouds appear, change, disappear equally randomly.
So there are things that not really good enough and that distract from the main plot for sure, but what remains is still a reasonable film. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either; there are much worse films in this genre and this has an interesting plot, reminiscent of greek tragedy, even if it is unrealistic.
So a bit flawed but still enjoyable; 6/10 from me.