User Reviews

I don't know what the producers had in mind, if anything, when they framed this Western. The title, "The Fiend Who Walked The West" sounds like a science fiction or horror movie. So does the background behind the opening credits: a silhouette of what appears to be Nosferatu, the vampire. And the music is from Herrmann's score for "The Day The Earth Stood Still." All of that -- whatever its intent -- could be disregarded if the movie were in any way original, but it isn't. It's a cold-blooded remake of the peerless noir tale, "Kiss of Death."

Even THAT could be disregarded if it were any good but it's inferior in every respect. In the part of Victor Mature, the put-upon and manipulated felon, we have Hugh O'Brian. He struts when he walks, his hips thrust forward, and when he's on screen all I could think of was that he resembled a more than usually supple totem pole. The guy has had a long career on film and TV. He was in "Twins" in 1988, and he STILL looked handsome and fit. There's no excuse for that.

And in the Richard Widmark part, the giggling murderer, we have baby-faced Robert Evans, later His Excellency Robert Evans, producer of such classics as "Chinatown." Evans has been excoriated for his performance, but it's not that terrible. It's that Widmark was incomparable. Widmark created an integrated personality that was cynical and sadistic, whereas Evans comes across as consistently weird. If Widmark insulted his women in public, Evans beats them to death. Add that Hollywood has greased Evans' hair and slicked it back. It has such a sheen to it that one feels it might glow in the dark. I can find no fault with the Argentine-born Linda Crystal. Who could? She's not as virginal as Colleen Gray in the original, but she's extremely appealing, both as a woman and an actress. Joe MacDonald's photography is at least up to par, which is saying a lot. He was pretty good.

The film ought to be judged on its own, I realize, but even so it's confusing and vague in its motivations and character. For instance, I don't know how Evans is able to figure out that O'Brien's escape from prison was a fake. He intuits it. It's especially disappointing because Harry Brown had a hand in writing the screenplay. He was a published poet and novelist ("A Walk in the Sun") and won an Academy Award for "A Place in the Sun."

There is no moral difficulty either. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. And a typical Hollywood ending is imposed on the story. It lacks all nuance. There is no scene that equals that in the original when Brian Donlevy, as the DA, cons convict Victor Mature into cooperating by comparing photos of their children. Showing the kids is part of a subtle scam to get Mature to be a snitch. In "The Fiend Who Walked the West," on the other hand, the sheriff, Stephen O'Malley, is on the side of the angels and nobody gets a chance to say to him with an arid smile, "Your side of the law is just as dirty as ours."

I just watched this film for the first time since 1958, and it's much better than I thought it was when I was a 12-year-old. It's fast-paced even at 101 minutes, more violent than I remembered, and consistently well played. I find Robert Evans chillingly credible as psychotic killer Felix Griffin -- perhaps closer to Peter Ustinov's Nero in "Quo Vadis" than to Richard Widmark's Tommy Udo in "Kiss of Death" (on which this film is based), but certainly not "ludicrous," as one critic whose opinions I respect has written. Hugh O'Brian and Stephen McNally also deliver strong performances, and the rest of the cast is fine. Recommended for fans of Westerns and brutal crime films.

The inspiration for this movie came directly from another movie in a different genre, the film noir Kiss of Death, which was also written by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer. The director of that movie was Henry Hathaway but this was made by Gordon Douglas, who started his career as an extra in the Our Gang movies. He also directed Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Viva Knievel! And In Like Flint.

You know who else was listed as a writer for this? Phillip Yordan. Yes, the same man who perhaps didn't write most of the films on his resume, as he was a front for blacklisted writers, but definitely put together Night Train to Terror.

While Fox recycled the script* - and the Bernard Hermann score from The Day the Earth Stood Still - they did shoot this in CinemaScope and it had a decent budget, but it was saddled with a title and campaign that made it look like a horror movie for kids - with an adults-only certification - and the alternate titles that were tried like The Hell-Bent Kid, Rope Law, Enough Rope, Quick Draw, Quick Draw at Red Rock and The Hell-Bent Kid II are all rather dull by comparison.

They should have used the French title, Le tueur au visage d'ange (The Killer With the face of an Angel).

Daniel Slade Hardy (Hugh O'Brien) is a gunslinging criminal busted for a bank robbery and sent to prison for a decade. A decade before he'll see the baby that his pregnant wife Ellen (Linda Cristel) will have. And a decade living with the psychotic Felix Griffin (Robert Evans), a man so deranged that he kills another prisoner by force-feeding him ground glass.

Yes, that Robert Evans.

The Kid Stays In the Picture Robert Evans.

The Chinatown, people getting killed to make The Cotton Club, Ali McGraw-marrying Robert Evans.

The Robert Evans that turned a cocaine bust into community service by producing an anti-drug TV special, Get High On Yourself.

In his book, The Kid Stays In the Picture, Evans always talks down on his acting ability.

Is he any good in this? He's better than good. He's incredible.

Also: 90% of my writing style comes from Robert Evans.

Griffin gets out early and makes his way to Hardy's hometown, the place his cellmate always talked so lovingly about, and sets about killing everyone there, like shooting an old lady - who has the money from the botched bank robbery - with a bow and arrow before shotgunning another of the gang in the back. Then, as if getting the money isn't good enough, he visits Hardy's wife and frightens her so badly that she loses her baby.

Evans imbues his character with such menace, even taking on a woman of his own, May (Dolores Michaels), declaring that he's so inside her head, he knows when she's going to do something to hurt herself, then beats her unmercifully. Luckily, Hardy is released from jail as part of a secret plan to deal with Griffin.

Speaking of remakes, this movie was made a third time as Kiss of Death, with David Caruso as the hero and Nicholas Cage as the villain.

Look for future Tarzan Ron Ely as a deputy, Stephen McNally as the deputy and Edward Andrews as the judge. He was a noted character actor who often played authority figures, but most today would know him as one of Molly Ringwald's grandfathers in Sixteen Candles or Mr. Gorben in Gremlins.

I had no expectations of this movie and I loved every minute of it.

*A tip of the cowboy hat to Jeff Arnold's West, which taught me that there was a trend of turning film noir into more box office-friendly Westerns, including High Sierra remade as Colorado Territory, House of Strangers becoming Broken Lance and The Asphalt Jungle putting on some spurs and being remade as The Badlanders.

SOME QUOTES FROM MEMORY: Griffin - "Say - do you know what I heard in the Kitchen? Sidell died, about an hour ago." Dan- "Oh. Find out what it was?" Griffin - "Something he ate. Anybody that gobbles food down the way he done, they never know what they're shoveling down their gullets until it's too late!" Dan - "Oh." Griffin - "Sad ain't it!" Later before Griffin leaves jail. Hardy - "Ames" Ames - "Mister Ames!" Hardy - "Mister Ames." Ames - "Next time you wanna know something, be respectful." Hardy - "Ames! Ames! Oh when I break out of here the first thing I'm going to do is get that Ames and beat him down!" Griffin - "You know Sadman. You don't sound like the same fellow that came in here six weeks ago!" Hardy - "I'm not!" Griffin - "I'd love to stay here with you but I've got a living to make. You know they're paying a lot of money for Indian scalps!" Hardy - "You ever collected many, huh?" Griffin - "Lots of them since I came out west, sometimes more than even just a scalp!" Hardy - "Like a whole girl eh, like you had before." Griffin - "Yea. All in one piece! You know I wish I could do you a favor Sadman. I wish I could bring one in here to keep you company." Hardy - "There's only one woman I wanna see. See her in the flesh. Real! As I see here in my head all the day and all of the night. Ten years! Ten years wasn't going to mean a thing to me! Only one month since I've been here, I'm likely to go loco worried about her not knowing whether she's had the baby. Not knowing whether they're taking car of her not knowing…" Griffin butting in sarcastically - "Don't upset yourself Sadman. Why, you might as well get used to the idea that this, this wife of yours has, has moved in with some other guy. Because that's what she is going to do if she hasn't done it already!" Hardy - "I love her!" Griffin - "She's no princess!" Big punch up occurs. Ames - "Oh let him go! Let him go, back off. That's no way to say Goodbye!" Hardy - "Don't know what got into me." Griffin (panting) - "Feel the same way myself sometimes! You know Sadman, if there is anything I can do to make you rest easier I'll go out of my way to do it!" Dan - "No Thanks, I'll manage." Ames - "Oh Hardy about the mail, they tell me all the stamps in Washington got burnt up! Ain't going to be no mail, never again, too bad eh, shove it over! Come on Griffin." Griffin finishing up - "I'll be with you in a minute sir." I'd like to leave you something to remember me by.You know that little animal of mine? (glass horse), gave me lots of pleasure." Dan - "If it would make you feel any better leave it!" Griffin - "I would of liked to but I can't." Dan -"Why not?" Griffin - "Sidell, he ate it! Ha haw ha ha haw haw." END SCENE. After Dan breaks out of jail and goes to Griffin's house: Griffin -" May there's someone out there, who do you think it is?" May - "I don't hear nothing." May -"Nobody!" (Loud Knocking) Griffin - "You'd better learn to believe me Little Miss May! Open the door." Dan enters house. Griffin - "Well if it isn't my old friend huh!" Dan - "Hello Griffin I broke out." Griffin - "Good, good, never thought you had it in you. Come on sit down Sadman. Sit down! Little Miss May I got myself a guest. How about a bottle and two glasses huh? There you are. Drink up Sadman.Drink up." Dan - "Tastes funny after so long." Griffin - "You'll get used to it again." So you broke out of old Fort Smith did ya? Kill anyone doing it?" Dan - "No. But I gave Ames something to remember though!" Griffin - "Yea I bet you did. You're good at that Sadman!" What are you going to do now Sadman? See my wife. When are you planning on seeing her? I don't know they'll be watching my place all the time, waiting for me to come and get her. I wouldn't worry about them watching your place Sadman. Why not? Well they'll be using all the men they can get for couple a Emmett and Dyer. Somebody kill Emmett and Dyer? Yeah. They was bush-whacked and the horses ran off with a wagon-load of prisoners. They must have been a mighty sore tailed crowd, the horses hightailed it all the way back to Fort Smith! That's a long haul, a long haul! Yeah I know I just made it. Yeah you look kinda tired Sadman. I think you'll be needing some sleep. Come on I'll show you where to lie down huh. Here you are! Just throw yourself down eh, don't even bother to take your boots off! Lie down lie down go on. I'll be seeing you in the morning Sadman, I got some things to do. Goodnight! (Griffin closes the door.) May, May! What are you doing in the shed?" May - I was just cleaning up that's all." Griffin - My old friend's using the bedroom if you wanna sleep do it out here." May - "What if he wakes up and wants something?" Griffin - "If you can't hear him he won't get it will he?" END SCENE. After Dan's wife storms out: Griffin - "There she goes! And here she comes! Come over here Miss May. Pull up a chair, sit right with us huh, right next to me come on! Now we can all have some fun." Dan - "Had a tumble Mam?" Griffin - "Little Miss May - fell off a horse, tut tut!"