User Reviews

Interesting to speculate what might have happened if the Jack Bruhn gang never showed up. Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) was creating a lot of resentment with his insistence on putting a stop to the fencing on open range land. Given his demeanor, the thought occurred to me that the town of Bitters might have been named after him. Had it gone that way, the story might have been just as grim as the one we got to see.

I'm still not used to seeing Burl Ives in a Western setting, even though he's appeared in a number of them. Often as a villain too, as in 1958's "The Big Country". I guess I was too conditioned as a kid by his voicing Sam the Snowman in the TV movie "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"; that's where I think I first became aware of him. I think the story could have used a better explained rationale for the hold he had over his fellow band of thugs and cutthroats. They all stood down when he made it a point, but after a while I began to question why they were so afraid of him.

The one casting surprise in the story for me was that of David Nelson as the young outlaw Gene who had an eye for town girl Ernine (Venetia Stevenson). Brother Rick appeared in a few but this is the first time I've seen David in any vehicle other than his parents' TV series.

Where the film departs from a more conventional dynamic occurs in the latter part of the story when Ryan's character leads the outlaw bunch on a death march with the complicity of their leader Bruhn, who at that point pretty much knew that he was dying of a bullet wound. Starrett's only hope of making it out alive is borne out when the gang members start taking each other out in an expanded take on "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre".

With as many Westerns as I've seen, this is the first one that graphically depicts what a difficult time a horse can have trying to walk through a couple feet of snow. It's obviously not that easy, and something Blaise Starrett might have considered when he stated to Bruhn at one point while on the trek - "None of us are gonna make it".

SPOILER One of the better b/w psychological westerns that United Artists released back in the 50s, this one concerns a cattle rancher played by Robert Ryan, who is bitterly opposed to the local farmers closing off the range with barbed wire.

Ryan goes into town looking for a showdown with the farmers when all of a sudden Burl Ives outlaw gang shows up and interrupts the drama. Ives doesn't care about their dispute, he just wants fresh supplies so he and his gang can continue their getaway. He holds both Ryan and the farmers hostage while this is all going on, so one of them can't get away and notify the army who is in pursuit for the gold shipment they've just robbed.

It also turns out that Ives was wounded during the earlier robbery and is slowly dying. There's nothing that can be done for him, yet he stoically continues with his plan of escape, regardless of the consequences.

Although Ryan has no sympathy for the farmers, he agrees to lead Ives gang through the snow-covered landscape in order to make their escape. There is no trail through the wilderness but it doesn't matter. Ryan is just trying to buy time and get the gang away from the farmers and the townspeople because he just can't stand by and let them get slaughtered by Ives gang.

During their trek, Ives falls off his horse and dies and the rest of the gang gets greedy and start killing each other off the other's share of the gold. They can't kill Ryan because they believe he is the only one who knows the way. The last tow who survive, die in the bitter cold while Ryan tries to keep warm by hiding behind a tree covered snowbank. Ryan then barely makes it back to town and the film ends.

It's one of the better U/A films and I highly recommend it, if only for the excellent performances of Ryan and Ives and the scenic alpine locations. I only wish it was done in color to take advantage of all that. With Tina Louise (as the love interest), Lance Fuller and David Nelson.

6 out of 10

André De Toth's odd western stars Robert Ryan as an angry gunslinger feuding with a local farmer and coveting the farmer's sexy wife. Before Ryan can have it out with the farmer, a band of outlaws hit town and a tense psychodrama ensues. While the acting is uniformly excellent, this film is so devoid of any style it's hard to imagine what De Toth was after. Ryan and Burl Ives (as the lead bad guy) are excellent and the snowy imagery (it's set in the mountains of Wyoming) is different, but the plot is anemic. With zero close-ups of any of the actors, it's tough to get too deeply invested in what happens to any of these characters. Tina Louise and David Nelson are in it too. The rousing music is by Alexander Courage.

Robert Ryan and Burl Ives circle each other like hungry wolves in director André De Toth's grim, rugged western "Day of the Outlaw" that takes place in the middle of snow-swept wilderness. Initially, this horse opera starts out with a cattleman feuding with a farmer who is about to enclose his land with barbed wire. Long-time rancher Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) promises to burn the wagon load of barbed wire and kill the farmer, Hal Crane (Alan Marshal), before he allows him to fence off his land. The woman between the two men is Crane's wife Helen Crane (Tina Louise) who made the mistake of having an affair with Blaise. She wants peace between the two men.

Just as trouble between the two fractions is rising, Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives) and six gunmen appear in town ahead of a cavalry patrol searching for them. They disarm the citizen of the small town and take up residence long enough for the mortally wounded Bruhn to have an animal doctor extract a bullet from his chest. Bruhn rules his desperate evil henchmen with an iron fist. He refuses to let them get drunk and party with the women. Eventually, Bruhn relents enough to let them dance with the women. One of Crane's men tries to resist and he dies for his insubordination. Later, another tries to ride out of town but he is shot down. Blaise assures Bruhn that he knows a way that nobody can follow them and convinces Bruhn who has recovered sufficiently to ride a horse to follow him. Basically, with the cavalry closing in on them, the villains have no alternative but to follow Blaise.

"Day of the Outlaw" struggles to be a different kind of survivalist western with a hero who never fires a single bullet from his gun. The performances are strong and the wilderness setting is spectacular, but scenarist Philip Yordan doesn't build in enough tension. The last twenty minutes take place on the snowy trail as the villains are eliminated gradually by between greed or death. One young villain who hasn't gone completely bad is sent packing when he must relinquish his horse to another companion. If you like offbeat westerns that don't rely on the usual clichés, "Day of the Outlaw" is a refreshing change of pace. Burl Ives makes a good villain and Robert Ryan is quietly confident as the tough-as-nails hero.

This movie has so much to it. It is about a band of outlaws who invade a small town in the mountains during the winter. Now, Robert Ryan plays a pretty tough guy, and he can best a big guy in the fight but not all of them. That is the whole point. It is about the limits of being human. Burl Ives plays a character that you do not know whether to love or hate. He is very wise and charming, but also spends all his time trying to make decisions to keep his crew of roughnecks happy. He has a sense of justice, but also can turn and become the dictator as well. So, Robert Ryan's character knows that he cannot defeat the whole band, so he lets them know that this is their last chance to get out of town and make it to the warmer valley below, or self destruct in a town with just four women. In the end, he beats the outlaws not by strength and force, but by using the ultimate powers of nature to outwit and defeat the outlaws. The freezing cold and snow is what ultimately defeats them. I think this is a very unique and wonderful movie. I can't help but think that Robert Altman probably was inspired by this film to do McCabe and Mrs. Miller, another movie about nature as the ultimate decider.

"Now listen," says Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives), renegade former captain in the U. S. Army, to the frightened men and women of Bitters, population about 20, four of them women. It's deep winter and Bruhn and his men have just barged into the saloon as rancher Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) was about to gun down farmer Hal Crane. "Do as you're told and you can go about your business just like we're not here, almost. But we are here so it's best you know with what you're dealing. Pace here gets pleasure out of hurting people. Tex, rile him and you're going to hear some screaming in this town today. Denver, half Cheyenne. Him hate white man. He doesn't feel half so badly about white women. Vause, bones covered with dirty skin but even half drunk he's the fastest draw in Wyoming Territory. And Shorty. We soldiered together. The young fella, well, he's a fresh recruit but he's learning fast."

For the rest of the day and through the night Bruhn by force of will is going to control his motley, dangerous gang. He'll deny them liquor, deny them the town's women, and undergo an excruciating operation by the town vet to extract a bullet from a lung. They're on the run with $40,000 in gold in their saddlebags. The U.S. Cavalry is on their trail. Bruhn is a complex man with an odd sense of honor. He was responsible for a massacre by soldiers under his command. His justice is ruthless. His authority is complete...as long as he lives. Right now he is the only one capable of keeping his gang of killers from tearing up Bitters by its roots.

And that includes Blaise Starrett, an angry rancher...angry at being rejected by Hal Crane's wife, Helen (Tina Louise), angry with Crane for the barbed wire that Crane will be putting up next to his land, angry at the farmers moving into the town and the territory that he cleaned up and made safe. That showdown with Crane that Bruhn interrupted would have been no more than murder. Crane wore a gun but couldn't use it well, and Starrett was purposely goading him. And in this complex, austere western both Starrett and Bruhn are going to find in themselves a capacity for surprising decisions. For Starrett, it will mean the realization that killing Crane won't solve anything, the realization that Helen Crane will not leave her husband for him, and the realization that the only one capable of outfoxing Bruhn is Starrett, himself...by leading Bruhn and his killers through a way out of town in the deep winter that will most likely kill them all. For Bruhn, he survives the operation. He's given a little morphine. He's back on his feet...and he's starting to cough. Let's just say Bruhn knows what's going to happen

All the while in this achingly cold western, snow is on the ground and the weather is frigid. When Starrett leads the gang out of town there is freezing white mist in the air and the snow is nearly up to the horses' bellies. The last 30 minutes of the movie are exhausting, with the horses struggling through the deep snow, with the wind blowing too hard to start a fire, and with men dying.

It's no spoiler to say that Blaise Starrett survives. It might be a spoiler to say that while he may no longer be the angry man we met at the start of the movie, he'll probably be just as lonely.

You could flip a coin to decide who holds this movie together more impressively, Robert Ryan or Burl Ives. Ryan brings all his impressive presence to his role. Ives, however, by force of acting and authenticity, makes his ability to impose his will on this gang believable. It's a first-rate performance. But, oh, if only this movie could have been made without the women. Two of the four actresses can't act, and those two are ones the story lingers on. Tina Louise as Helen Crane is completely out of her skill range. Her lack of acting ability severely undercuts the notion that a man like Blaise Starrett, especially when played by such a fine actor as Ryan, would ever carry a torch for her. Tina Louise's Helen Crane is too dull to lust after. And while all the men look like they seldom see a bar of soap more often than once a week (and in the case of Bruhn's gang, once a month, maybe), all the women look as clean and groomed as if they'd stepped out of a Sears Roebuck catalogue. Some of their tidy polish gets rubbed off, however, at one of the most ominous dances in a western. Bruhn has decided that the women will dance with his men to lower their resentment over being denied whiskey and assault. Bruhn keeps control during the dance, but these leering, groping villains take advantage of the four women every chance they get, and the women dare not do anything about it. It's a nasty, uncomfortable, well-staged scene.

Day of the Outlaw is a corny title, but even with its flaws the movie is engrossing. I almost put on a sweater while I watched it. It's one of the bleakest, coldest looking movies I've ever seen.