Day of the Outlaw, André
De Toth’s astounding last Western, was one of the finest fusions of the genre’s
setting and themes with noirish sensibilities and tone that I’ve seen. On one
hand it placed a lone wolf at odds with the changing times and evolving
civilization around him, while on the other it showed how fragile any society,
at the end of the day, essentially is at the face of primal forces. It also
made terrific use of harsh Wyoming winter to complement its relentlessly bleak
tone and ambivalent characters. Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan), a rough and
embittered cattle rancher who believes in the rule of the gun, was, at once, an
archetypal Western and noir anti-hero. He is in love with the luscious wife
(Tina Louise) of one of the shanty town’s residents (Alan Marshal). The two men
are about to settle, once and for all, their, and in turn the town’s fate, when
Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives), a renegade army officer, and his group of violent and
ruthless outlaws break into their party. Bruhn, though injured, barely manages
to keep his gang of psychotic men under control. The only way to save the women
and stop the fast escalating chaos is to ensure these men are escorted out of
the place, and Starrett voluntarily takes the onus of guiding them on a treacherous
and suicidal snow-covered trail that the dying Bruhn agrees to as a final
display of humanity. The unsettling storyline, terrific monochromatic visuals, brilliant
minimal score, disconsolate tone, and moody atmosphere, were accompanied by
stellar turns by Ryan and Ives. The otherwise sparse aesthetics were marvelously
ruptured by a dizzyingly shot bar dance scene that provided a stunning springboard for the deeply fatalistic closure that followed.
Director: Andre De Toth
Genre: Western/Revisionist Western/Psychological Western
Language: English
Country: US
Spaghetti-master chef Sergio Leone’s final Western and
penultimate film as a director, Duck,
You Sucker! continues to remain under-watched and underrated to this day
despite its ambitious scope and excellent amalgamation of the crude fun, colorful
characters, operatic mounting and strong political potential of the sub-genre. It
begins with Mao’s wry remark on what entails a revolution that immediately put
things into perspective. Set in 1913 during the Mexican Revolution, it paired
two delectably etched unpredictable and amoral characters together – Juan
Miranda (Rod Steiger), an uncouth, crooked and self-serving outlaw whose dream
is to rob the Mesa Verde bank, and John Mallory (James Coburn), a former Irish
revolutionary and explosives expert working on the Mexican revolutionaries
trying to overthrow the ruthless military junta led by General Huerta. From its
cheeky beginning to its poignant climax, the gleefully topsy-turvy narrative
painted a riotous yet quietly affecting picture of the burgeoning friendship of
these two larger-than-life characters at the backdrop of the bloody civil war.
There was no dearth of spectacular and explosive sequences, neither was it
wanting for hilarious and ironic moments; yet, contrapuntally, it also provided
rich character portrayals of the two protagonists and layered observations on
the cost of a revolution, the fragile nature of allegiance and morality, and
how unbridled violence and tragedy are common parameters for both the sides. The
resplendent visuals, the marvelous score by Ennio Morricone, the memorable set-pieces and the superb
acting by the cast, and Steiger in particular, added to this grand and powerful
extravaganza that was besieged with gargantuan problems and clashes right from
its conception through its production to even after its release.
Director: Sergio Leone
Genre: Western/Spaghetti Western
Language: Italian/English
Country: Italy
Monte Hellman counted Sartre and Camus among his
idols, and their philosophical influences were evident in this stark, moody,
disorienting and existential, albeit little known, B-Western, The Shooting. Hellman kept gun-plays,
dialogues and plot intricacies to a minimum; in fact, very little really
happened in terms of the narrative. He instead deployed a constant sense of
tension, paranoia and fear for the unknown in this deliberately paced film with
an intriguing and involving build-up. The film begins with Willet Gashade
(Warren Oates), a former outlaw, being hired by a pretty, enigmatic and
unpredictable young lady (Millie Perkins), for a mysterious quest on account of
his deep knowledge of the landscape. Will’s simpleton and dim-witted side-kick
(Will Hutchins) joins them in the trail and immediately falls heads over heels in
love with the coquettish lady; Will’s feelings for her are more complex even
though he too becomes strangely enamoured by her. During their journey Will
finds that they are being followed by an ominous stranger, and before long the
person is revealed as a charismatic and ruthless hired gun (Jack Nicholson).
The understated but strongly palpable game of psychological one-upmanship that
ensues between these characters, against the arid and lifeless backdrop, and with
all their fates hanging in loose balance, formed the principal thread of the
yarn, as they traverse further and further into the unknown. The sparse
aesthetics, though on account of its low budget, nicely counterpointed the moody
and fatalistic tone. The film was well enacted with the young Nicholson
particularly noteworthy.
Director: Monte Hellman
Genre: Western/Revisionist Western/Psychological Western
Language: English
Country: US
The Ox-Bow Incident,
adapted from Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s novel and arguably William Wellman’s
most renowned work, was a devastating indictment against rule of the mob and
street justice. This morality play and anti-Western remains relevant to this
day given the preponderance of trial by media and quick-fix conclusions that we so regularly witness. When
one of the citizens of a drab little frontier town is learned to have been
killed and his herd stolen, a posse – in essence a lynch mob – is formed to
catch those responsible for the despicable act and enforce rule of the
majority. The group becomes particularly blood-thirsty when circumstantial
evidences emerge against the three men caught – a mild-mannered farmer (Dana
Andrews), a senile old man, and a brash Mexican (Anthony Quinn). All the
appeals and persuasions of Davies (Harry Davenport), one of the few people
vocally opposed to the act, fall on deaf ears as Major Tetley (Frank Conroy), a
pompous former soldier and a closet coward who wishes to turn his soft-natured
son into a man through the incident, leads the motion against the three
presumed rustlers. Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan play two drifters who end up
becoming part of the posse against their wills. The gothic doom-laden atmosphere,
created through superb expressionistic photography, brilliantly emphasized the
film’s bleak mood, fatalism and commentary on man’s infinite capacity for folly
and callousness. Wellman marvelously etched all the characters and extracted
excellent performances from the ensemble cast, which perfectly masked the few
moments when the message became tad too overbearing. Fonda would return to a
similar themed film with Lumet’s 12 Angry Men.
Director: William A. Wellman
Genre: Western/Psychological Western
Language: English
Country: US
The Far Country,
the fourth of Mann’s five collaborations with Jimmy Stewart, this Canadian
Western might seem a comparatively lesser work vis-à-vis the two that
sandwiched it, viz. The Naked Spur
and The Man from Laramie, this
alternately light and edgy film, albeit not as edgy as I’d have wanted, was
nonetheless an engaging reinforcement of the Western hero. One might even find
strong parallels of Hawks’ Red River
in it. Jeff (Stewart) is a compulsive loner for whom such things as love,
friendship, community, etc. don’t mean much. He is also a cattleman and the
garrulous Ben (Walter Brennan) is his only companion. When his herd is
forcefully confiscated by the slimy and thoroughly corrupt town boss Gannon
(John McIntire), he is forced to steal them back while also joining the trail
with a wealthy and vivacious saloon owner (Ruth Roman). But, it’s only a matter
of time before Gannon and his thugs come back at him, and though his initial
intent is to avoid confrontations even when he sees gross injustice on poor
folks, before long a face-off unto death ensues. Interestingly, though fellow
feeling gradually starts making an impact on his clinically cynical, jaded and ‘everyone
for himself’ nature, the motive that finally makes him get involved is, like
all Mann-Stewart combos, is good old revenge and encroachment on self-interest.
Stewart did a fine job and he got good support from the supporting cast in this
exquisitely shot film, with the cold, unforgiving, unpredictable and alienating
Alaskan backdrop providing an apt metaphor for the protagonist’s utter apathy, clinical detachment
and distressing coldness.
Director: Anthony Mann
Genre: Western/Psychological Western
Language: English
Country: US
