Der Rächer wartet schon

Looks like much of the movie was turned over to a John Derek uplift, his once promising career then in decline. He may get the screentime, but an unusually meek and mild Nick Adams almost steals the flick with his sympathetic portrayal as Derek's loving brother. I gather (Trivia) the western was shot in just five days, and frankly, the congested narrative and crowded cast show a hurry-up schedule. The various storyline threads are hard to figure out, while the number of supporting cast members drift in and out in hard-to-follow fashion.

Nonetheless, the rivalry thread between Derek and gunslinger Adams is well-done, especially Adams' unusual verbal abuse of the oddly silent Derek. How this will resolve amounts to the flick's main suspense. There're also good touches from director Ulmer, such as realistically keeping the brawlers' bruises for the narrative's remainder, or dragging the brawlers away beneath a galloping stagecoach, et al.

All in all, I get the feeling that a much better Western could emerge from the clotted ingredients if more time were afforded to preparation, especially in better organizing the screenplay''s unusual elements - for example, heightening the critical business papers suspense, or what will happen to Adams's vulnerable character. What survives is a promising flick that needs a more accommodating remake. So anyway, here's hoping.

This Western had one particular thing going for it that really stood out. Every time there was a wide shot of the town, there were not large numbers of people walking around the streets. Perfect! In most Westerns, there are way too many people all over town. At this time in history, when 95% of the population worked on farms, it is just totally unrealistic the way directors put so many people in town. This movie was right on the mark. Well done. Some reviews say it was too slow. Well, it wasn't a time of the internet and instant everything. Things moved slower as did the pace of the movie, which seemed appropriate. As I have mentioned in my reviews of other Westerns, I still have a problem the way actors are dressed. Costumes seem to be "cowboy" attire taken from the 1930's and put in stories from late 1800s. This includes saddles and bridles. Having it in black and white gave it a nice "old time" feel.

Looks like I stand alone in my review of this western. Whatever great cinematography or acting the movie might have was --for me-- not noticed or drowned out by the boring, trite story. I can't believe this movie got a 6.8 user rating. One of the most boring, talkative (and repetitive) westerns I have ever seen. Little action, and the most ridiculous, abrupt, meaningless fade-out to a movie I have ever seen. I had to strain myself to see it to the end. Even the title is trite. The only thing going for it was John Derek's handsome countenance.

To make ten lines for an acceptable review here, let me add this silly scene which typifies the movie for me. Derek rides out of town to talk to his estranged girlfriend, who he hasn't seen while in prison for a year, and immediately encounters her taking a nude swim. So they talk -- he on his horse and she completely covered by the dark water (save her head and shoulder tops). That's it; no comment by the characters on this awkward scene. ... ... ... Another situation that irked me is that time is running out, and three partners expect a businessman to arrive by stage to complete their crucial deal, but he doesn't show, and two of the partners won't let the third one ride to the town where the businessman is to learn the reason for the delay. It was so important that you'd think they would have thought of the obvious: send a neutral trusted person to make the trip to find out.

The only reason I watched this super-obscure 1957 oater (allegedly shot in seven days) is because Philip Hardy, in his 1980s encyclopedia of westerns, called it a "masterpiece" (his word).

I certainly wouldn't go that far, but the direction (Gerd Oswald) and camera-work (Joseph LaShelle, who IIRC shot Laura) are definitely eye- catching. Many angles include ceilings, and there are a number of striking shots of actor(s) in extreme FG with other(s) in extreme BG. Oswald and LaShelle even use the film noir technique of lining up actors in dialogue scenes at various depths so they can all be in the shot without cutting (or having to re-set up the camera).

This second feature programmer is in fact far more interestingly made than A Kiss Before Dying, Oswald's A picture of the year before. Why Oswald went from that well-publicized production of a bestseller to this B- drive-in special is unknown to me. Too bad he didn't show the same level of creativity on that clever Ira Levin mystery that he does on this horse opera, which is quite routinely scripted aside from a few minor curiosities, such as Nick Adams homoerotically caressing the unconscious face of his big brother John Derek.

This is not a major western, this is not a Delmer Daves, John Ford or Anthony Mann's western, it will not stay in memories. It's just a seventy five minutes film, without much ambition, except bringing something unusual, moving, as the Budd Boetticher's western films series was during the same period. Not big budget yarns, but still riveting because of the characters study, not necessarily the gunfights. The two brothers relationship is really the must see of this Gerd Oswald's movie. Not ambitious at first sight, but, I repeat, really worth. Try it, just try, and I am sure you won't regret it. And It's rare too.