L'homme aux colts d'or

Warlock (1959)

Director Edward Dmytryk is one of those dependable Golden Age mainstays who is pulling off tightly made movies even this late in the game. After many archetypal movies, often just short of greatness, he is still putting on a good game with first rate camera-work (Joe MacDonald) and top shelf actors (Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, and Richard Widmark, all in major roles). And so this is actually a strong, complex movie.

It helps that the plot, even though apparently another retread of Western clichés, is complex and well balanced. That the bad guys are partly very good and vice versa is exactly what the genre needs, and it is filmed so gorgeously--the night and interior stuff especially--it has a feeling of total command. It's a strong if still conventional film, a true Western in the best Anthony Mann sense rather than John Ford.

The plot is too complex to even analyze quickly, but a couple key elements play out. First, Fonda and Quinn play hired marshals who come into towns overwhelmed by some bad guys. They are hired for their ruthlessness because the town has no choice, but when they get to work, the town begins to doubt itself. And then there are all the secret past events that seem to converge here, almost too perfectly, but creating a layered and sometimes confusing backstory that gradually moves front and center.

All three male actors are in top form--I'll assume it's because the whole lot of them were consummate professionals there to get a job done well. While this was made years after the official end of the old studio system, it still is made (on location) with the same general factory ethic--tight production standards, familiar genres, efficient entertainment. It works, and it works better than it should. Certainly not a classic like "High Noon" or "Stagecoach," but a solid entry even for people who think they don't like westerns.

Nice Western concentrates on psychological issues , complex characters and adult themes . The town of Warlock is plagued by a band of thugs , leading the inhabitants to hire Clay Blaisdell (Henry Fonda) , a famous Pistolero . As the villagers ask the experienced sheriff/gunman to rid the little town of bandits when a vicious gang of freebooters passes through . This is the story of the sheriff who'd worn it -till he'd faced one gun too many , and his crippled partner (Anthony Quinn) , they had to teach or watch to die . As a hired sheriff in the small town of Warlock must take a stand when a gang of nasty outlaws takes over his town . A gunfighter/sheriff that's what they gave you for protecting people who ran like rabbits when the going got roguish !

This stand-out , meaty Western contains interesting plot , intrigue , thrills , shootouts and results to be quite entertaining though slow-moving and excessively allegorical . Outstanding literate Western balances action , suspense and drama , including a high-voltage cast . It's a classical recounting about an experienced marshal hired to clean up the crime-infested location . As Fonda in charge of a little town full of cowards and frightening people ; being probably one of the best Western in the fifties and sixties . The highlights of the film are the climatic showdowns , the twisted surprises and , of course, the final confrontation . The traditional story and exciting screenplay was well written by Robert Alan Arthur though clichés run through-out , the enjoyable tale is enhanced for interesting moments developed among main characters and especially on the relationship between gunslinger Henry Fonda and gambler Anthony Quinn . As the picture relies heavily on psychological aspects of the peculiar relationship between them . As Anthony Quinn steals the show playing a particular role going very much against his ordinary type , as the often strong, tough , macho Anthony here is cast as a hesitant, even weak man . However , Richard Widmark is all but lost in the background as a guilty-ridden outlaw become a town sheriff . Being magnificently performed by Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn , they are awesome experts in the art of conjuring sensational acting , here are reunited in this atypical but thought-provoking western with a lot of reflection , distinguished moments and dramatical attitudes , in addition a multitude of entertaining situations . Top-notch plethora of secondary actors playing vicious, sadistic sociopaths who take advantage of the frightened townspeople such as Tom Drake , James Philbrook , DeForest Kelley ,Frank Gorshin , Gary film debut of Lockwood as well as villagers perfectly performed by Wallace Ford , Richard Arlen , Ann Doran , among others . Wonderful cinematography in Technicolor and CinemaScope is superbly caught by cameraman Joseph MacDonald . Sensitive as well as lively musical score by Leigh Harline .

This is another superbly powerful though forgotten Western being stunningly directed by Edward Dmytryck . A veteran filmmaker, Dmytryck is one of Hollywood's most prolific directors who started his career in the early 40s . He was a craftsman whose career was interrupted by the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a congressional committee that employed ruthless tactics aimed at rooting out and destroying what it saw as Communist influence in Hollywood . A lifelong political leftist who had been a Communist Party member briefly during World War II, Dmytryk was one of the so-called "Hollywood Ten" who refused to cooperate with HUAC and had their careers disrupted or ruined as a result. The committee threw him in prison for refusing to cooperate, and after having spent several months behind bars , Dmytryk decided to cooperate . Dmytrick's biggest film was ¨The Caine Mutiny¨ , but he also realized another mutiny film titled : ¨Mutiny¨ with Angela Lansbury . Edward was an expert on warlike genre as ¨Back to Batan¨ , ¨Battle of Anzio¨ , ¨Young lions¨ and Western as ¨Broken lance¨ , ¨Alvarez Kelly¨ , ¨Warlock¨ , among others . Rating : 7 , better than average . It's recommended for Western enthusiasts and big stars lovers . Well worth watching as well as to rediscover and it will appeal to Anthony Quinn and Henry Fonda fans .

A professional town-tamer named Blaisdell (Henry Fonda) is hired as an independent marshal by the citizens of Warlock to rid them of an unruly gang; meanwhile a repentant member of the bunch becomes deputy sheriff (Richard Widmark), which creates friction. Anthony Quinn plays the former's faithful sidekick.

"Warlock" (1959) is an adult Western cut from the same dramatic cloth as similar late 50s/early 60's Westerns like "Man of the West" (1958). The mature and psychological script was based on Oakley Hall's novel, which was a fictionalization of the OK Corral legends, which is why it's not too difficult to read Earp/Holliday into the Fonda/Quinn characters and Abe McQuown's gang as the Clanton/McLaury gang.

The fact that Quinn's Morgan character is loosely based on Doc Holliday is a good reason to reject the supposed 'homosexual subtext' of Morgan. There's not enough evidence to draw such a radical conclusion. Morgan was simply Blaisedell's loyal and ruthless partner; he loved Blaisedell like close members of a military squad or like a brother.

On the female front we have two very striking women: Dolores Michaels plays Blaisedell's potential babe, Jessie Marlow, while Dorothy Malone is on hand as Lily Dollar, a mysterious woman from Blaisedell's past who takes interest in the new deputy sheriff (Widmark).

The town scenes were filmed at 20th Century Fox Studios in Century City, CA, whereas the scenic sequences were all shot in Moab, Utah, near Arches National Park. Needless to say, the latter locations are magnificent.

The movie runs 2 hours, 2 minutes.

GRADE: B+

What looks at first like it will be an enjoyable but mindless genre Western turns gradually into something rather darker and more nuanced. Almost nobody in this film is who they seem at first, and several characters undergrow gradual inversions, with results ranging from noble to deeply creepy. Who are the heroes? Who are the villains? You'll leave this movie much less certain than you were when you arrived.

Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn are nearly upstaged by -- of all people -- DeForest Kelley, seen here just a few years before his career would be wrenched sideways by the role of Leonard McCoy in the original Star Trek.

This popular Western isn't among the more highly-regarded genre efforts (emanating as it does from its 1950s heyday), despite the imposing credentials (many of whom were fixtures and had therefore worked on better films along the years) - but it's a pretty good example nonetheless, with solid production and an evident maturity in content and style.

The three stars - Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn - are well-cast (in fairly typical roles) and their interaction, allowing for several tense scenes, keeps one watching (for a 2 hour film, thankfully, it doesn't feel too long). Still, Dmytryk's efficient handling is unexceptional - abetted by Joe MacDonald's colorful widescreen cinematography but somewhat overshadowed by Robert Alan Aurthur's literate i.e. pretentious script (with several soul-searching passages about loyalty and responsibility). Leigh Harline's music, too, workmanlike though it is, emerges as a relatively unassuming score. The action sequences, however, deliver the goods with several gunfights throughout and even a few instances of gratuitous brutality (fashionable by this time).

However, the rest of the cast is quite interesting, with Dorothy Malone and Dolores Michaels providing the romantic interest and several familiar faces in support: Wallace Ford and Whit Bissell as town officials and, among Widmark's former cronies, DeForrest Kelley, Frank Gorshin - playing the star's hot-headed younger brother - and Tom Drake, most surprising of all as the villainous leader of the outlaw gang.