Rough Night in Jericho

A stagecoach bound for Jericho is ambushed by Alex Flood (Dean Martin). He's a bad man and he takes over the town with his brutal gang. He hangs the stagecoach driver for shooting one of his men in self-defense. Stagecoach owner Molly Lang (Jean Simmons) tries to save the driver but fails. She happens to be Flood's ex and he still holds a flame for her. A wounded Ben Hickman (John McIntire) and his former deputy Dolan (George Peppard) arrive in town to take partial ownership of the stagecoach line with Molly. Molly had informed Ben of her dire situation but Dolan was unaware and is unconvinced of joining her. Flood is demanding 51% of everything including the stagecoach.

It's interesting to see Dean Martin play against type. He's actually pretty good at playing evil. It's an interesting tense stand-off for the first half of the movie but I kept wondering about Dolan's plan if he had any at all. I really like Flood losing the poker hand to Dolan. It would have been even more interesting if the losing was deliberate as a way of enticing him to leave. On the other hand, I don't like the inciting incident with the deputy tearing up the stagecoach. It's too haphazard and rescuing a damsel is too bland. A better inciting incident would be killing Ben. That would lead to Dolan going on a revenge war against Flood and that would be a better movie. Once Dolan killed a deputy, Flood would have hung him without a trial. That section do not make sense. It's not until the saloon shootout that the movie finds its violence. It's a long time coming and about thirty minutes late. The shooting is still a little old fashion but at least, there is plenty of it.

Normally I love westerns, and I am willing to accept some flaws in them, but I found this particular western a chore to sit through. The lead performances, for one thing, hurt the movie. Now, I am not saying that Peppard and Martin were miscast, but they were not directed well here. Peppard seems out of place, while Martin does not come across as ruthless enough to be believable as a villain.

But what really hurts the movie is the script. The mix between comic sequences and brutal action do not fit together very well. Also, the first half of the movie is almost all talk talk talk, and not very interesting talk. And Peppard's character doesn't do anything in that first half to try and change the desperate situation. Things do pick up somewhat in the last part of the second half, but it's too little too late.

By the way, Leonard Maltin's video guide branded this movie as "gory", but by today's standards it's not very bloody.

Dean Martin plays the villain for the first time, but doesn't add any dimension to his role. George Peppard steals the movie as a gambler who doesn't want any trouble until situation becomes impossible. Jean Simmons is adorable as usual.

The plots are quite routine, the action scenes passable. It's a bit unreasonable that Simmons would let Peppard, a stranger who rides to town on her stagecoach, stay in her house. Although such arrangement is made by the writers, it's a shame that their relationship is not fully developed.

Fortunately we see some familiar supporting actors, including Don Galloway (of TV series IRONSIDE), John McIntire (of WAGON TRAIN), and it's interesting to watch comic actor Slim Pickens as mean, sadistic character again after his wonderful performance in ONE-EYED JACKS (1961).

Compelling tale of an ex-deputy and his nemesis who is hired by a widow to protect her from revenge-seeking outlaws . In the Old west there are always the men who live breathe violence and the women who hold their breath . A ¨town tamer¨ , ex-sheriff and now professional gambler named Dolan (George Peppard) along with his old pal (John McIntire) come hired by Molly Lang (Jean Simmons) who owns the stagecoach line to rid the baron land named Alex Flood (Dean Martin)and his hoodlums (Slim Pickens , Steve Sandor) . Dolan as ex-lawman brings peace for the townspeople , meanwhile Alex takes the justice on his own hands , hanging enemies and appointing marshals and orders warnings , as wearing of guns or other weapons in town is banned . Flood is a whole villain determined to kill Dolan , he owns the Palace Casino, Saloon , General Store and lands . But the town council afraid the raw methods carried out by Flood and reunite , when Alex aware he orders to burn the place . At the end the kingpin landowner appears and attempts to murder Dolan with his own means .

This is a tremendously exciting story of an ex-deputy-for-hire who had only one more killing to go. It begins as a sluggish , slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with dark , rudimentary characters and solid plot . The tale is almost grim though full of clichés, a pacifier and his old partner come to a town just in time to make sure its citizenry but later the events get worse . The action is brutishly cruel as when Dean Martin slaps and hits Jean Simmons. The highlights of the film are the facing off between Peppard and Slim Pickens and the climatic showdown on the ending at the saloon and the town. Phenomenal and great role for Dean Martin as bad guy , he's the whole show. Vivid and lively musical score by Don Costa and atmospheric cinematography by Russell Metty. Watchable results for this offbeat Western.

The motion picture is professionally directed by Arnold Laven . Laven formed a production company along with Jules Levy and Arthur Gardner. The first Levy-Gardner-Laven movie was 1952's "Without Warning"'; in the decades since, they have produced and directed dozens of additional features . He's an expert on Western genre as cinema as television as he produced and directed several TV series including "The Rifleman," "Law of the Plainsman," , "The Big Valley" . And directed acceptable Western films as ¨The glory guys¨, ¨Geronimo¨and ¨Sam Whiskey¨.

An ex-lawman from Santa Fe and his ex-deputy (John McIntire and George Peppard) come to an Arizona town to assist the female owner of a stagecoach line (Jean Simmons), who happens to be persecuted by the town's venal mogul, also an ex-lawman (Dean Martin). Since the odds are against winning a tangle with this boss, Dolan (Peppard) is determined to move on. Is he yella or will he make a stand?

"Rough Night in Jericho" (1967) comes in the spirit of "Rio Bravo" and "El Dorado," just minus John Wayne. It's mostly town-bound, but there are more than enough scenic sequences shot in the Southwest wilderness (cited below). The emphasis is human interest, which effectively draws you into the lives of the characters at play.

A minor example is when a certain man is humiliated and written off as a coward, but he's later given a chance to prove his mettle. A better example is how Flood (Martin) and Dolan are fleshed out with several interesting dialogues. You just know they're gonna have a showdown.

There's also a great knock-down-drag-out fight between Dolan and Yarbrough (Slim Pickens). Impressive Steve Sandor plays a side character in this particular sequence as Flood's henchman Simms; the role happened to be his cinematic debut.

Regrettably, the ending needed tightened up and the flick is strapped with a professional-but-unfitting score that's unmemorable. It needed a composition along the lines of, say, "Bandolero!" or "Duel at Diablo." Yet this isn't a deal-breaker and arguably adds a unique charm to the film. In any case, it's superior to Martin's "5 Card Stud," but not quite on the level of his "Bandolero!"

It runs 1 hour, 44 minutes, and was shot in Old Tucson, Arizona, with out-of-town stuff done in southern Utah at Glen Canyon, Kanab Canyon, Paria and the Gap, as well as Vermilion Cliffs and Colorado City in nearby Arizona.

GRADE: B.