L'homme aux colts d'or

"Warlock" is a decent western typical of the late 50's.

A cattle ranch owner and his men take the town nearby as their amusement place and terrorize its citizens; when an innocent barber is killed in one of the gang's nights of fun, they decide to hire a top gunman to put an end to the dangerous cowboy's actions. Clay Blaisdell (Henry Fonda)is the selected man and he arrives along with his sidekick Tom Morgen (Anthony Quinn) another fast draw too.

When Blaisdell -supported by Morgan- starts to do his job and things get better some of the town's folks are not quite satisfied with the man's ways and begin to wonder if his coming was a good idea. In order to bring some scent of law to the place they appoint Johnny Gannon (Richard Widmark) -a former member of the gang who thinks things went too far- as deputy sheriff. Gannon has not only to control the remaining vicious cowboys but he is also expected to get the town rid of Blaisdell and Morgan.

"Warlock" is perhaps a bit too long and the plot has many twists and different subjects to attend to (the strange relationship between the two hired gunfighters, Blaisdell's romance with local beauty Jessie (Dolores Michaels), revenge intentions of ex prostitute Lilly Dollar (Dorothy Malone)for a killing that happened in the past, Gannon's conflict with his kid brother Billy who is tempted to gain fame by challenging Blaisdell, and some others).

But nevertheless the film turns out entertaining and has tension, very well solved shooting and gunfight sequences, a fine location, good settings and remarkable performances. The final showdown between Fonda and Widmark is also a high point in spite of its outcoming.

Henry Fonda is a perfect choice as Blaisdell the aging gunfighter somehow tired of killing and moving and Quinn is very good as his unconditional friend and supporter. Richard Widmark is correct as the redeemed cowboy that becomes sheriff and Dorothy Malone renders one of her usual good jobs. The supporting cast is alright too.

If you like westerns this Edward Dmytryk piece is one to see and if you don't care much about the genre you'll probably find "Warlock" amusing and entertaining. It's a 7 out of 10 for me.

Warlock is a small town suffering from visits by a gang of thugs led by Abe McQuown. The honest townsfolk meet and decide to hire infamous gunslinger Clay Blaisedell to act as a Marshal. Blaisdell, aided by his trusty companion Tom Morgan, proceeds to clean up the town and promptly takes control of the gambling and dance parlour. But things are rarely straight forward in a town of this type, one of the thugs (Johnny Gannon) decides to reform himself and takes on the role of legal sheriff. Things are further complicated when a woman arrives in town proclaiming that Blaisedell and Morgan killed the love of her life! This coupled with the fact that McQuown and his thugs are plotting destructive revenge, means that Warlock and it's array of complex characters are heading for judgement day - one way or another.

The basic plot sounds like nothing out of the ordinary, the tough gunslinger with a reputation hired to clean up a town has been done a fair few times, with varying degrees of success. What lifts this Edward Dmytryk directed (and produced) Western above other films of its ilk is that it goes deeper than most of those other genre pieces. Blaisedell may be a fearsome gunslinger but we are at a time when a new breed of faster and more thuggish cowboys exist, and so his very being is crucial to the number of events that transpire in Warlock. Here all central characters are multi-layered, there is a plenty going on that begs the utmost attention, where tragedy hangs heavy with its looming presence, and Dmytryk threads all the story strands together with thoughtfully potent results.

Adapted by Robert Alan Aurthur from Oakley Hall's novel, Warlock boasts three excellent male lead performances and a firing on all cylinders supporting cast. Henry Fonda (Blaisedell), Richard Widmark (Gannon) and Anthony Quinn (Tom Morgan) are superb, while Dorothy Malone, Dolores Michaels, Tom Drake, DeForest Kelly, Frank Gorshin (sadly uncredited) and Wallace Ford come up trumps with excellent shows for totally important characters. The only gripe I can come up with is that I would have liked a bit more use of the Utah location courtesy of Joseph MacDonald's Cinemascope Technicolor, but since this story is primarily set within the confines of Warlock the town, one can be and is a touch forgiving.

During the last few years I have spent a lot of time revisiting the Western genre, and I have been rewarded with a ream of excellent adult pieces by the likes of Anthony Mann, Henry King and Budd Boetticher. Few of them are as undervalued, and maybe as forgotten, as this first class effort from all involved, it's a must see for any serious Western fan. 9/10

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.

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.

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.