The Proud Ones

My brother gave me this movie for Christmas because he knows I love Robert Ryan. There's just something about middle-aged character actors from the "golden age" of Hollywood that appeals to me; they're so cool and tough in ways that modern actors just can't match.

And this movie did not disappoint me. Ryan is great in it. He's macho and wise but also vulnerable. There were times when I was genuinely worried that the bad guys would get the upper hand over him.

In fact, quite a lot of this movie is suspenseful. It has many unexpected twists, not only in terms of "surprise" action but also character development. The constantly evolving relationship between Ryan and Jeffrey Hunter is a particular source of interest.

Even the mandatory love interest - Virginia Mayo - gets a lot of solid character development, though she does disappear from the movie for somewhat long periods of time.

Best scene? When Ryan rips into the cowardly town council. It's simply awesome.

Robert Middleton was a big brutish character actor... We have seen him in "The Silver Chalice" opposite Paul Newman, in "Friendly Persuasion" opposite Gary Cooper and in "Love Me Tender" with Elvis Presley...

In "The Proud Ones", he is at his best as the smooth-faced and smooth-spoken saloon owner who tries to have the lawman relieved of his job in order for the town to be wide open for wild business...

Middleton makes a considerable impression as Honest John Barrett, distinctive in his dishonesty and insincere manners... He is a thief ready for anything in order to control his lucrative interests, hiring cheap crooks like George Mathews (Dillon) who results a fraud according to his rules... We see him hiring dangerous gunmen willing to slay at any time like Chico (Rodolfo Acosta), who swears to the Marshal that he will kill him one day...

The film arouses profound suspicion that we are pushed to ask ourselves why a suspicious man like the Marshal had to shoot someone apparently unarmed from behind and can we justify his action?! ¿Is he, by any chance, a 'trigger-happy' murderer?

Jeffrey Hunter performs the mistaken cowboy involved in a sinful act to avenge his father's death with the wrong man... He never believes the rectitude of the Marshal who has a questionable past... Hunter accuses him of killing his father... 'It was either him or me', exclaims Ryan, 'but I never shot an unarmed man in my life.'

The climax of the film proves clearly and openly the whole truth to the tormented young man when he confronts Barrett in a showdown... The film wakes up our attention in its development when we discover that the proud Marshall is losing the power of seeing, a serious problem considered suicidal for a lawman who has powerful enemies...

With the lovely Virginia Mayo, the good jailer Brennan and the timid O'Connell, "The Proud Ones" is a solid Western, which remembers me a similar one, "The Lonely Man" with Jack Palance and Anthony Perkins...

This is the best of three efforts by director Webb I watched in quick succession; like WHITE FEATHER (1955), it's a Western that – as far as I'm aware – has never been shown on Italian TV (which is how I first became familiar with a good many vintage Hollywood title).

The film revolves around one of the most popular Western themes – the tough Marshall (in this case, a typically impressive Robert Ryan) taming a lawless town. A couple of unusual twists which heighten the tension considerably concern the fact that the young man (Jeffrey Hunter) he appoints as his deputy – and on whom he comes to depend due to his gradual blindness – bears him a personal grudge; on the other hand, Ryan has his own score to settle with the apparently omnipotent boss (Robert Middleton). For the record, this was the first of three films in which Ryan and Hunter would appear together: the second was the Biblical epic KING OF KINGS (1961), in which the former portrayed John The Baptist and the latter (controversially) Jesus Christ, and the last the historical Western CUSTER OF THE WEST (1967), where both only had supporting roles.

As ever, the hero's woman (Virginia Mayo) becomes embroiled in the violent proceedings – while the eminent members in town prefer to stand aside; then again, not much help is forthcoming from Ryan's own associates either: in a role he'd perfect in RIO BRAVO (1959), Walter Brennan is the cantankerous jailer who all he seems to do is read the newspaper – whereas Arthur O'Connell brings up his wife's imminent motherhood to be excused from the inevitable showdown. The numerous shoot-outs (in a saloon, on the street at night and an all-out gunfight in a barn) denote obvious highlights; however, also notable is a town-council sequence which ends with Ryan's hardboiled comment to his peers: "If I were you, I couldn't look into a mirror without vomiting!" The evocative score by Lionel Newman includes a whistling motif which effectively comes in at particularly revealing moments in the narrative. In the long run, the film proves an underrated entry to emerge from the genre during its most prolific and mature era.

Robert Ryan, Virginia Mayo, and Jeffrey Hunter star in The Proud Ones a pretty good western from 20th Century Fox. It deals with a town marshal in a town that says it wants law and order, but is more interested in the profits that being wide open can bring.

The guy who is bringing in the profits and the lawlessness is saloon owner Robert Middleton and he's got history with Ryan from other towns. Who else has history is Hunter whose father Ryan killed a gunfight. What will happen is anyone's guess.

And if that isn't enough Ryan who sustained a wound to the scalp in a gunfight in Middleton's saloon is having recurring bouts of blindness since the incident. A lot like John Wayne was having bouts of paralysis after being wounded in El Dorado. Ryan also takes his time seeking medical attention just hoping the bad guys don't find out about it and do him in.

The Proud Ones is a nicely done adult western with a good cast giving life to characters you care about. Pay attention also to a nice performance by Walter Brennan as Ryan's deputy. With his character the producers took him and his fate from Destry Rides Again.

No western action fan could possibly complain about the shootout in a stable between Ryan, Hunter and assorted miscreants. That one was taken from High Noon. One of the best staged climaxes I've ever seen in a western.

And western fans should not miss The Proud Ones.

Another great performance by the vastly underrated Robert Ryan. The entire film has a nuanced and adult tone, completely lacking from Rio Bravo, which seems to be a rip-off by Hawks. This film belongs in the company of High Noon, The Ox-bow Incident and damn few other Westerns for the intelligence and seriousness of the script. Ryan's performance alone makes this film watchable and undated, 50 years after. How many other films can say that? Also worth mentioning are the performances of Virginia Mayo as a hard headed business woman, and Walter Brennan. Brennan with hardly any lines of dialog, manages to do more with a newspaper for a prop, and with looks between him and Ryan, then most actors can do when they're chewing the scenery.