... and how misnamed this film is, as protagonist Jeremy Rodock (James Cagney) is not a bad guy at all.
Young naive wanderer Steve Miller comes across mega-ranch owner Rodock as he is under fire from a couple of horse thieves. Miller joins Rodock in fighting off the horse thieves, who then depart. Apparently Rodock is pretty sure that his old partner, or at least his old partner's son, Lars (Vic Morrow) is behind the thievery. Rodock hires Steve as a ranch hand, who becomes instantly smitten with Rodock's mistress, Jocasta (Irene Pappas). Complications ensue.
I've watched this twice now - the first time a couple of years ago - and decided to give it another chance. I still have the same verdict. Rodock clearly states that there is no law for 200 miles in any direction. Yet Jocasta constantly rebukes Rodock for pursuing all that attempt to steal his horses and hanging them when found - that was the standard punishment for horse thieves in the old West. Rodock is without malice when he does this. It is just something he has to do or else he - and Jocasta for that matter - would be overrun by the lawless and starve to death. Yet Jocasta claims he has "hanging fever".
The only time Rodock gets emotional about dealing with the rustlers is when he sees that they have done something particularly cruel to his horses in order to cover their tracks, and comes up with a punishment that fits the crime and spares them the noose. At the conclusion of the film, I am still on team Rodock, and I'm wondering if Jocasta, if attacked by Indians, would think a couple of choruses of Kumbaya would be an effective defense. She really is that naive.
It really is a shame because Cagney is magnificent as always - he's the only reason I didn't get hopelessly bored by the entire production - and the production values are top notch with great cinematography and a magnificent score by Miklós Rózsa.
