The Man from Colorado

Glenn Ford was as good as anyone playing an intense psychotic, which he does here in this above-average western. Ford, playing "Col.Owen Devereaux," gets elected to the position of "judge" right after his distinguished career in the Civil War. Unfortunately, he has mental problems and this position carries too much weight for an unstable sort such as him to be carrying. His best buddy, "Capt. Del Stewart" (William Holden) sees his friend as he is and tries to reason with him and help him out but winds up being alienated, too, by the paranoid judge whose problems escalate as the story goes on.

There's not a tremendous amount of action in here, but it still moves pretty fast and looks really nice on DVD. This is one of the few color films of the 1940s.

Ellen Drew, Ray Collins and Ed Buchnan provide good supporting help in the story. If you like some of the Anthony Mann-James Stewart westerns of the late '40s/early '50s, you should like this one, too.

"The Man From Colorado", filmed in 1948, portrays two men and how the trauma of the Civil War affected them, and those about them. Glenn Ford delivers a truly mesmerizing performance as a Civil War commander who is slowly being gripped by madness due to the violence of the War, while William Holden plays the part of a veteran of the same war, is able to cope with the aftermath, and yet, is unable to prevent his friend from sinking into degenerate madness.

After the war has ended, both men return to the same hometown to resume their lives. Ford is appointed as a federal judge of the territory, and he, in turn, names Holden as federal marshal. Ultimately, Ford's character sinks deeper into violence and glaring errors in carrying out justice, and Holden has to try and stop his former friend.

Don't let the age of the film deceive you, this movie does pack a message that can be applied today. An 8/10 viewing mark

The end of the Civil War is nigh and one last pocket of Confederate resistance is holed up at Jacob's Gorge. Knowing their time is up they hoist the white flag in surrender. Union Colonel Owen Devereaux sees the white flag but orders the attack anyway. Returning home with his friend and colleague, Capt. Del Stewart, Devereaux grows ever more erratic by the day, his friends, his loves and all who cross him, are sure to pay if they can't rein in his madness.

Starring Glenn Ford as Devereaux and William Holden as Stewart, directed by Henry Levin, The Man from Colorado, from a story by Borden Chase, is an intriguing psychological Western. The story follows the theme of a man ravaged by war and his inability to let go of the anger and mistrust gnawing away at him. Perfectly essayed by Ford as Devereaux (great to see him donning some bad guy boots), the film is rather grim in context. Light on action (no bad thing here at all) it's with the dialogue driven characters that Levin's film really triumphs. Having both become lawmen, it would have been easy for all to just play out a standard oater as the two friends are driven apart by not only their different levels of sanity (Holden's Stewart is an excellent counter point to Ford's blood thirst), but also the love of a good woman (Ellen Drew's petite Caroline Emmet). However, Chase's story has other elements to keep it from ever being formulaic. There's a deep political thread involving power and those entrusted with it, while the treatment of returning soldiers is firmly given prominence. Here the "boys" return after 3 years of being knee deep in blood and bone, to find that their claims are no longer valid. Snaffled by a greedy corporate type, thus as the "boys" look to the law for help?...

As a story it has substance of depth, how nice to also find that there are smart technical aspects to harness the screenplay. The Simi Valley location work is fabulous, most appealing. William E. Snyder's cinematography work is top draw, arguably his best work in the Western genre. It's fair to say that even a "c" grade Western can look nice if given a good transfer, but when the Technicolor print is good, you can tell the difference big time, and this piece is first rate. The dusty orange and browns of the scenery fabulously envelopes the blue uniforms, while the green and gold glow lamps are vivid and shine bright as if extra characters in the piece. Even Ford's greying temples have a classy sheen to them, almost belying his characters anger. All Western fans simply must hone into High Definition TV because although we always knew how fabulous these pictures looked, now it's another dimension of rewards unbound.

As the finale comes in a blaze of fire (welcome to hell!), The Man from Colorado has achieved the two essential Western requirements if it wants to be taken seriously - one is that it looks gorgeous, the other is that it has strong thematics to drive it forward - this has both. Hooray! 8/10

Best friends Owen and Del, along with local men, are mustered out of the Union army at Civil War's end. Trouble is Big Ed has grabbed the men's gold-bearing land while the men were gone, and now, as a judge, Owen has to enforce the law in Big Ed's favor. This splits the community into warring factions.

Gritty, character-driven western. We know at outset that Owen (Ford) is a flawed character when his Union detachment shells surrendering Johnny rebs. In fact, Owen hides his killer instinct behind an uptight rendering of authority, whether as a colonel or as a federal judge. Ford plays the authoritarian part so grimly (count the smiles—I stopped at zero), it's hard to see how the charming Caroline would be attracted to him. Nonetheless, the interplay between best-friends Ford and Holden is involving and forms the story's core. Alliances between the various factions are sometimes hard to keep up with, but are more unpredictable than usual. And I especially like that final maneuvering around the bridge that I didn't see coming.

Columbia Studios popped for a lot of extras, along with fine special effects, especially when the burning wall comes down. Funny, though, how mountainous Colorado looks like greater LA. Too bad Columbia didn't pop for sending the crew at least to Lone Pine and the Southern Sierras. All in all, it's a very different kind of horse opera that avoids the usual clichés, with Ford at his absolute grimmest. Clearly, however, he and Holden are on their way up the Hollywood ladder.

Colorado was a large, booming territory in 1865. It did not enter the union until eleven years later, and as the only new state to get admission in 1876 it has the right to remain our "Centennial" State (for the centennial of the Declaration of Independence). In the Civil War there were few engagements in Colorado, but one that did stick out was a massacre (there is no other way of putting it) of Indians by a Colonel Chivington at Sands Creek. Chivington's daughter had been raped by an Indian, and he took advantage of a relatively mild act of legal disobedience by the Indians to kill a good number of them.

"The Man From Colorado" is not dealing directly with the Sands Creek Massacre (no Indians are involved in the story). Instead, Chivington's character is transferred to Glenn Ford, who in the closing days of the Civil War perpetrates a similar atrocity, this time on surrendering Confederates. Ford and his friend William Holden have been through the whole war together, but Holden has managed to retain a sense of balance despite the horrors he has seen. Ford is on a slippery slope. Even after the atrocity he is still aware of his act of cruelty and writes in his diary about it. He can't control himself anymore.

Unfortunately his war record stands him well with the richest men in the territory, especially Ray Collins. Collins has managed to get control of the claims that should be used to pay the ex-Union troops. He wants a strong man to be the Federal judge of Colorado territory. Who better than the no-nonsense Ford? So Ford gets the judicial position. Holden has lost his old girlfriend (Ellen Drew) to Ford, but he remains a friend. However he and Drew are increasingly aware of Ford's mental instability. So is everyone (except Ray Collins), as Ford keeps giving the most draconian decisions from the bench. In particular to his former soldiers, now fighting to get back their claims. This, of course leads to their becoming bandits. A vicious cycle, of course. Holden and Drew may be able to break it - Drew has seen Ford's diary.

In the wake of World War II's returning men, and the many suffering psychological trauma, "The Man From Colorado" was a timely film. Ford never played a psychotic type as well as here. Holden (actually in a supporting role - before his burst into super stardom) is a great balance to Ford. Rains performs well as do most of the cast. And by the time the holocaust unleashed by Ford's appointment to the bench is finished, even Ray Collins wishes he never was dumb enough to put this man on the bench.