Devil's Canyon

Devil's Canyon, a RKO picture, starts out like a normal western, the first ten minutes features an exciting gunfight between Dale Robertson and two outlaws gunning for him, but switches to a prison - it's essentially prison break yarn that happens to be a western.

The story- Following a shoot out in which he kills two men, former US marshal Billy Reynolds is sent to the notorious Arizona territorial prison. There he finds himself face to face with an old enemy who is determined to revenge himself on the lawman who sent him to jail.

It's a tautly-drawn story with just enough unpredictability to create suspense. Visually, Virginia Mayo is the only bright spot; a significant contrast to everything else, which is a drab grey. The stone walls are grey, the prison uniforms are grey, the quarry where the prisoners break stone is grey. Visually it's quite oppressive.

The cast is excellent, especially Stephen McNally, who towers over everyone with his intensity as the unhinged Gorman, Dale Robertson is his usual reliable self, and Virginia Mayo as Abby doesn't just add a speck of glamour, but is quite good as a character conflicted between Dale and Stephen McNally. (Also, it might seem odd to find a woman placed in a man's prison, however, in 1899, a woman stage robber known as Pearl hart was imprisoned at Yuma).

It's a decent film, and though I am not usually keen on prison dramas, there's enough things happening here to catch your attention. The finale features an exciting sequence with a Gatling gun and dynamite. I found it really entertaining- it's another of those regular westerns that were shown on BBC2 at 6.pm after school in 80's.

Devil's Canyon is directed by Alfred Werker and collectively written by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, Harry Essex, Bennett R. Cohen and Norton S. Parker. It stars Dale Robertson, Stephen McNally, Virginia Mayo, Robert Keith, Arthur Hunnicutt, Jay C. Flippen, Whit Bissell and Earl Holliman. Music is by Daniele Amfitheatrof and cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca.

Arizona 1897 and former marshal Billy Reynolds (Robertson) is forced to kill in self defence two brothers of outlaw Jesse Gorman (McNally), the man Billy had previously sent to prison. With new people enforcing new laws in town, Billy doesn't get a fair trial and is sentenced to ten years at the tough Arizona Territorial Prison; home of one Jesse Gorman! When lady outlaw Abby Dixon (Mayo), sweetheart of Gorman, is also sent to the prison, it stirs the already potent hornets nest still further…

Originally a 3D production out of RKO, boasting Natural Vision 3 - Dimension no less, Devil's Canyon can now only be viewed in Technicolor flat mode. Upon examination it's hard to believe that even in 3D this tardy Western had anything going for it, unless Mayo's pointy breasts were the selling point, or Robertson's Teddy Boy haircut? (Yes, they must have had Teddy Boy's in Arizona circa 1897!).

There's a bunch of reliable Western actors in it, director Werker was always competent and ace cinematographer Musuraca was also on board, yet the promising story is bogged down by a good hour of, well, nothingness, as the screenplay has a bunch of sweaty guys talking about stuff that doesn't advance the plot with any real distinction.

Mayo looks gorgeous, but her character is victim of a preposterous set-up and in spite of the trailer (and some misguided reviews) promising a prison of 500 desperate men in a tizzy over one woman, this really isn't the case at all. It should also be pointed out that Devil's Canyon is where the prison is, it's the unofficial name of the prison, it is not a metaphor for Mayo's private parts, as some have bizarrely suggested is the case!

On the plus side the picture begins and ends with some decent action, with the Gatling Gun coming into play at the finale, which just about lifts the film out of its stupor. Yet even here it's all very predictable and hard to feel lenient about since the previous hour has been so pointless. The prison is suitably dank and moody, Musuraca doing his best to put a bleak sense of film noir foreboding on proceedings, while costuming for the boys is of a high standard.

Utterly frustrating all told, a waste of idea and personnel, while the print shown on TV these days is scratchy and often washed out in colour. 5/10

Generally, a limp western. I don't know where they get "Canyon" since this is about the least scenic western on record. In fact, except for a few shots of LA's ugly Bronson Canyon, the story takes place almost entirely on studio sets. It's more like a prison movie than anything western. That might be okay if the story could work up suspense or intensity. But except for a motivated McNally, the movie generally meanders along without generating much of anything.

Of course, there's Mayo as eye candy. And since it's Marilyn Monroe 1953, Mayo sports a cantilevered chest and occasional cleavage. And that sets the stage for maybe the biggest stretch of the year. In short, we're supposed to believe she's the only woman imprisoned in the same prison with 500 horny guys. Come on scripters, I'll accept the improbable, but not the nutzoid.

At least, the lengthy supporting cast features familiar faces from that era, including a folksy Hunnicutt for comedy relief and a bulldog-faced Flippen for general nastiness. But please, couldn't someone wake Robertson from his general walk- through stupor. Looking like a young Clark Gable is simply not enough. At least the Technicolor makes the visuals somewhat watchable, but 3-D effects appear nowhere in evidence. From the title, I was expecting at least a 3-D avalanche in my lap.

Anyway, I get no pleasure from mocking this dud, but a 90-minute dud it unfortunately is.

This routine oater sees eye-catching Virginia Mayo aiding a gang of outlaws in a small desert town by helping to arrange a massive jailbreak. It's a strictly by-the-numbers affair, featuring characters segregated into either the good or bad, and a particular cheapness to the sets. RKO Pictures were well known for churning out low budget programmer after low budget programmer and DEVIL'S CANYON is a good example of their 'shoot fast for a quick buck' mentality.

The movie features a number of notable character actors from the era, including Whit Bissell, Morris Ankrum and Irving Bacon, but only Dale Robertson, as the upstanding hero, is given much of a character, while Mayo seems to be relegated to the role of clothes horse for much of the running time.

Things do pick up with a couple of decent shoot-outs and an elaborate, large-scale climax which doesn't disappointment, but by the looks of it the gimmicky 3D fails to make much, if any, of an impact other than in the opening titles.

I really wouldn't call this a bona fide western, but more like a prison romance with a villain (Stephen McNally), a hero (Dale Robertson), and a sex pot (Virginia Mayo) who is pulling the strings on both men who are interested in this conniving vixen. There are 500 men in this prison and Virginia Mayo gets sent to this all male prison to do her stint for a bank robbery gone bad.

The villain named Jessie Gorman (Stephen McNally), wants revenge by trying to kill the hero named Billy Reynolds (Dale Robertson), because Jessie believes Billy killed two of his brothers although they did try and kill Billy who was acting in self defense.

I would agree that the plot is very basic and the ending is as expected, but Virginia Mayo is easy on the eyes, and the good versus bad guy never gets old, so I will admit I have watched this movie twice now and I enjoyed it both times.

i give the film an 8 out of 10 IMDB rating