A Bullet Is Waiting

A airplane crash leaves Lawman Sheriff Munson (Stephan McNally) and Prisoner Ed Stone (Rory Calhoun) stranded on a Sheep Ranch in the modern (1954) West. Between escape attempts ED makes a play for the beautiful Cally Canham (Jean Simmons) who is holding down the ranch for her Father David (Brian Aherne). MUNSON has a personal grudge against ED, but FATHER David arrives at the close too sort things out and you expect ED and CALLY will eventually get together, nuff said.

Good scenery and interesting casting are the most worthwhile features of this film. Calhoun and McNally seem quite at home in the West, but Aherne and Simmons would seem too be by intellect and temperament more suited for a drawing room. Jean does fill out her 'jeans' quite well and is as sexy in those as any more feminine costume. She would exhibit the same assets in THE BIG COUNTRY (1958). The film is worth watching just for her.

A lawman and a fugitive, fight it out in the countryside with the lawman being overcome by an injured ankle, allowing the fugitive to get the upper hand. The lawman is Stephen McNally, an actor whose face was usually reserved for playing villains and the fugitive, Rory Calhoun who has been one of my favourites since I was a boy. A 6ft 3inch giant of a man, Calhoun was ideally suited for playing heroes as he was extremely good looking also and here he's supposed to be the bad guy. But is he?

The two come across a young woman living alone in a cabin, Jean Simmons, looking more beautiful than I ever remember before. She takes them in under an element of duress but slowly starts to become attracted to Calhoun and vice versa, in fact they have great chemistry and the sexual tension is palpable.

McNally is constantly trying to regain the upper hand and it eventually comes to a head but not before we are treated to a surprisingly well crafted scene of dialogue about philosophy that seems out of place in a pseudo western like this but I thought it raised the level above the usual melodrama.

Directed by John Farrow with a nice score by Dimitri Tiomkin, the film is beautifully shot in technicolour and the acting, joined at the end by Brian Aherne as Jean's father, is rather good. It shows Calhoun in a different light to his westerns and actually allows a showcase to display a wider acting range than usual for him.

An interesting lost movie I found only on YouTube with a gorgeous print copy so I'm rating it an 8 out of 10. Jean Simmons at her most stunning is worth seeing alone.

An Accused Murderer Escaping Flawed Justice, a Tin-Badge with a One-Track-Mind (bringing in the killer of his brother), a Lovely, Sophisticated Virgin in Isolation with Her Father in a Cabin Far-Away from Crime, Corruption, and Humanities Sins.

The Cabin and the Surrounds are the Only Setting where Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun, and Steve McNally are Forced by a Downed Aircraft to Lodge, Wait-Out a Passage-Wrecking Storm, and the Sparks, Well-Known to the Well-Read, begin Subtle but Escalate in a Pre-Determined Cadence Until the Soul-Searching, Romance, and Revenge Stop and All is Sorted Out by the Steady, Philosophizing Hand of the Father/Professor Returning from a Short-Trip.

All is Tied Oh-So-Neatly in a Bow for the Easily Entertained Emerging Ultra-Conservative Citizens of the War-Winner America Passively Led to Pasteur, like Simmon's Herd of Sheep.

Doubting there were Many Interesting Conversations in the Lobby about the Film's Combination of the Preconditioning Dialog Amidst a Raging Romance Kindled by Calhoun's Rough-Neck Merging with Simmons Button-Downed Persona. An Oil and Water Mix of Intellectual Grounding and Sheep-Herder Practicality.

It's All Rather Rote and Handled Unremarkable by Director John Farrow. Solid No-Nonsense Characters Delivered by A-List Actors. The High-Lights are Jean Simmons Stunning Beauty Packed in Blue-Jeans, the also Stunning Technicolor Cinematography, The Low-Light is DimitrI Tiomkin's Intrusive, Relentless Score that Never Stops for a Breather.

John Farrow's Directorial Career, with a Wide-Range of Competency and a Few Real-Gems was Winding Down and this isn't One-of-His-Best, but is Held-Together with Solid Framing, an Occasional Interest, and Not-Much in the Way of Something New, it's All a Rather Old-Hat Easy-as-You-Go Post-War Sedative.

Worth a Watch.

Not a western but an entertaining if improbable drama set in an isolated area in the west. Jean Simmons is full of guarded, wounded vulnerability, a very fine actress. She and Rory Calhoun make a surprisingly simpatico pairing. Stephen McNally's character is rather one note, a more distinctive actor could have perhaps fleshed it out but it doesn't hurt the film. Makes some observations about a man's true nature even if he has committed a criminal act. Brian Donlevy shows up near the end to act as a sort of catalyst for the resolution and is fine as always but the picture could have done without him. Not a classic but a solid film.

A rich Utah landowner (Stephen McNalley) deputizes himself in order to bring back to justice the person (Rory Calhoun) who killed his brother. Was it murder or self defense? The viewer thinks all along that McNalley is a real lawman until we find out who he really is, which changes the dynamics a bit. The plane they're traveling in crashes somewhere on the central California coast and Calhoun manages to get away, though there really is no place to escape to in the isolated setting, especially since it's beginning to rain and all the passes get washed out. Along shows up the daughter (Jean Simmons) of a sheep rancher (Brian Ahearn)and her dog (Lassie?). McNalley and Calhoun both try to convince her of who is right, though she falls for Calhoun, leaving a hobbling McNalley alone in his efforts to return to Utah with Calhoun. The background story of Utah and the rich family against the rebel was at least somewhat more interesting than the story in this movie where Simmons eventually falls for Calhoun, mostly because he puts the make on her, and she, in spite of her intellectual abilities, can't resist the sexual attraction. The return of her father from a week long trip into the nearest town sets up a decent enough ending. The film needed more freedom of sexual expression, or moreso, another script in order to bring off the pent up feelings felt by Simmons, as she's been kept away from all outside contact because she lives with her philosopher father on this out of the way ranch. It (this movie) mostly verges on being fairly bad, but has some inexplicable qualities that compel one to keep on watching and hoping.