Great Day in the Morning

An above average western, in its direction and writing rising above a fairly typical situational action picture. Stack is great as the profiteering Southerner unwillingly caught up in the foment of the Civil War, while he attempts to raise the son of the man he killed. Mayo is unremarkable as the "good" woman, but Roman puts in a memorable and sincere performance as one of the town's many "bad" girls. Tourneur's direction is what really makes this one memorable, though, from the crisp grandeur of the opening shootout at high altitudes to the concluding race with wagons through the hills of Colorado.

For Western fans, a great treat roughly in the tradition of Budd Boetticher's "Ranown" films with Randolph Scott.

Great Day in the Morning was the last western directed by Jacques Tourneur. It's based on a novel by Robert Hardy Andrews and features Robert Stack and Virginia Mayo in key roles.

The action of the film takes place right before the beginning of the American Civil War. Directly from the start of the film we're introduced to the main character of Owen Pentecost (Robert Stack) who is trying to defend himself when attacked by the Indians. Things start to get pretty bad, but group of people appears headed by Sarg. Zeff Masterson (Leo Gordon) and saves his life. But when Masterson discovers that the man he's just saved is a Confederate, he resents himself for doing so and only is stopped from finishing Owen by his colleague Stephen Kirby (Alex Nicol). Soon they arrive to Denver, Colorado, where everything indicates that the war is ready to break out any moment. But Owen Pentecost more concerned about himself and about the real purpose of his coming to Denver, which is a load of gold that was dig by the confederate miners and is ready to be transported to the south to help the Confederate cause. The delay might ruin everything, and this is what Owen counts on, planning to take advantage of the situation for his own benefit. This is where Boston (Ruth Roman) enters the scene. She is beautiful woman who falls in love with him and having her own opinion about what Owen's future should be makes him a town's saloon owner and herself his associate. Meanwhile the time passes by and the Civil War breaks out with Confederates attacking Fort Sumter and urgent transportation of gold to the south becomes a matter of vital importance. That is where Stephen Kirby reveals his true identity as a Captain of a Union Army and gathers a group of volunteers intending to stop moving out the gold.

Great Day in the Morning can be hardly called a classic, but nonetheless is quite a good western worth to take a look at. 7/10

Southerner Robert Stack wins a Denver saloon and bar girl (Ruth Roman) from crooked card dealer Raymond Burr on eve of Civil War. Trouble is that southerners are outnumbered in Union-leaning Colorado and need Stack's help to get big gold shipment to Dixie and the war effort. But Stack's only out for himself and is now in fat city with a saloon and a girl. So what's he going to do.

Good core plot, great Colorado scenery, ace director (Jacques Tourneur), and an A-picture budget, yet the results are mixed. For one thing, it looks like Stack's getting the big star build-up since he has to romance not only bar girl Roman but good girl Virginia Mayo too. That's about one girl too many for even the best Western. Here Mayo's part is really unnecessary and drags down the pacing. Besides, do we really care which movie star he ends up with. Still and all, it's fun to watch the girls' bra's duke it out in best 1950's uplift fashion. Also, subplot of orphaned boy (Donald McDonald) adds to what becomes a sprawling story that strays too far from the solid core.

Nonetheless, the cold-eyed Stack makes for a convincing gunman, while no movie with character great Leo Gordon could be a loss. Here he's in a typical role as a Union rowdy ready to fight at the proverbial drop of a hat. He's always reminded me of an early Lee Marvin, with the same virile presence and clarity of personality, but without Marvin's range. Also notable for fine support from the hulking Peter Whitney, a familiar Hollywood face for many years. His quiet scene with Stack remains the film's most intelligent and powerful.

The movie was made during that period when Hollywood had not yet learned to live with TV. Note that even budget-minded RKO comes up with a wide-screen process to show off the spectacular scenery that can't be done on TV. I expect the competition also accounts for the star-heavy treatment that ultimately crowds the plot and slows down events. But with a tighter script and leaner casting, this could have been a first-rate Western, especially considering the wonderfully done final scene.

This western starring the inimitable Robert Stack is quite good, overcoming a somewhat weak and syrupy script, which nonetheless contains some classic lines (my favorite is: When I first stepped out into the world, a drunkard took one look at me and shouted: 'the elephant is loose!' since then, an elephant has been my good luck charm. What's the secret to your remarkable charm? ANSWER: A complete indifference to Elephants.")

Not Jacques Tourneur's best film, but his direction is good and the technicolor outdoor fight sequences (especially the dramatic opening sequence, similar to that in Johnny Guitar) are beautiful.

"Great Day in the Morning" is a western from RKO in 1956. It takes place just before the Civil War and deals with Union and Confederate factions both trying to get some gold in Colorado in order to finance the war. Based on the novel by Robert Hardy Andrews, the film is quite faithful to the book. Robert Stack plays a southern gunslinger with cynical overtones. Virginia Mayo, a Technicolor knock-out, meets Stack on her way west and has a love/hate relationship with him. Ruth Roman is a hostess with cleavage in Raymond Burr's saloon and she falls like a ton of bricks for Stack. Burr plays a heavy and gives Roman a bad time. A highpoint of the film is a critical card game between Stack and Burr with Roman dealing the cards. Of course Mayo and Roman are fighting like crazy over Stack.