Great Day in the Morning

As Westerns go this qualifies for entertainment. All Westerns teach us about history some do it better than others. Many Westerns entertain while teaching. Some do a better job than others. This one educates but falls a little short on quality film watching but is worthy for effort. After all, you have some name-brand players here and they carry the film nicely from scene to scene. We get some gold rush input, pre-civil war activity, and of course drinking, card-playing and shoot em ups with bad and good guys plus the Southerner versus the northerner dynamics. There is virtually no character development. You just have to accept what is going on in the screen and enjoy it. The ending leaves us with mixed feelings only because it is both good and bad. I like to snack while watching and this movie is good for sunflower seeds as you casually watch with a tasty drink to clear the palette. Mount-up and let's ride

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.

Great Day in the Morning is directed by Jacques Tourneur and written by Lesser Samuels. It stars Robert Stack, Virginia Mayo, Raymond Burr, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Leo Gordon and Regis Toomey. Music is by Leith Stevens and cinematography by William E. Snyder.

A Technicolor/Superscope production, story is set in Colorado Territory 1861, a mining town just as The Civil War is to break out. North and South divisions, lustful passions and the hunger for power and gold, all reside here...

This would turn out to be the great Jacques Tourneur's last Western offering, thankfully for his fans it turned out pretty great. This is no all action piece, the action here is mainly focused on the human condition and all the shaky traits that come with such. This town is a powder-keg waiting to ignite, with Stack's (excellent) fence sitter (he's from the South but his affiliations are money based) Owen Pentecost firmly in the middle of things. Moral compasses are set at faulty, whilst loyalties and fancies of the heart bring much conflict of interest.

Tourneur and his charges serve up fine production value, starting with the location filming out of Silverton. The landscape that surrounds the town is gorgeous, itself a beautiful observer of the ugliness (Roman and Mayo's sexiness exempt of course) that unfolds. Ugliness that rears its most potent head via bouts of shocking violence, the majority of which takes one by surprise (one of the film's many strengths). The clever screenplay throws in memorable sequences, such as a heated debate backed by Roman tinkling the piano with tunes befitting the discourse, while odd visuals - like the main saloon being based on a circus tent (its actual name and it ties in with Burr's character) - strike good notes.

With a grumpy Stack on fine form it's dandy to find the support brings weighty worth as well. Roman and Mayo are given good female roles to play (no tokens here thanks), raising the emotional stakes as much as the temperature. To good effect Burr stomps around like a sulky bully, Nicol has a good presence, and then there's Gordon. Gordon makes his mark straight away, first section of pic you know he's the sort who wants a war before the war has started, and he nails it as a gruff hot-headed bastardo - putting one in mind of Robert Shaw later down the line. Touneur's eye for detail is backed by that of Snyder to round it off as a picture well worth tracking down. 7.5/10

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 well starred by Robert Stack dealing with facing off between Union and Confederation . This excellent , meaty Western contains interesting plot , thrills , brawls , shoot'em up and turns out to be quite entertaining . This outstanding Tourneur Western balances action , suspense and drama . Set in Colorado territory , during the early days of the American Civil war (1861-1865) . Circa 1861 , a stranger Southerner named Owen Pentecost (Robert Stack) arrives in a town , Denver , (Colorado) where he takes on a real villain and falls in love for two women . There the powerful owner (Raymond Burr) gives him an opportunity to a big card game and our Southern gunslinger finds himself equally interested in the two local ladies . The former gunfighter turned hotel manager meets a motley group of characters : Ann Merry Alaine (Virginia Mayo) , one newly arrived from the East to open a dress shop , ¨The wildcat¨ (Ruth Roman) , when she couldn't outshoot a man she used other weapons , a Northern spy (Alex Nicol) and the relentless killer (Leo Gordon) who liked to play with lives . And of course , ¨The land baron¨ (Raymond Burr) , the owned the town hotel , hardware , lock , livestock and gun barrel . And Pentecost , then , has to make even more essential choices when , with the start of the Civil War , seeks justice and at the same time attempts to transport some supplies to Confederation . As the rebel sympathizer and two Northern spies -Col. Gibson (Carleton Young) , Captain Stephen Kirby (Alex Nicol)- are both after Colorado gold to help finance the Civil War . At the end takes place the bugle blast that echoed thru history , including a pretty spectacular pursuit between Union cavalry and Confederated wagons .

Rip roarin' and moving Western set in Denver in which a Southern adventurer turned hotel manager and gets into many problems . This grand Western in the tradition of ¨Red River¨ and ¨High Noon¨ contains an intelligent writing , emotion , violence , go riding , double crosses , crossfire and results to be quite enjoyable . It's a classic recounting about an upright man seeking justice and attempting to execute the Confederate purports , as he becomes one of a small minority in a strongly Unionist town . The public likes big Westerns and here to satisfy them is a big adventure , starring big box office favorites of the 50s , Virginia Mayo , Robert Stack , Ruth Roman , with the kind of high pitched excitement that pay off . The traditional story and exciting screenplay by Lesser Samuels being based on the novel written by Robert Hardy Andrews . Here filmmaker Tourneur gets a good Western by showing a great command of mood and atmosphere . Top-notch Robert Stack as Pentecost who finds himself the owner of a Denver hotel and becomes involved with two women , as well as magnificent Raymond Burr as a proud baron land who seeks vengeance . Support cast is frankly excellent such as Alex Nicol , Leo Gordon , Donald MacDonald , Carleton Young and Regis Toomey . Thrilling and atmospheric musical score by Leith Stevens . Colorful cinematography in Technicolor -photographed in Ansco Color by Pathe- by director of photography William Snyder .

This is another superbly powerful triumph from RKO and producer Edmund Grainger who brought other Westerns as Cimarron , The Sheepman , The Treasure of Pancho Villa , The Fabulous Texan and Wild Bill Hickok Rides . It is probably one of the best Western in the fifties and sixties . The motion picture was decently directed by Jacques Tourneur . Born in Paris , Tourneur went to Hollywood with his father , director Maurice Tourneur around 1913 . Jacques directed all kinds of genres , he was an expert on Noir cinema , such as the classic ¨Out of the past¨ and ¨Nightfall¨(1956) ; Suspense : ¨Experiment perilous¨(1945) , ¨Berlin Express¨ (48) , ¨The Fearmakers¨ (1958) ; Peplum : ¨The giant of Marathon¨ (60) ; Wartime : ¨Days of glory¨ (1943) and adventures as ¨Flame and the arrow¨ , ¨Timbuktu¨ , ¨Appointment in Honduras¨,¨Way of a Gaucho¨ , ¨Anne of the Indies¨, ¨City under the sea¨ ; but he was best known for his terror cinema with producer Val Lewton such as ¨Cat people¨ , ¨Leopard man¨, ¨I walked with a Zombie¨, ¨Night of demon¨ and an amusing horror/comedy : ¨The Comedy of Terrors¨. He went on to direct masterpieces in many different genres and in Western he made various films : The masterpiece titled ¨Canyon passage¨(1946) , ¨Mission of Danger¨ , ¨Frontier Rangers¨ , ¨Strange on horseback¨ (1955) , ¨Star in my Crown¨ (1956) with Joel McCrea , ¨Wichita¨(1955) equally with Joel McCrea as Wyatt Earp formerly to OK Corral duel and this one . He finally directed episodes of ¨Norhwest passage¨ (1958) titled Frontier Rangers , Fury River and Mission of danger . ¨Great day in the morning¨ rating : Well worth watching and it will appeal to Virginia Mayo fans .