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" 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.

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.

Those in Denver, Colorado are conflicted as the United States Civil War brews, and erupts. The production values are above average for this kind of western, and it's strengthened by director Jacques Tourneur working with color choreography from William Snyder. Solemn performances from future television stars Robert Stack (as Owen Pentecost) and Raymond Burr (as Jumbo Means) give it an anachronistic air, somehow. There is an endearing kid performance, by Donald MacDonald (as Gary). But, the main attractions are two points of the "love triangle" Mr. Stack forms with pretty blonde Virginia Mayo (as Ann Merry Alaine) and attractive saloon owner Ruth Roman (as Boston Grant). Ms. Mayo certainly can fill a dress; she's both arousing and distracting.

****** Great Day in the Morning (5/16/56) Jacques Tourneur ~ Robert Stack, Virginia Mayo, Ruth Roman, Raymond Burr

In the last days of RKO and Republic Pictures with the B western having gone on to television, the westerns that those two small studios were putting out were not for the kiddie Saturday afternoon trade. Great Day In The Morning is a western with a few adult themes thrown in, Robert Stack is most definitely not bashful around the women, he won't be satisfied kissing his horse.

The plot Great Day In The Morning takes place at the beginning of the Civil War. The film has plot elements of three classic westerns, Hondo, Virginia City, and The Far Country. Robert Stack's character of Owen Pentecost is a whole lot like James Stewart in The Far Country. Stack is a southerner, but he's not doing anything for the newborn Confederacy without being well paid.

As for the women, Stack has two to choose from, pioneer lass Virginia Mayo and saloon girl Ruth Roman. In fact Ruth Roman is playing pretty much the same part she did in The Far Country. Like in Hondo, Stack is forced into a gunfight with a recalcitrant miner and later on winds up taking the miner's son David MacDonald under his wing.

And of course like Virginia City it's all about that Southern gold only here the southerners are the good guys. Not all the northerners are bad like regular army colonel Carleton Young and Captain Alex Nicol, but the two chief villains are Roman's partner Raymond Burr and hotheaded former army sergeant Leo Gordon.

Burr is an especially hateful character, he's got two things he hates Stack for, politics and the fact Stack's beating Burr's time with Roman. Burr was always a big heavy man, I met him during the early Eighties in New York, but in his early days he kept his weight down to some degree, if you've seen the original Perry Mason series you well remember that. But here to play the part of a character named Jumbo and he's as big here as I remember seeing him in person and in the later Perry Mason films. In fact Raymond Burr's performance is the most memorable one in Great Day In The Morning.

There's enough action for the traditional western fan, but there's a lot of sex in Great Day In The Morning as well. Jacques Tourneur keeps the film going at a good clip. Both traditional western fans and those who favored the adult western soon to be popping up on television will like Great Day In The Morning.