Valerie

This film is a film noir Western. It opens with a murder and then unfolds as a courtroom drama with flashbacks. A marriage is described from three different perspectives. I thought Anita Eckberg and Sterling Hayden's performances were very good in rather unlikable roles. Miss Eckberg was effective in portraying her character from two opposite points of view. It was a movie featuring sadistic behavior and was unsettling to watch.

This independent film from Unite Artists has got one unusual story for a western. The plot is definitely not western, the themes are universal and could apply just about in any setting.

Valerie has Anita Ekberg in the title role and she's a recent immigrant to the USA and her parents have arranged a marriage with ranch owner Sterling Hayden.

What happens is that there's ben a wild shooting and both her parents are dead and Ekberg gravely wounded.

There's a formal hearing and we see and hear how these events came to pass.

This Rashomon like tale with two different points of view is one interesting film. As both tales are told big credit goes to Sterling Hayden and Anita Ekberg. Playing the same characters it's like watching two films in a row.

You'll have ti see what the outcome is. i will say that irrefutable evidence is brought in showing the real truth.

Sterling Hayden is the biggest rancher around. He's also on trial for killing his in-laws and critically wounding his wife, Anita Ekberg. On the witness stand he tells a tale of betrayal by Miss Ekberg with handsome pastor Anthony Steel and unremitting carping by the older people. But when his wife gives testimony on her sickbed, a different version may emerge.

There's a bit of RASHOMON impulse her,e an attempt to use a subjective camera from several several viewpoints. It ultimately gives way to the objective standard; there can be only one truth. It is, however, the playing around with that uncertainty that lends this movie its initial interest. In the end, alas, it becomes a peculiarly squeamish piece of brutality, with scars from burns neatly blackened circles of smooth skin. It was the odd screen persona that Hayden cultivated in the 1950s: low-affect anger that Huston used so effectively in THE ASPHALT JUNGLE became his stock in trade, a character who couldn't feel like a human being. Unfortunately it hangs too apparently over this movie, removing all ambiguity.

I've seen another movie entitled "Valerie" but it was a bit different from movie I saw last with same actors, and actress! The story was similar in that the husband thought his wife was cheating on him with his brother and with their church pastor. I remember events being different how Sterling Hayden told Valerie that he paid her parents for her hand, not they paid him. Her parents didn't have a lot of money. True that she didn't love him cause she was courting both his brother outright, and the pastor on the sneak. I'm NOT understanding why if he had lots of valuable land then why would he accept money from her parents selling Valerie to him?!? He wasn't a poor man! I know this is weird but I know I watched two different versions of this movie at different times. The first time I watched movie I DIDN'T catch it from the beginning but saw enough to remember movie. The second one I saw last night was a bit different. The same storyline and characters but the details were a but different.😒🤔

We get 82 minutes to appraise the character of beautiful Anita Ekberg, daughter of immigrants, who married her off to prominent land baron/cattleman Sterling Hayden, driven a bit crazy by his Civil War experiences. Her one friend is the mild-mannered Minister, Anthony Steel, Ekberg's real life husband at the time. Can her marriage survive Hayden's Jekyll and Hyde cruelties? Director Gerd Oswald excelled at directing low budget films, often on a short schedule, like five days. His staging is brilliant. His best work may have driven the early '60s TV hit, "The Outer Limits" to ratings glory, in 14 episodes. "Valerie" is a nuanced, unsettling story of domestic terror.